Anniversary climb of Boondockers at Mt. Gulugod Baboy

As a tradition of Boondockers, which is a group of people who are enthusiast of climbing mountains, they celebrate their anniversary by climbing MT. Gulugod baboy.

My friends and I, plus more than 70 people gathered at 7-11, LRT-Buendia at around 10am for the anniversary climb of Boondockers at Mt. Gulugod.

Due to a large number of participants, the group leader had a difficult time organizing our transportation to Batangas. Unfortunately, my friends and I joined a different group on our way to Mabini, Batangas but it was been a joyful ride because they’ve been friendly to us.

Upon arriving a bus terminal at Mabini, Batangas, some locals are offering rides to Bauan Market. The leader of the group was been cautious on hiring a jeepney because some of them were charging unreasonable rates.

We took our lunch at Jollibee, Bauan. Then we took a jeepney ride to Philpan resort. For some strange reasons, the driver took us in the wrong way, which we didn’t noticed because we were too busy chatting. He should have turned right at Crossing, Bauan, so we have to go back which caused us to be late.

At the jump off point, while we are preparing ourselves for the climb, one of the climbers walked around and gave a glass of gin.

Most of the participants took a jeepney on their way up to the first stop but since it was my friends’ first climb, we refused to ride the jeepney. My attention was caught by a participant who was the only girl who joined us to walk up to the first stop.

Upon arriving the first stop, we took a rest. I sat on a bench made of bamboo then I put down my backpack. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice that the bench has no back rest, so my bag fell off the cliff. What an event to start a climb.

After walking a short distance, we arrived at a church, we sat for a while, prayed then continued our climb.

Halfway, we stopped in one of the locals’ place. Then the rain starts to fall, which made us stay for a while and chat.

The trail became slippery because of the rain but it didn’t stop us to carry on. We continued climbing with our rain coats on. Another unfortunate event happened when my shoes lost it outsole after walking on the muddy part of the trail. Two fellow climbers, who arrived at the campsite earlier, gave us warm welcome as we enter the corn field near the camp. Funny but true, a corn field was made near the summit, which made us camp on a different site.

As the day break, we started to put up our tent and had our dinner. While waiting for the socials, my friends and I spent some time inside a tent sharing stories and jokes. Regrettably, I fell asleep, so I wasn’t able to watch the presentation of each group for the anniversary climb.

Around 6am, my friend waked me up and asked me if I wanted to join him to climb to the summit. At the top, we took our chances to take pictures while the others are still sleeping. We went back to the camp for breakfast. Right after we had our breakfast, it started to rain. We put on our rain coats and went back to the summit while some of my friends stayed inside the tent and slept. I had a wonderful time at the summit because I was able to fulfill one of my dreams, to be able to lie down on top of a mountain and feel the cold raindrops as it touches my face. It was very relaxing. While a friend, who was with me at the summit, let go of his stress by shouting out loud against the strong rain.

After the rain, we were amazed by the sea of clouds approaching lower than the camp site. It reminded me of the scene when I was at the top of Mt. Pulag. A dream of being able to be higher than the clouds.

The group started to prepare to leave the camp site. Due to the heavy rain, we expected the trail to be trickier. Lots of the climbers slipped and fell on their way down but fortunately no one got hurt.

Near the end of the trail, while waiting for the others, we stopped at a store and had a cold Sprite and Sparkle to quench our thirst. We had our lunch at Philpan resort and spent some time at he beach.

Around 4pm, we started packing our things to leave the resort. We had a shortage with the transportation because some of the participants, who were too tired, accidentally put their bags on the spaces which were meant for the others. The other vans had left. My friends and I, plus another climber, are still having a difficult time looking for a ride because it’s almost dark and the resort is located in a very remote area. But it didn’t stop us from leaving the place, thanks to the group leader who was been kind enough to help us to look for a ride that we can hire to take us to the bus terminal. At last, we aboard in a bus bound to Cubao and went home.