My attempt to reach the top of Panay's second highest mountain.
Continuing my climb of Mt. Napulak…
The story of how I tried to climb this mountain ended up being long enough to make into a two-parter. In case you missed the first go-round, here you go.
The TLDR, previously-on-the-show summary is that Mount Napulak is the second highest peak on Panay, but my online search for how to climb it didn’t inspire a ton of confidence. It was unclear where the trailhead was or how to get started. I came across a blogger’s account of how he climbed, but on a site that looked a little outdated. Thankfully, all the info held up, and after a taxi ride through several towns, registering at a municipal hall, and hiring a few motorbikes, we finally made it to the outpost at the foot of the mountain where we met our guide.
Our guide for this mountain was young, slender, and fair-skinned. He motioned where we should follow him out of the office.
Right outside, we could see the peak of Mount Napulak, the pinnacle everybody referred to as “the nipple.”
We set off from the outpost as a party of four. Myself. Deanna. Joseph the guide. Lamer the taxi driver. When I say that Lamer is the taxi driver willing to do it all, I mean it. I’ve never taken a taxi on a wild goose chase for a trail, only to have the taxi driver then join me on the hike. But I guess now I can say that.
At the start of the trail, I found a curious gumball quarter machine that apparently dispensed minutes of wifi.
Anyways, the beginning of the trail was already gorgeous. The first half hour of the hike gave us a series of switchbacks that went around a series of farms located at the base of the mountain. I’m not used to hikes starting off so scenically, but because Mt. Napulak was situated right across from Panay’s highest peak, Mt. Taripis, every turn offered a spectacular view of the valley in between.
I’m also not used to the beginning of the hike being as strenuous as this one. Despite all the switchbacks, it still felt like a pretty ambitious uphill climb at each leg. I tried pumping myself up mentally by telling myself that the climb wasn’t that bad. I was just out of shape after a year of toddler parenting and having no room for physical activity. I tried convincing myself that if Joseph could do all this without breaking a sweat, I should be able to handle this.
Here’s a pro-tip, though. Never compare yourself to a hired guide. It doesn’t matter if your guide looks to be about 80 years old and five feet tall. It doesn’t matter if your guide is also carrying a full box of pizza and a six pack up the mountain. If they’re a guide, they’ll climb their turf with ease. Joseph himself took at least three smoke breaks on the way up. Vitamin S he called it. I think hiking Napulak was just too easy for him, he had to take up smoking to spice it up.
While Joseph was having the easiest time, and Deanna and I were huffing it, Lamer also seemed to be doing pretty well. He was pointing out all the coconut trees and assessing their climbability. Apparently, he was quite the tree-climber in his youth.
Everytime we passed by a farm or house, I imagined what it would be like to live on this particular mountain. A long climb from anywhere. I met one farmer letting his cows graze and felt the warmth from his quick greeting. We would often stop at the edge of farms to take a breather, each time feeling a welcome breeze cut through the Philippine humidity.
The mountain exists. Now can I scale it?
My attempt to reach the top of Panay's second highest mountain.
MAR 31
Continuing my climb of Mt. Napulak…
The story of how I tried to climb this mountain ended up being long enough to make into a two-parter. In case you missed the first go-round, here you go.
The TLDR, previously-on-the-show summary is that Mount Napulak is the second highest peak on Panay, but my online search for how to climb it didn’t inspire a ton of confidence. It was unclear where the trailhead was or how to get started. I came across a blogger’s account of how he climbed, but on a site that looked a little outdated. Thankfully, all the info held up, and after a taxi ride through several towns, registering at a municipal hall, and hiring a few motorbikes, we finally made it to the outpost at the foot of the mountain where we met our guide.
Our guide for this mountain was young, slender, and fair-skinned. He motioned where we should follow him out of the office.
Right outside, we could see the peak of Mount Napulak, the pinnacle everybody referred to as “the nipple.”
We set off from the outpost as a party of four. Myself. Deanna. Joseph the guide. Lamer the taxi driver. When I say that Lamer is the taxi driver willing to do it all, I mean it. I’ve never taken a taxi on a wild goose chase for a trail, only to have the taxi driver then join me on the hike. But I guess now I can say that.
At the start of the trail, I found a curious gumball quarter machine that apparently dispensed minutes of wifi.
Anyways, the beginning of the trail was already gorgeous. The first half hour of the hike gave us a series of switchbacks that went around a series of farms located at the base of the mountain. I’m not used to hikes starting off so scenically, but because Mt. Napulak was situated right across from Panay’s highest peak, Mt. Taripis, every turn offered a spectacular view of the valley in between.
I’m also not used to the beginning of the hike being as strenuous as this one. Despite all the switchbacks, it still felt like a pretty ambitious uphill climb at each leg. I tried pumping myself up mentally by telling myself that the climb wasn’t that bad. I was just out of shape after a year of toddler parenting and having no room for physical activity. I tried convincing myself that if Joseph could do all this without breaking a sweat, I should be able to handle this.
Here’s a pro-tip, though. Never compare yourself to a hired guide. It doesn’t matter if your guide looks to be about 80 years old and five feet tall. It doesn’t matter if your guide is also carrying a full box of pizza and a six pack up the mountain. If they’re a guide, they’ll climb their turf with ease. Joseph himself took at least three smoke breaks on the way up. Vitamin S he called it. I think hiking Napulak was just too easy for him, he had to take up smoking to spice it up.
While Joseph was having the easiest time, and Deanna and I were huffing it, Lamer also seemed to be doing pretty well. He was pointing out all the coconut trees and assessing their climbability. Apparently, he was quite the tree-climber in his youth.
Everytime we passed by a farm or house, I imagined what it would be like to live on this particular mountain. A long climb from anywhere. I met one farmer letting his cows graze and felt the warmth from his quick greeting. We would often stop at the edge of farms to take a breather, each time feeling a welcome breeze cut through the Philippine humidity.
The trail did not get easier, however. Steep climbs take a lot of energy. Deanna started feeling something odd going on with her heart. We’d later narrow it down to a probable side effect to a medication. We tried to take more frequent breaks to keep her heart rate lower, like that one Jason Statham movie in reverse. In the end, though, we decided the wise thing to do would be for her to head back with Lamer. Joseph and I decided to keep taking a shot at the peak. Supposedly we were about halfway there.
I’m proud of Deanna for taking those cues from her body, and it proved to be the right decision at the right time. The trail got narrower and steeper, with occasional streams of water interrupting it.
I talked to Joseph a little bit more. He let me know that trail guiding was just his hobby, a side gig. Of course. His main endeavor was as an electrical student, learning how to be a technician.
He soon steered me in the direction of one stop I requested: Labaong Falls. I saw a poster of the waterfall in the municipal office where we registered for the hike, and I asked if it was along the way. Sure enough, it was just off the trail. As soon as we split off, we immediately started climbing down the steep mountainside. I managed to lose my footing a number of times, hoping the waterfall itself would be worth the treachery.
We reached the very bottom, and I saw the streams I had to cross in order to get to the waterfall. Unfortunately it was here where my foot slipped and I banged my ankle fairly hard on a corner of rocks. It was not the worst injury, given that I could still walk on it… just a sweet bruise, scrape, and a wet shoe to contend with for the rest of the hike.
After a few pictures of the waterfall, we climbed back up to the trail. On to the peak.
I asked Joseph how close we were. We were maybe around 3/4ths of the way there. We kept climbing, a little more silent this time around. I was definitely winded, but I felt determined. Looking right across at the side of the mountain that wrapped around, I could tell we were getting closer and closer to the top.
I had been hoping to see some rafflesia, the world’s largest flower, and a rarity only found around Southeast Asia. The very short bloom time (half a week) relative to a long budding process (nine months) makes it a very unlikely encounter. I did run into one! Unfortunately, it was dead.
The ground got rockier. I would frequently hear rocks fall down the mountain after being loosened by my feet. The trees got taller as well. The mosquitoes were more aggressive. I felt a sense of excitement that the peak was imminent.
Until it wasn’t.
We were greeted by three dogs, then the farmer we saw that they were with. Joseph and the farmer exchanged words in a dialect I couldn’t understand, but soon enough they reported back.
It was a honey harvest on the trail. Basically, I couldn’t pass through because the bees were swarming.
Joseph went back and forth with the farmer a bit, but you can’t really bargain with a swarm of bees, I’m afraid.
The farmer offered to show us an alternate way. We followed him around a corner well off the path. The dogs also helped lead the way. He had to clear quite a bit of brush with his machete. The ground was extremely steep and unstable, however. Rocks and clumps of dirt would crumble beneath most of my steps.
I still felt proud of myself for keeping pace with this brush-hacking farmer for a little while. But I knew I couldn’t do this forever. I kept banging my knees and shins on all kinds of things, twisting my ankles when losing my footing, and choosing just to shut off the pain and keep going. There was a point where to break a fall, I tried to grab a tree branch. It immediately snapped, but I managed to grab a second branch. This too snapped, and I found a third. That one brought down a large bough of the tree on top of me.
I let Joseph know I was actually pretty content with the day’s adventure. After all, I started the day not knowing if I could reach the trailhead. Instead, I nearly reached the peak, and most likely would have… if not for a honey harvesting schedule I was oblivious to.
I reminded myself that the honey was more important to these farmers than the summit was to me. I then headed back down the mountain to rejoin Deanna and Lamer.
We found them at the original outpost where we hired Joseph. I made Deanna take a picture of my legs which were a fantastic set of colors; black and blue from all the rocks and branches I’d been bumping up against all afternoon, accented with some pink and purple mosquito bites. I bought a bottle of Coke from the restaurant behind the place and downed it. I very rarely drink soda products, but after a mountain, you tend to be a lot less particular.
Despite the many, many mishaps, I was truly satisfied from this trip. I took a chance on this mountain and was met with a rich adventure. Between starting the hike with my taxi driver and finishing it because of a honey harvest, I could claim a lot of firsts on this journey. I loved it.