Warrior Pilgrimage

Featured in Blogspot on June 23, 2011

I AM ON THE TRAIL once again on this second day of 2011. I will not be alone but will have with me Boy Toledo and Ernie Salomon of Camp Red; Randell Savior, Ian and Tonton Bathan of Tribu Dumagsa; Rowel Seno of Timex Outdoor Club; Dondon of Zubu Ecological Tour Society, Inc.; and Ms. Aisha Ronquillo, the only rose among the thorniest of thorns. Like me, all of them decide to burn whatever party fats they have accumulated during the holiday season. ...

Featured in www.pinoyapache.blogspot.com on November 1, 2010

I AM THE FIRST to arrive at the meeting place in Tisa, Cebu City in the very early morning of June 12, 2010. Today is Philippine Independence Day and I aim to refresh my love of country by participating in the 2nd Freedom Climb on one of the two designated campsites in the Babag Mountain Range. Sixty-five summits will be climbed all over the country and around the world where there are Filipino patriots.

The ...

Featured at www.pinoyapache.blogspot.com on May 1, 2010

THE SUN SPIKED HOT today, December 27, 2009. I am with old buddy – Boy Toledo; two people from Kompay Lakaw Mountaineers – Nathan and Myla; and a junior bank executive – John Chan.

It had not rained today and it is a good day to introduce John to trail hiking. We deem it unnecessary to rest along the trail until after we have reached the river crossing where there is a water spring. We arrived at the place at 8:15 ...

Featured in www.pinoyapache.blogspot.com on March 15, 2010.

THERE IS A PROMISE of a hot day today, October 4, 2009, as me and my guest, Wil Rhys Davies aka CochiseRattlesnake, walked the concrete-and-asphalt road at 8:15 AM from Guadalupe to Napo. Will is a Welsh national who opted to live here in Cebu and put up an adventure-tour business – Jungle Wild Adventure, Inc. He had been living in Banilad since February and we crossed paths at the Tap Room of the Gustavian Restaurant on ...

Featured in www.pinoyapache.blogspot.com on January 22, 2011

I STARED AT THE far expanse of the metropolis and all its neighboring islands as I stood on the ridge of the Babag Mountain Range. It's just another regular Sunday for me hiking alone on the trails. It is September 6, 2009 and this is my twenty-fifth session here. Oh, I just arrived yesterday from Iloilo, crossing two bodies of water – the Guimaras and Tañon straits – and a whole day of travelling by bus over the great Panay ...

Featured in www.pinoyapache.blogspot.com on January 1, 2010

IT HAD BEEN A year already when I first climbed Mount Babag by way of Ernie's Trail, a steep and challenging route named after my climbing buddy – Ernie Salomon. That was on August 17, 2008. Since then I have climbed her twenty-three times alone or with a group. I aim to complete a full year cycle by climbing her again on August 23, 2009. This would be my twenty-fourth incursion there.

I brought two hawk feathers ...

Featured in www.pinoyapache.blogspot.com on November 8, 2009

IT IS FATHER'S DAY, June 21, 2009.

I am going up to Mount Babag today and I am alone.

Yeah, alone...

...again.

I have no problem walking alone. I find good therapy in the silence and I love the sound of my voice. I talk to myself. Yes, hum a song. Imitate a bird call. That's what you do when you're bored.

From my home, I rode a public jitney in the ...