Warrior Pilgrimage

Featured in www.pinoyapache.blogspot.com on May 24, 2010

I FIND IT BOTHERSOME walking my hiking shoes on paved roads. The shoes are expensive and the lugs wear out easily. You have to need those lugs to dig deep in the dirt trail to keep your footing stable. As much as possible, you have to preserve the soles and walking on a concrete and asphalt road wouldn't help any.

The road from Guadalupe to Napo, our jump-off point for Mount Babag, is a paved road and every two weekends I walk that stretch of 2.5 kilometers. Amidst this is a rolling terrain of hills, and small valleys which might host a hidden trail all the way to Napo. A trail works well with hiking shoes, you know what I mean.

Anyway, I have been eyeing for a long time a low hill that rise above the road just after you leave Guadalupe. You will see it on the left side. Access to the hill is kind of tricky since many residential houses line the bottom of the hill and I wouldn't dare being caught trespassing. It took me almost a year to finally gather courage to gain access through after a brief consultation with a local two weeks ago.

So on January 10, 2010, right after a hearty breakfast at the back of the church, I decided to put in motion my exploration of a trail waiting to be discovered somewhere there on the ridges of that hill...READ MORE (Press CTRL & click mouse)