The Highs and the Lows: Traversing Mt. Ulap

Our trek started at 5 a.m. with a short prayer and a briefing. Our 2 trek guides briefed us on the safety precautions and rules to follow when hiking such as 1. Never go ahead of our guide, and 2., which is the most important, “Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time.” In other words, we do not leave our trash behind. What we bring up, we must also bring down. After everything has been said, we started the hike.

  

As I’ve said in my previous blog, the uphill climb wasn’t a problem. It was fun actually. I was getting my cardio exercise and enjoying the view at the same time. Nothing beats the feeling you get when hiking: the cold fresh early morning air, the fresh scent of pine, and the view! Oh how do I begin to describe the view? The view just puts you in a state of calm, a state of peace. And it seems that every angle my phone camera captures is just perfect. So I clicked away like there was no tomorrow.

An early morning scenic view of Mt. Ulap 

There are a number of points in the hike that is Instagram worthy. And since Mt. Ulap is already a popular destination among photo and Instagram buffs, the guides already know where you should take your photo ops and what angles to take. But it is really up to you if you would follow this “tried and tested” camera angle.

One such Instagram worthy and popular site in Mt. Ulap is Gungal Rock. It is so popular that the visitors are timed for their photo ops. If I remember correctly, each visitor is only allowed a minute to do their pictorials. So plan your poses while waiting your turn.

Gungal Rock: Upper Right Corner you could see groups of people lining up for their photo op.

After Gungal Rock, there is still an uphill hike that would lead us to the peak of Mt. Ulap. I wasn’t really able to time our trek since I was enjoying the view way too much. But basically we reached the summit in 3 hours. And now, after reaching the summit comes the hard part… the descent!

Mt. Ulap Summit

Looking back, not a day goes by that I do not regret not buying those darn walking sticks! I do not mind the long walk going down, or how steep the descent was. (The descent was pretty steep but for the average beginner, I think this posed no problem.) What made it difficult for me was my knees! The pain didn’t actually come from muscle fatigue. It was more of the patella or joint problems.

The traverse down took us about 2 ½ hours. And every step I took was slowly becoming more excruciating than the last. But as a trooper, I carried on like a pro. After all, I wasn’t the only one in pain. There were a whole slew of hikers in pain before me and after me in the trek. The only difference was that they all had walking sticks, lol!     

Thank goodness I managed to reach our exit point, Sta. Fe in one piece, minus a sprained or broken angkle. Next time I go on a hike, I would have to have my knees checked. Lesson learned. After everything I experienced in this hike, I would have to say that I don’t mind going on another trek! See you in the mountains!

P.S. As soon as we reached Baguio City, I went to Mercury Drug and bought some pain relieving patches. Lol!