The mountains asked me what was i made of. Eventually the mountains were starting to believe that i was capable of reaching the peak even with the weight i had to carry. I could not stop at all, to think of the embarassment that will come after I quit the challenge will never be a good experience. And anyway it was a symbolic birthday hike. The highkings sang me a birthday song and it all felt funny :) (hehe) A very first hike to Mt. Dangawan from Nov 2-3. I had some gruesome ideas how the trails will be. I decided to forego and forget pain as if it was never experienced by my whole body. The endless greenery, the rough paths, the 89 degree grass roads, all leading to the majestic peak everybody longed for on that day.
I must say i was a little emotionally ready but without proper body conditioning it was more painful than expected. It was surprising that some of my mates can go real fast on the trails. it was incomprehensible at that time to me.
I was probably one of the those who reached the peak last.
When everybody reached the peak, i saw my mates sitting quietly, all inclined to being silent. Some were looking, resting and inhaling what laid before all of us. The views were just too like, ours but never ours. I personally got the sense that all i could do was breathe it all in, never could have hugged all the mountains and the clouds to myself. The mountains were just too tremendously immaculate but all it gave me was some sort of a connection to something pure and a detachment from material things. i forgot what desire was. The dirt and the earth has just too many stories that make me feel small and humbled. I felt immensely halved between awe and worry. Worry, I never got the chance to explore this feeling.
My tired body gave in to the cold wind passing its way through the peak.
We had some really awesome dishes for dinner like adobong puti and sisig pusu. Everybody ate like wildlife and everybody shared what was on them banana leaves. It was one of the tastiest dinners ever. But after dinner, I was anxious about the cold. Because I got a taste of the bitter cold in Sagada. It was too cold that I got hypothermia. I was shaking like a naked cat after being submerged in an icy river. Thats how cold i felt. It felt like hours, but it only really lasted between 3-5 minutes till i got myself warmed enough to stop the shaking.
SOCIAL HIGH
We were drinking alcohol while having a small social gathering after dinner. The city lights beneath us were too surreal. It was like a dream that I could not forget. The mountains were quiet but the birds were out. We heard birds that made scary calling sounds. It terrified me because it was unfamiliar.. But i loved the fear, the cold. All of it made me feel alive. I met friends, I laughed with them, shared some delicious elevations with them. It was a high, a social high that amplified the best feeling ever on that night. The trees turned into water colour clouds of blue. The tiny pecks of light became stars in my hazy vision. Everything was funnier and everything was slo-mo. I watched the moon transform a lonely sky to a one with a billion stars visible to the naked eye. It was 4am. The skies and the people were the highlights of that hike.
I knew the world stopped during those minutes, I was inches away from the stars but the mountains helped me become closer to something bigger than all of us. I felt I was one with the earth. It was a good kind of moment.
i wanna thank all the guys that hiked with us. you guys are just awesome. to the people who organized it. a tremendous thanks :) miyamit falls was too majestic for me to explain. i could not.... ;)
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