I first heard of Panimahawa when I was in high school on a GMA-7 documentary. I instantly got hooked by its charm, and I promised myself that one day, I'd go there. Lo and behold, after many years, I finally got the chance to explore Bukidnon, and of course, the first on my list is to go hiking and camping at Panimahawa Ridge. This hike was my first bukid experience for the year 2020, and I had no idea that it was also going to my last because Covid happened right after this trip. I remember going to my master's class with a huge hiking bag with me. Right after my 3-5 pm class, I immediately went to catch our 7 pm flight to Laguindingan Airport, CDO. We arrived early, but I guess there was a kind of mix up and we ended up boarding the earlier flight. Elizah and Shaira were with me, and we were catching our breath because we almost missed the flight. Upon entering the plane, we were surprised to see Jerlinda on the same flight. It was just the 4 of us that night since Kirsty was already in CDO a day earlier. When we arrived at the Calyx Hotel, we got a surprise. It turned out Kirsty prepared something for us - March bday celebrants. I was genuinely surprised and grateful because I had no idea Kirsty could still pull off a surprise despite the schedule. After organizing our things, we decided to head out to the nearest food park. We arrived in The Hive at Limketkai Center, past 8 pm so there weren't many people around. We ordered some drinks and shared the cake Kirsty prepared for us. There was a local band that night so we We stayed around for some time and enjoyed the night. We started our day early the following day since we have to travel from CDO to Bukidnon. We had our lunch at the Agora Bus Terminal and boarded the bus going to Impasug-ong. We were not familiar with the places, so we kept on asking the bus conductor to drop us off at Impasug-ong Elementary School. We had already contacted someone from the Ant Farm, so they fetched us from there. The Ant Farm is where hikers would register and attend a short orientation before starting the hike to Panimahawa. In our case, we had some time to explore the place since we were still waiting for an available guide. After a short orientation, we started our hike around 3pm. After a strenuous 400m ascent, we finally reached the camp site at the peak of Panimahawa. The trail was relatively easy and manageable. However, it was our first time to be in the trail carrying heavy loads. Naturally, it slowed our pace. There were a lot of times when we stopped and just stood there for a few minutes, trying to catch our breath. Some of the trail doggos who came with us patiently waited beside us on the whole journey. After a few downhill and uphill trail, we stopped by at a local's house because our guide wanted to get some water. After a few meters, we were told to stop by a spot and drop some coins as respect for the unearthly caretakers of the mountain trail.
What followed after that seemed to be a never-ending uphill trail going to the base of Panimahawa. And after a strenuous 400m ascent, we finally reached the camp site at the peak of Panimahawa.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Hiraeth
|