An invitation from a friend to celebrate his birthday at Anawangin Cove but instead using pump boat to get there we opt to let ourselves undergo in a 5-hour self - flagellation day hike at Mt. Pundaquit and traverse to Anawangin Cove at freaking 37 degrees Celsius.
1045H - Together with my friends, Grey (the birthday boy) and Yel we started our ascend to the Mt.Pundaquit. Yes, it was already late to start the hike, even the tricycle drivers at the jump off point mocked at us for the sun is already at its highest spot and was already scorching hot. Good thing we loaded our backpacks and camping equipment at the boat which went ahead to Anawangin Cove to lessen our loads.
We hired manong Octavio as our guide for our hike. The first part was passing through a flat lahar field, seems Mt. Pundaquit gave us an easy warm up from here.
Mang Octavio, the guide
1105H – After 20 minutes, we passed through this small swamp, so would I recommend wearing sandals or shoes? It’s up to you. Well, I just let my hiking shoes submerged in the water for our guide told us that there are countless of rivers awaiting for us.
1115H – we reached this river, a knee deep high with not so strong current.
1120H – I started to feel the exhaustion and lucky to found this temporary shelter from a blazing heat of the sun. Sobrang init talaga!
1150H – A small falls surprised us and couldn’t resist to take a dip in a pool to freshen up and to get rid the tiredness in our body. We also decided to take our pack lunch here.
1230H – Resumed our climb. From the falls it's one and half hours more to reach the peak of Mt. Pundaquit, I must say the real climb started here. Really! Prepare for more intense rage of the sun. No more gang of trees to shelter you plus a combination of muddy and rocky pathway up to peak that made it harder. I felt pity for ourselves because every 10 minutes we get tired, stop and rest.
Mt.Pundaquit is the third mountain I climbed this year and perhaps the cruelest climb I ever experienced, reaching the summit is like going down deep to hell. Mt. Pundaquit made me say “P*tang *na, hindi 'ko aakyat ng bundok ulit, ang init!” 100x. HAHAHA!
1400H – Finally we reached the summit, we were welcomed by the picturesque view of the Anawangin Cove and nearby mountain ranges. We rest for a while and took a set of perfect photos.
1415H – Started our traverse to Anawangin Cove. Enough of 15 minutes rest in the peak, I reaped energy for descend. Again, rocky pathway made it harder for me to stride down.
1530H – Landed in the foot of the mountain towards Anawangin Cove, we crossed this colossal river which is above the knee high water level. We were lucky that time for the river is at its dormant period. Mang Octavio told us that the river sometimes could be a predator to the mountaineers.
Knee deep high level, mind that Grey is 6 foot tall.
1545H – God saved us throughout our hike, we reached the Anawangin Cove safe and sound. And it was a reward to set foot for the first time in this secluded and pristine cove.
Writing this post, made me realized that it isn’t difficult to climb the Mt. Pundaquit, actually it has difficulty level of 3/9, what made our experience a dreadful hike was the hot weather. Some hikers start the ascend by 3am to catch up the sunrise. So climb Mt.Pundaquit as early as possible.
