Mt. Lanaya, or sometimes referred to as Kalo-Kalo, may not be the highest mountain in Cebu but it sure is one of the interesting ones-- and difficult at that! Mt. Lanaya was this year's destination for the Freedom Trek.
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| At the Peak |
My first face-to-face with this torturous, towering mountain was back in 2010 when I joined an open climb. It was my first time to join such event that involved a lot of mountaineering groups-- and yes I was alone, but referred to as a “freelance” which was way better than alone. I certainly looked n00bish with all their gears and apparels but the beauty of mountaineering is that you don’t need good gears, you just need to have determination and a whole lot of rest while on the trail.
This time we approached Lanaya through the backdoor. The open field was great but the burning sun wasn’t a treat at all. We walked faster than usual until we arrived at a familiar place--- the place where we used to camp. We arrived about a couple minutes before 1pm. The whole group then rested under the shade of the tree.
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| Bright Sunny Day |
After a few rounds laughter, we then ascended towards the peak. Our target time was to reach the peach at 2pm. Our team lead forgot where the trail leading to the peak was-- so did I. So, we backtracked all the way through the trail only to find out that we were on the right trail after all. After everything, we got back to the right trail and we arrived at the peak. Finally!
The peak still is beautiful as it was the last time I came. The 360 degree view is still awesome. Fronting west is the Island of Negros on the background with the Tanon Strait as its foreground and the opposite side you can see mountain ranges where you can see the distinct Osmena Peak. We took pictures, savored the moment, rested for awhile, and then we were off to our camping site.
The trek to the camping site was not an easy feat. We had trail blaze thick jungles and endure going down on loose and rocky terrain. I even had a “momentous” slip that ripped my pack. A few hours through the hike, I was a bit dizzy and felt that my knees have weakened. This was my comeback hike for long long time so it didn’t shock me, Also I wasn’t hydrated enough because my bladder was having problems. I was telling myself that I’m almost there even though I didn’t know if we actually were.
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| The Jungle |
When the team lead finally announced that we’ve arrived, I was relieved. Finally, we could rest. And what better way to rest than to sit and contemplate that hiking is way better than sitting down in front of the computer and refreshing your facebook page every 10 seconds. Oh yeah! Throw in some fresh coconut in there too. The fresh juice from coconut is as refreshing as water.
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| Butong time! |
We arrived at the campsite, which is dubbed as the “windows xp” campsite. We pitched our tents, cooked our food, talked about how difficult the trail was, and slept under the beautifully painted stars. Ahhh! The taste sweet taste of freedom! :)
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| The Windows XP Campsite |
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| Sunset Ninja |
