Pulag Revisited

Mt. Pulag
The Province of Benguet
Feb. 12, 2006



I have sentiments about climbing a mountain for the second time. C'mon, this country is sprawled lengthwise on a section of the Pacific Ring of Fire and volcanoes are strung to its length like beads on a rosary. Why should I climb a mountain for the second time when there are numerous mountains sprawled everywhere that I haven't been to or even know existed?

Well for one, I was an applicant of the Congress Outdoors and had to come - if not to show my colors then perhaps to give them that extra assurance that they are with someone who has recently been there. Except for me and Nap Osorio - one of the founders of this infant association, none had actually been up Mt. Pulag so you can understand their excitement and apprehension.



Veteran climbers can become cocky about how newbies can get all worked up about climbing any mountain. Of course it's fascinating to observe how they'd clutch at their things-to-bring-checklist as if it was their lifeline, or how they'd adjust the straps of their perfectly balanced packs as if it were straps of a climbing harness. I just think it generous to leave them to their excitement by not revealing too much. Fear forces people into preparedness and that is a very good thing in the wilderness.



The first time I climbed Mt. Pulag was through what was known as the Executive Trail or Ambangeg Trail. It is an easy trail with lots of points of interest. If you romanticize walking endlessly in the midst of nature, on a wide open mist laden trail, contemplating your life, the person that you are, your spirituality, then Ambangeg is right for you.



Unlike other trails where your concentration is divided between keeping your feet on the mountain and keeping your lungs inside your chest, Ambangeg allows your mind to wander aimlessly without a care in the world.



I was a tad disappointed though when I heard we will be taking Ambangeg Trail for both the ascent and descent. There was a welling need in me for an adventure and going through familiar paths does nothing to satisfy that need. I was hoping they will choose Tawangan or Akiki Trail, even at least for their descent route.

Though descending Akiki was said to be like sentencing both knees to death, that trail crosses Eddet River and takes you to vistas with more spectacular views than Ambangeg.

How many times can you photograph something before it becomes passé even to you?



I enjoyed Pulag the first time I photographed our journey up her slopes. I was apprehensive that this time I won't find anything novel to take a picture of and return home with a half-full xD Card littered with forced shots of mountaineers posing the same way from one vista to the next.



I was particularly anxious of the possibility that the set I will come up with would look like the set I took a few months back. That would be...disastrous and totally revealing of my lack of creativity and vision! Now really, I'd prefer to go on living not knowing of my non-existent talents. At least that way, I'd go on living feeling good about myself. In this day and age attitude is everything.



Last time I was up Pulag I had with me my Canon EOS 10QD 35mm camera. I had just bought it then from EBay for Php 7,000.00 with kit lens. It is an understatement to say I was happy with my purchase. For something that can shoot 5 frames per second and touted as a semi-pro model, Php 7,000.00 is cheap. Seeing the results of the camera for the first time, I was even more ecstatic with my purchase.

On this climb I left the EOS and in its place my new Fuji Finepix S5600. This was the first time I took a digital camera up a mountain. I was a tad apprehensive of the weather. I was forewarned about exposing the S5600 in moist environments. Images of my EOS 10QD covered in mist on my last Pulag climb come to mind and I can only cringe at the thought of a shorted brand new camera.

As a precaution, I always keep a number of plastic bags handy just in case it rains. In the event of a downpour, the camera goes in the plastic bag and that in turn gets shoved inside the weatherproof bag.

You can always watch out for the rain, but what concerns me the most is the mist that builds on the surface of the camera which eventually forms dew, which in turn could eventually make it into the spaces of the camera controls. That happened to an old Canon T80 of mine when I brought it to Kairukan Falls, Bataan. Before I could wipe the camera down, the shutter soon refused to open but made this faint clicking sound. It also refused to wind in the film. When the opportunity presented itself, I sunned the camera and that sort of lessened the problem and I was able to wind in the film.

You might be wondering what happened to that camera. Well, I brought it to Dong's Camera Repair Shop in Quiapo and had it serviced. It's in perfect working order now - sealed and packed with desiccant. I don't intend to part with it because me and that camera, we go a long way back. It might be littered with frustration but still, sentiments are sentiments.

I almost traded that camera for a 1975 manual SLR but the second hand shop in Australia didn't want the T80. Come to think of it, even shops today don't want the T80 even if you offer it as trade in when purchasing models such as Canon A-1 or AE-1. I think that is pretty sad considering the history behind the T80: it is Canon's first body integrated autofocus SLR camera.



I went on this climb feeling apprehensive about training my camera on things I have photographed before. When I was there however, I found myself remembering how I shot a certain scene and thought of ways to improve it. Like a second chance in life, my mind raced through all the silent wishes and should haves of my first set of Pulag shots and I ended up trying to capture those images the way I had wished to have captured them.



I found the whole experience surprisingly pleasant. It is the same sensation as retaking an exam. Though I feel the slight stress in wanting to capture a particular scene, the knowledge that that image is just around the bend relieves the tension somewhat. I learned that familiarity lends to greater creative flexibility. First encounters tend to stifle creativity as the mind must first come to terms with its new surroundings.



The climb itself was uneventful. It didn't rain though it was cold enough that in the evening, two of our climbers had to be given hot water bottles to hug to stop their intense shivering. One of them complained that she could not breathe but I suspect it is just a normal reaction to the wine they've been drinking. My theory proved correct because she was with us when we took to the peak at pre-dawn.

I usually go from tent to tent in the evening to take tent scenes though obviously, this should be carried out sensibly since you never know what could be going on inside zipped tent walls. Though friends have insisted that a romantic moment in Pulag is not possible given the low temperatures, you can never really tell. If there's a will then there'll definitely be a way.

One of the tents I visited was a Eusebio branded A-tent. I've always liked the way A-tents compress very well when packed as well as being very lightweight. Upon being let in by the occupants, I was curious why they were both wrapped up from head to toe - as if it was colder inside the tent. Scanning around, I learned that the bottom side walls were constructed of screen! Cold air would continually gust through the tent like an efficient internal cooling system - perfect for hot climates but ridiculous at our altitude.

They soon abandoned their tent and moved in at their neighbor's.

It was hard taking photos at night or at dawn in Pulag. The moment I remove my gloves, a quick countdown begins which last for about three minutes before I lose sensation and tactile control of my bare fingers. There was absolutely no way to fiddle with the camera's control with my gloved hands which felt like paws. I was thankful for the camera strap because one of the downside of operating a camera in the dark with numbed hands is the tendency to drop it frequently. Apart from these difficulties, I was able to get a few shots which I could be happy with.

Up at predawn, it is hard to understand what can make a person leave the warmth of his or her tent for outside temperatures that slap you in the face the moment you unzip your tent open. Most would brave the cold but there will be those who'd succumb to the body's yearning to snuggle back inside the tent. This is a good thing too because nothing beats returning to camp with a warm breakfast waiting for you.



The trek to the summit from Camp 2 took about an hour and a half at a very relaxed pace. It was dark and it was difficult to negotiate the well trodden trail which resembled a winding ditch. This forced the foot to point straight ahead ignoring the orientation of the body. It often makes you lose your balance and is very disconcerting in the dark. One of our female companions was having special difficulty negotiating the trail. Being on her first major climb, I decided to lend her my headlamp. That solved her problem but made my situation dire. Next thing you know, she was well ahead, chirpy and happy while I fell, slipped and slopped everywhere.



If I was to make a modern legend of Pulag, I'd tell that the rising sun lays on her fair head a crown of sparkling diamonds every morning - a fitting tribute to her splendor here on earth. Visually, it is somewhat like that especially during December and January when the number of people climbing Pulag peaks.



When the rays of the sun begin to peak out of the horizon, the summit of Pulag becomes engulfed in an almost orchestral explosion of brilliant white flashes - as if gems were being struck by hard light. This occurrence can even be witnessed as far away as Camp 2.



Far from being a natural occurrence, the crown of diamonds is actually the result of point and shoot cameras at the peak misreading the scene and firing the flash at the horizon. At the peak of Pulag's climbing season, anywhere between 50 to 100 point and shoot cameras can be simultaneously making the same error at Auto Mode and firing the flash at the horizon the moment the sun breaks through! The idea is so beautiful that it brings tears to my eyes.



I have shots from the peak from my first climb that I love so much that I couldn't bring myself to even try to surpass it this time around. I remember sitting in a spot hidden from everyone, waiting for the clouds to part to take my shot the first time I was at the peak. This time, I chose to leave that spot to the howling winds. That is the problem with being a romantic - you tend to put too much meaning on something as simple as the western quarter of the summit.



Getting to Pulag is relatively easy. Pick a date, do some aerobic training, organize a group of at least 6 climbers to share the expense of hiring a 4x4 jeep that will take you the various jump-off points and bring you back to town. Once you've got all that on paper, give Park Superintendent Emerita Tamiray a call at 0920-3013932 for reservations. She will present you your options and reserve guides for your team as well as assist you in hiring accredited 4x4 operators to take you there.



For more information, visit http://www.pawb.gov.ph/mt_pulag/pulagvik.htm

Pico de Loro

Lush, verdant and lusciously damp; Pico de Loro was exactly as I expected. It has been a while since I climbed a mountain wrapped in verdant tropical rainforest.

It is easy to get used to "well-pressed" National Park trails. It is easy to forget the sensation of being slapped crazy by foliage and thorny bamboo again and again in poorly maintained trails. It is easy to forget the sensation of losing one's balance and having no choice but to grab onto a thorny palm with your bare hands. Though Pico is not entirely like that, there will be portions during the assault that hints of this verdant past.



Pico is a regular destination for mountaineers and hikers of all ages. Any reasonably fit person will find the climb moderately exhausting even with a fully loaded day pack.



If you want a challenging ascent (so as to at least break a sweat) you can always shun the first turn-off that leads to the peak. Go past that and keep walking until you reach a small campsite. You should be able to see Pico's jutting rock overhead. Beat around the bush to find the trail leading up that rock. Taking this trail will have you scale 5 foot stone blocks and scrambling up roots and
branches.



Pico's rock that juts up the slope would have been a perfect platform to lie down and take in the view if not for the vandalism that the rock formation has suffered. It is just too basely and low for regular brains to comprehend the motivation behind vandalism in the wilderness.

In the Philippines, mountaineers seem to welcome if not encourage more regulations and restrictions in their favorite camping sites and hiking destinations. If only to add that extra barrier to protect these places from mindless vandals, most mountaineers are willing to put up with added layer in the bureaucracy of climbing.



Pico de Loro has two peaks that are quite close to each other. The higher and relatively gentler sloping one is where most would make their way to. The slightly lower vertical rock is more fun to go to and scale but obviously, it is the stuff acrophobic's nightmares are made of.

Many opt to pass climbing the rock once they have a glimpse of it. In actuality, you simply just have to stay close to the ground and everything will be fine and dandy. There is just this portion where you will need the aid of a rope to scale a near vertical portion. If you boulder or wall climb then you most probably wouldn't need the rope - which is by the way, weather-worn and tied to the base of a scrawny bonsai tree.

When I first went up that vertical portion, I knew there was something fishy about that rope that is why I refused to commit my weight to it. I doubt anyone would find the time to use a bolt for this. Trees can't grow on rocks so there couldn't be a trunk to anchor the rope on. . When I finally saw the scrawny bonsai where the rope was secured, I suddenly noticed the freaky drop to the side of the rock.



The view was fantastic on top of Pico's rock! We basked in the 360 degree scene where you can make out the outline of the beaches of Nasugbu and the highway that will take you there. Pico de Loro is actually in Cavite, though traversing the hiking grounds will lead you to the Province of Batangas.

At the end of the day, you have the choice of setting up camp or returning the way you came. For this trip we traversed and made our way to the Batangas side of the hiking grounds - more specifically, the Municipality of Nasugbu. The hike down took about two hours with minimal rest.

For the amount of effort put in to climb Pico, the reward in terms of the view is definitely runaway profit.



After hiking for hours, nothing beats loading up on a jeepney and hitting the beach.



Our itinerary took us to Cutad Beach - a sort of private white-sand cove huddled in privacy by forested hills. Beyond the beach and out of sight were ready roads and development work. We knew it will be mere months before this jewel of a place is forever closed to the public where only the rich and paranoid will be allowed to walk on its shores.



The wondrous feeling of having the cove to ourselves was exhilarating. We chased baby crabs up and down the beach in drunken stupor, gathering as many as we can, then sautéing them in garlic. The results were so crispy and fresh that you can bite through everything, claw and all.

Under the light of the full moon, we rolled, tumbled, wriggled, dug and jostled in the sand, and wadded, splashed and bubbled in the warm shallow waters whenever we could.



If "funnest" was a word, then that would aptly describe the entirety of this trip.

ITINERARY
Pico de Loro
Ternante, Cavite to Nasugbu, Batangas.
Total Budget: Php 600.00.

Saturday
08:00am ETD Baclaran
10:00am ETA Ternante. Catch Jeep to Magnet Road - Pico de Loro Jump-off
12:00pm Lunch at trail
02:00pm Assault Pico
02:30pm ETA Peak
03:30pm Start descending
05:00pm ETA Brgy. Papaya
05:30pm ETD for Cutad Beach
06:00pm ETA Cutad Beach

Sunday
05:30am Sunrise
10:30am Depart for Nasugbu (pre-arranged jeep pick-up)
12:00pm ETA Nasugbu
01:00pm ETD for Manila

PGMA Visits Navotas

PGMA visited Navotas today amidst curses from motorists having to contend with blocked main arterial roads leading to bustling dockyards and ports. They put up choke points in roads that are choked enough as it is, and added an extra knot in an already inextricable tangle of cars, trucks and pushcarts.



Who am I to complain, that is the way of the world - at least in these parts. And those who do not have jobs to go to, or cars so as to be seriously inconvenienced by all this hoopla are at the large parking grounds of San Jose church. They are lining up for scarce medical attention, piecemeal gestures from government like a chance to win a sari-sari store worth 6,000 pesos, a pedicab, or the chance to participate in workshops meant to impart skills for participants to start their own businesses at home.



The Office of the President markets this event as the Serbisyo Muna Program, a roving caravan composed of mobile teams from different agencies of government whose functions have much to do with poverty alleviation and the likes.

I'm inclined to see the whole activity as a public relation stunt rather than a means to "bring services closer to people". For one, isn't that the function of field offices of national agencies and local governments? PGMA has been constantly hounded by allegations of cheating in the last elections, and with the existence of a broad opposition mounting offensives against her on a broad front she needs all the "pam-pa-beauty" (read: PR points) she can muster.



What I am really interested in talking about is the performance of my shiny new Fujifilm Finepix S5600 (yeah I know, I didn't need to waste 4 paragraphs just to get to this. Tsk tsk tsk).



It would be the first time my camera would see bright sunlight and I was excited to see how well it coped. I was also "test driving" a 17mm Tokina prime lens on my EOS 10QD. More importantly though, I was "test driving" myself in the field - this would be my first time to do events.

What happened when the President arrived was lost in a whirl of confusion for me. I was nudged, stepped on, nearly kicked, and was drowned and basted in my own sweat. It was not the Presidential Security Group I had trouble with. It was the Pros with long white bazooka-like lenses and giant flash units that were my nemesis. The whole experience led me to think that having a camera in my hand is like having a large sign posted on my forehead saying: push me!

I soon understood how precious a good vantage point was for press photographers. Because I lost most of the time in the jostle, the only pictures of the president I was able to capture were shots of her forehead.

One of the reasons why I couldn't react as fast as I would have liked was because I was made inutile for a moment by all the mouth watering gear all around me. Yes, time was spent trying to identify the cool gears rather than looking for a vantage point to take a shot of the President.

I wasn't at the event to take photos. I had other tasks but when things were going along smoothly at my "department" I wasted no time sneaking off with my camera and pretend to be a "pro" for a minute or two. I even made sure to sling another camera on my neck to add to the effect. That last one proved more difficult than I thought. There were numerous instances when I was more busy untangling myself from the straps than the actual picture taking.

There was even a moment of incomprehension as I struggled to remove the lens cap off my 17mm lens when its release clips got stuck at the metal hood of the Tokina... oh yes, I did bump a few heads with the heavy metal body and sharp hood of the Tokina lens. Ouch!

In the end, I broke away from the entourage of photographers and found my way among the crowd. With the president out of the compound I could finally go about in a more relaxed pace.



In retrospect, I was too slow as an events photographer. I was somewhat poor in anticipating where the action would move to so as to get a good vantage point for that shot that can be sold.

I explored the compound and made my way inside the church. There, I went about doing what I like doing: photographing whatever catches my fancy and going about it the way I feel will bring the images to life. The task of doing this was made relatively easy by the S5600.



The task of composing however is made difficult because you will be relying on the electronic view finder or the LCD screen of the S5600. The EVF resolution is not enough to accurately tell if the camera is focusing on where you want it to focus or render minute details from the scene. Most of the time, looking at the pictures on your computer feels as if that was the first time you saw the scene - rather than a recollection of that shoot which is how it should be. You can take this as a good thing or a bad thing. Personally, I have mixed feelings about it because for one, I do enjoy being surprised by nice images that I didn't expect.

A lot of times, the ability to twist the barrel of the lens to zoom in or out and the ability to quickly fine tune your focus manually was sorely missed. With the S5600, your pace will be the camera's pace.

Though it is possible to manually focus, actually doing it made me conclude that it is too cumbersome and slow to be useful for anything photographic. Even if you were that patient to wait an eternity for the lens to finally come into focus after doing your finger-yoga to make it work, there is no way to tell if it actually has focused on where you want it to. Again, the EVF is not capable of rendering fine details to make this procedure useful.

The range of the zoom is excellent. 38-300mm was more than sufficient in most situations, though I would have greatly appreciated it if the range was pushed back in favor of a wider angle lens; 28-280mm would have been oh so sweet. There are many instances that the images in my mind while I explored the compound required a 28mm or even a 30mm wide angle lens to bring into being. Though I had a 17mm attached to my EOS, that however was way too wide to use on crowds or most scenes. It was ironic that though the 17mm Tokina brought in more people into the frame, the resulting image would have lost that crowded feel to it.



Picture quality wise, I love the brilliantly saturated colors when the camera is in chrome setting. At 5.1MP, I think I can live with the resolution without feeling too jealous of those 8MP to 12MP guns. I have this problem with purple fringing though and what looks like halation whenever there is a bright light source aimed somewhere behind the subject. Though I have had halation problems with 35mm cameras since I have this habit of shooting against the light, it is not as bad as with this digital camera. Luckily, there is Photoshop to fall back on.



Though I am not ecstatic about the overall control and performance of my new Finepix S5600, I am confident that I can take acceptable photos with it - photographs that I can proudly show to others and affix my name to it.