From Manila, we arrived a day before going to Benguet. We woke up at 4am the following day and started the long jeep ride to the Mt.Pulag starting point. We arrived about 10pm so we had an early lunch before starting the rigorous 2,900 meter climb to the camp site of Mt. Pulag. The 7km hike was very tedious especially for those who have no training or exercise. We arrived at the camp site after a grueling 3 hour hike of zig-zag roads and elevated landscape with very rocky ground. The hike took a toll in most of us and many of us were already starting to give-up but the beauty of the mountain was able to give us the drive that we needed in order to take a look at the breath taking view of Mt. Pulag.
Camp Site -> Peak
It was late afternoon at the campsite, it was quite cool and the grass was soft enough to lie down because of the tiring hike. We wanted to reach the peak for sundown but we were too tired to climb so we decided to see the sunrise on the next day. During night time, we were amazed to see the unpolluted sky streaming with stars which I could never see in the city. I realized that we were really that high in order to see other stars that aren't present below the mountain and it was really a magnificent experience for me seeing things that are so unexpected.
Woke up at 3am to start the trek because we wanted to reach the peak before 5am inorder to capture the sunrise. The hike uphill towards the peak was much more steep and tiring especially when waking up 3am in the morning with a temperature about 0 celsius. After a hike more than an hour, we finally reached the peak just in time with a few moments to setup our cameras to take the majestic view. What we saw was something extraordinary, it's a new feeling for someone above the clouds looking down on them rather than being below the clouds looking up towards them. The view is simply just breathtaking, a new experience I am proud to have seen for myself.
