Introduction
Mount Pulag is the 3rd highest peak in the Philippines and the 1st highest in Luzon. The highest point is 2928M which is just several meters shorter than the tallest in the Philippines, Mount Apo, which we visited last year! (Read more here) It is located in a mountainous region about 30km east of Baguio city. The terrain on Pulag is 50% rainforest and 50% grassy plains which makes it a very gentle and enjoyable hike compared to many mountains in the nearby SEA region. Total hiking time for Pulag is about 6-8hrs there and back depending on the hiking speed. Would definitely recommend this for beginner to advanced levels due to its ease of hike and splendid views at the top!
Contents
Getting There...
Pulag is located east of Baguio and the easiest way to reach there is through Baguio city itself. The closest international airport is in Manila. Hence, one would typically fly to Manila and take a car/van ride to Baguio and head to Pulag from there. It's worth making a stop at Baguio city as it has many sights to see and night markets. The city itself is located in a mountainous region and is at an altitude of 1500m high. Because of the altitude, you can expect comfortable cool air, reaching about 15°C at night. The ride from Manila to Baguio is about 6hrs and it takes another 3hr drive from Baguio to the base of Mount Pulag. Do expect a windy ride from Baguio city onwards as the roads are all mountainside and very windy, you might get some motion sickness from the car ride.
Day 1
We met everyone at the Manila airport the night before. After meeting the whole group and giving a short briefing on what to expect, we set off from Manila at around 1 am. Our van took us to Baguio City through the night and we arrived at a popular local restaurant in Baguio called Good Taste Restaurant. The place was packed full of locals even at 6 am and there was already a long queue outside! The food was very hearty and filled our stomachs after the long ride here. If you need to know, the taste was indeed good!
Afterwards, we boarded the van again and went on our way to Pulag. The ride was about 3 hours, but we stopped along the way at 2 places, Ambuklao Dam and Badekbek sulphur springs! That gave us some good and much needed stretching of the legs after the long ride. The sulphur springs were especially interesting as the hot springs were so hot that the water there was boiling vigorously. There was also a place where we could soak our legs in the warm water/mud. Along the way, we also stopped at a fish seller where we could scoop up some tilapia that was freshly caught in Ambuklao reservoir, we had them for dinner that night.
After the side trips, we then made our way to Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) at Mount Pulag. There is a local doctor near the DENR. As all visitors to Pulag are required to have a doctor's statement saying that you are fit for hiking, it was very convenient to just visit the doctor there and have a medical statement for 180 Pesos. The doctor did do her due diligence and checked our heart rate and blood pressure for any abnormalities. After that, we went to the DENR for registration and also to listen to a compulsory briefing about the mountain and proper etiquette to be observed on the mountains. The briefing and videos took about 45 minutes or so. Do be prepared for a wait if it is peak season as they can only brief groups of around 50 at a time.
We then continued on our way up another 20 minutes to our actual homestay called 5Js homestay. It was a beautiful place with clean beds and lodging. We had a large room with 3 double-decker beds, meaning 6 beds. Each bed can fit 2 people, so the maximum capacity was 12 people, but that would be really squeezy, luckily we only had 7 people on this trip. There's a toilet attached to the room with fresh spring water. a kettle, coffee and sugar are also provided. The village where the homestay is in also has several convenience shops where you can buy snacks and water for the upcoming hike. We rested here for the night and had a nice meal and went to sleep to prepare for the next day.
Day 2
The next day, we woke up at 1 am to prepare for the hike. As it was peak season and there were hundreds of hikers, the park arranged for us to go in 3 batches starting at 12 am 1 am and 2 am. Ours was the 2 am group. We set off at 2 am after a quick breakfast. Our homestay was quite near the to start of the forest, but it still took about 30 minutes of hiking through the village roads before w reached the real start of the trek where the path becomes less clear and the ascent begins.
The initial part of the ascent was a temperate rainforest terrain. This lasted for about 1.5 hours of hiking through the forest, with 50% gradual ascents and 50% steeper ascents mixed throughout. Afterwards, we broke through the tree line and entered the beautiful sea of grass at camp 2 onwards.
Once we broke into the vast open grasslands, almost all f our fatigue disappeared as we were taken in by the beautiful scenery around us. The cool morning air and the oncoming sunrise gave us additional motivation to continue on the trek. There was still a bit of ascent, until we reached a checkpoint called "the tower" which was a satellite dish on top of a false peak that overlooked the surrounding mountains. we stopped here briefly for some pictures. We then moved on to the real summit as it was still about 1.5 hours hike from this point. the hike to the summit was mostly gradual ascends, made very enjoyable by the open plains around us. we eventually reached the last 300m where it was a steep ascend all the way to the summit!
With a sense of great accomplishment, our team began to head down the mountain. Usually going down is one of the most dreadful parts of the trek. But not for Mount Pulag, the path was gradual and the descent was very comfortable. One of our members had a slight case of altitude sickness and felt nauseous on the way down. Altitude sickness doesn't happen often at these altitudes, but it is no joke either. Luckily we were already on the way down and once we got back to the homestay, we could all rest and recover. In the last part of our hike, we took motorcycles down, also known as "ojek" in many South East Asian countries.
What previously took us 40 minutes, only took us only 5. We took a quick shower and had our lunch back at the homestay. After resting for an hour or so and regaining our energy, we set off back to Baguio city to spend the night in a nice hotel!
Back in Baguio, we treated ourselves to some beer and a walk around the night market. Then ended off the long day with a nice massage and went to sleep! The next day, was a full day of travelling, all the wa backto Manila for our flight back to Singapore!
Final thoughts
Mount Pulag is a truly beautiful mountain to hike with breathtaking scenery along the whole journey. I would recommend it for any beginner hiker who is able to hike for 6-8 hours continuously. It's one of the more scenic hikes around the area and also can be done in just 1-day hike! Hope This blog has helped those going to Mount Pulag in the future to plan your own trip!
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