Mount Pinatubo

On New Year's Day, we got a text from Cami, our tour coordinator, that we would have to wake up 15 minutes earlier than scheduled in order to catch the bus up north. As a result, we were now meeting Jun, our next guide, at 3:15 am. Bu Hao!! Besides the amazing hike the day was full of travel. In fact, I think Jun tried to pack as many forms of travel into one day as he could. It went something like this:

taxi to the bus terminal- 20 minutes
bus north to an unknown town/bus stop- 4 hours
motorcycle side car to home stay- 1:30 minutes

break for a small breakfast at the house.

Jeep off roading to the trailhead- 1:30 minutes
hike- 4 hours total up and down
jeep back to the house 1:30 minutes
motorcycle side car 1:30 minutes
bus to Baguio- 5 hours

Normally I would say that this much travel for a hike is ridiculous, but I have to admit that the side car and jeep were a lot of fun. In the side car, we flew down these back country roads with no one else on them and saw some really small villages and interesting people. We felt way out of place in the area, but that is all part of the fun.

The jeep was a blast because it drove us up the ash flow from Mount Pinatubo. The route was across a huge valley that was once filled with sugar cane crops and farmers. Now, as far as you could see there was nothing, but ash. Water from the mountains still flows down and brings more ash and rock each year.

Moo!

As you drive closer to the volcano, the ash deposits get deeper and deeper. At first, it was only a few inches of ash but the deposits quickly rose higher than the jeep, then higher than a farm house, then three stories, then 5, then 10. Eventually you could not tell which hills were natural mountain and which ones were made of ash.

This is where the trailhead was. It took us about an hour and a half on the jeep to reach this point. The hike was amazing. The ground was like a sandy beach, and the terrain looked like the moon with grey dust and large lava rocks scattered around.

We met these guys on the trail. These indigenous kids were so smiley until we took the picture.

They loved seeing themselves in the camera too!

Sulfer and moss.

It was a slight incline the entire way until the last 12 and a half minutes.

This section was a step uphill to get to the crater. The view from the top was amazing! Suddenly the ash was gone, and you could see green/blue water and steep mountain sides covered with green vegetation.

We stayed here for an hour or so and ate our packed lunch before heading back down the same way.

What stood out most to me on this whole volcano trip was the diversity in landscapes. The devastation in the middle of a beautiful valley was strange to see. The erosion to the mountains and ash deposits that have taken place since the eruption in 1991 was cool to see. The oasis in the crater itself was unexpected. As a side note, this area is where the USA Air Force holds target practice with the Philippine Air Force. I would love to see that take place.

After a long day of travel and hiking, we grabbed a quick shower despite this giant cockroach and boarded the motorcycle side car to take us to a bus that would take us to Baguio for the night.

There he is! 

Pronounced "Bag-yo"