Team excited to start the trek

Last September, we had another adventure in Benguet involving several Mountain peaks. Mount Purgatory was the highlight of the whole trek. The weather was great. There were other groups who climbed and we were the last to start at around 8:30 AM. The trail started with a 30 minute gradual assault until we reached the peak of Mount Mangakew.

Team at Mount Mangakew

The trail after the school was an open road. We passed many houses and vegetable gardens. The scenery was beautiful. We had to catch our breath as we trekked ascending roads and trails. We passed the groups who started ahead of us. The sun was shining bright and the cool air was soothing but the heat of the sun oftentimes overpowered the cool air. It was the perfect formula for a sun-burn!

We took our lunch in Bagtinen campsite and after 30 minutes we continued our trek through the mossy forest. An hour passed when we reached the peak of Mount Pack.

The sign is somewhat telling us to pack our things and proceed immediately to Mount Purgatory 😛

After a 15 minute photo-shoot we continued our trek and after 45 minutes we reached Mount Purgatory.

Mount Purgatory at last!

We relaxed a bit until the other teams arrived. The other teams seemed to have “reserved” the Bakian School campsite so we discussed with our guide on where to camp and she suggested that we proceed to Mount Tangbaw campsite. Around 4:00 PM we reached a watersource. 4:30 PM we reached the school and took some photos. The school was a perfect place to camp so we hoped that the campsite in Mount Tangbaw would be perfect as well. 5:30 PM we arrived at our campsite and it was near a watersource and a house with a comfort room! It was a perfect campsite 😉

The weather was cold. After eating our dinner and some chats, we called it a night.

The next day we proceeded to the peak of Mount Tangbaw. From there we had a perfect view of Mount Pulag!

Mount Pulag in the background. I missed that mountain!

We started our descent around 9:30 AM via Poodan Trail. The first hour of trekking was easy, the shaded trail provided a cool breeze. The next two hours proved to be a hot and humid trek, thanks to the open and steep descending trail of Poodan. Around 12:30 PM we reached Sitio Ekip. Our rented jeepney was waiting for us across the hanging bridge.

Ekip hanging bridge. Hey girls do not hang around, our jeep is waiting 😛

Before going back to Gina’s Restaurant, we stopped at the Bokod Municipal Hall for a courtesy call. We bade goodbye to our guide and porters. At 2:00 PM we reached the resto and did what we had to do. We proceeded to Baguio around 3:30 PM and had our dinner at 50’s Diner around 5:30 PM. It was raining and cold.

The whole trek was fun. Indeed there were some “purgatory” moments when the trail was hot, open and steep but overall the adventure was great and the cold night was another experience. Thanks to SMB Mountaineers Team Purgatory 2014!

For our IT please click HERE.

For more photos please click HERE.

Thanks for reading 😉