continuation of : Summitting Mt. Apo - " There is no shortcut to the top." (Day 2)
Day 3 (Aug 13) : The Descend
The third and last day of the climb. It was a very cold night again, much colder compare on the first night at Upper Sabwag camp. It was raining whole night but somehow we have restfull sleep. Wake -up time again suppose to be 5:30am. and as usual masarap matulog dahil tagos sa buto yung lamig.
Beautiful morning view of the summit camp greets us with full of fog while we drink our hot milo and coffee to start the day.
Beautiful foggy morning at summit camp. We're only the campers this day. We own the place today.
Beautiful foggy morning at the summit campsite.
Drinking hot milo with a beautiful morning view.
Kape -kape sa bakuran ni Loyd.
Mt. Apo summit campsite are surrounded by walls of peaks and the size about a football field. We take our time to explore more the summit campsite, take some photos and enjoy the moment. Still it's so sad to say that the summit has a lot of garbage that was left behind.
Surrounding of summit campsite.
Walls of peaks at the summit campsite.
Walls of peaks at the summit campsite.
At long last we have to bid goodbye on this place and continue our journey, finally to go home. It's a rewarding experience to camp on the highest peak of the Philippines.
Group picture at Mt. Apo summit campsite. 'Til next time.
At around 8:00 am we start the descend going to Lake Venado. It is almost 3 hours descend on the shoulder of the mother peak. There's no definite trails and no trees to shade us, and we're thankful again that it is not sunny on that day.
As we continue our descend, we cross along a local boy who is working on that area to plant trees. They we're hired by the Lopez's to plant the seedlings for a P150/day. Was this amount is fair enough for a minimum wage laborer? and knowing the area are to risky to climb. This tree planting is one of the bargain for using the other part of Mt. Apo's of Geothermal power source. Because of this exploration, they have to cut hectares of trees. Geothermal is a good source of electric power but it's a not nature friendly way. We'll, i am thankful i learn something on this boy, the true condition of the Mt. Apo national park.
Lake Venado as we descend from the Mother peak's shoulder. We are coming!
As we're nearing on the foot of the mother peak and we can see the beauty of Lake Venado.
Lake Venado behind me.
We get so excited, as going nearer at the foot of the mother peak. Lake Venado we are coming! Looking here on this spot, it seems is just so near enough. We reach the foot of the mother peak but their is still some swampy rails to tackle on before going on the Lake Venado, before you will see the beauty of the Lake you will have to take some challenge again.
At long last here we are! Lake Venado.
We reach Lake Venado at around 11:00 am, became speechless seeing the magnificent beauty of the Lake. It's like an oasis on a dessert. We decided to take our lunch here, take time to enjoy the place take some photo's and hoping take some good shots at the mother peak. We'll i guess i did and it's good enough.
Ye's i am here! Lake Venado.
Lake Venado is an endorheic lake located at the foot of Mount Apo .The lake is fed by local run-off and there is no outflow from the lake. The lake usually loses two-thirds of its size during dry months due to evaporation.
The name of the lake comes from the Spanish word "venado", which means "deer," owing to the deer-like shape of the lake. However, the local people living in the area called the lake "linaw", a Cebuano term for "clear", because the water of the lake is crystal-clear reflecting the peak of Mount Apo. The lake is believed to be enchanted by spirits living in the lake, according to the local tribes people. (reference taken from wkipedia)
It's sunny and it's time to put out wet things to dry -up.
When we arrive at the Lake the sun is out, pwede nang ibilad un mga basang gamit. We have almost 2 hours to stay here before we go down to our final destination. We savor the 2 hours, cook our lunch, take more pictures and keep -on looking sightseeing the place
Behind is the magnificent Mother Peak of Mt. Apo.
Hail to the beauty of the Magnificent Mt. Apo. (Migo Loyd)
Panoramic view of Lake Venado and Mt. Apo Mother Peak. (Dhang)
Panoramic view of Lake Venado and Mt. Apo Mother Peak.
I couldn't stop appreciating the beauty of the Lake and the feeling that i reach this the highest Lake of the Philippines. It's just pity i am not prepare to swim here. Maybe next time if i can go back here, i will do it.
Picturesque beauty of Lake Venado.
Our food supply are much enough for the 3 -days climb. Some of the supplies we give to the local boy who are working on the tree planting, he accompanied us going down here at Lake Venado. We seen a smile on his face carrying a plastic with full of food supplies and he can share also to others in their tree planting work.
Our time is up again, we have to bid farewell after 2 - hours in Lake Venado. We will be heading down going to the community of Sitio Baroring where our pedicab service is waiting. At 1:00 pm we left Lake Venado, it is still a long approx. 5 hours to go down. That's only our guess but to our surprise takes more than that.
Enjoying our last moment in Lake Venado.
Will be having our last push descend from Lake Venado to the Sitio Garok community. According to our guide itinerary we have to reach the community at around 5:00 pm, so it is 3 hours descend. I am so eager already to go down. We tackle the trail to descend and it is not that easy one. It's hard to catch some breath on the muddy trail, uphill and downhill trail. We have to cross sometimes on the logs, which below is the river. I have phobia on crossing logs with moss my feet is trembling, it's like losing it's strength. But i don't have a choice, i have to cross it.
I don't have any choice but to cross this log. I need to forget my phobia on woods with moss. My knees are shaking and it's like losing it's strength.
Pakitang gilas Loyd.
It's your turn Dhang.
Even though we are already pressure on our itinerary on this descend still we take time to enjoy the beauty of the trail. Take some photos while catching our breath. We pass by some trails with bed of flowers and it's a sign of rich biodiversity of the Mt. Apo Natural Park.
Enjoying the trail with full of flowers.
While pushing our descend, we take rest on the Century old Almaciga tree. This is a landmark that we are still in a Sibulan trail going to the first community Sitio Garok. It's a very huge tree that almost 10 persons can hug around. It's an indicator again the richness of biodiversity of the tropical rain forest.
Century old Almaciga tree.
Century old Almasiga tree.
At uli napag trippan ang sakong backpack ni Mang K (our porter). Ma try nga kung ako ang magkakarga whew! so bigat.
I am challenge to carry this sack backpack of Mang K. Let's do some sideline sometimes in the mountain.
It was almost 2 hours push trek from Lake Venado and it feel's good to think that it's only 1 hour more to go on our itenirary. But sad to say that we overshoot our time target, it's already F@&% the itenirary. We continue our descend passing some muddy trails and with treasure hunt site along the trail. We reach Sitio Garok at around 6:00 pm, we expect that in this community we will meet our hired pedicab to drop us on the center of Kapatagan, Digos City and head back to Davao.
At last we reach the first community after the forest. Sitio Garok.
Counting the time back on our jump- off time on the morning we are trekking almost 10 hours. On Sitio Garok, we have to walk again going to Sitio Baroring where our hired pedicab is waiting. We underestimate the distance, expecting it's just some minutes away but it ran almost 2 hours. We have pass 1 more community and reach Sitio Barring at around 8:00 pm.
I admit, with almost 12 hours trekking on that day. I am already exhausted, tired and so hungry. We head back to Davao City and we reach our dorm at around 2:00 am. Change our clothes and find some restaurant to eat.
After 12 hours trekking and 4 hours of travel from Digos City.
We need to eat now!
The third is a very exhausted trek. We did not expect that we will descend for almost 12 hours but somehow it was so rewarding. We have climb Mt. Apo and it's a great achievement for being a mountaineer with responsibility on our passion.
Thank you for this opportunity. 4 Souls with one determination to summit the Highest Philippine mountain. Mt.Apo, truly indeed "THERE'S NO SHORTCUT TO THE TOP."
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