treading a pig’s hump

Here I go again. I have time and again scolded myself to never, ever expose myself to such extreme discomfort and incessant back pain, yet here I was back up climbing again. A couple of years ago, after doing a major climb of Mt. Pulag via the dreaded Akiki trail or “killer trail,” if you will, I promised myself I will only climb again if it was (a) a “fun” climb, read: nothing grander than a three-day 9,000 ft climb, and (b) I had a porter.

Neither (a) nor (b) was granted this time, and the supposed “baby” climb of Gulugod Baboy wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. Someone said it didn’t even technically qualify as a real climb. “Are you kidding me, you could float from jump-off point to peak in 15 minutes and still strut all the way back.” I forget though, that the lady who said this was a pro, reputed to float amongst the most difficult trails and still come out of the mossy forests looking fresh in her tube top and no-smear mascara. And of course, understandably, with my sedentary lifestyle of work-home-chocolates-no-exercise regimen, any hike or climb would prove to be punitive.

So off with my two left feet, I found myself cursing once again on a hike that only went from steep to steeper to “Are we there yet?” to “Are we fucking there yet?!”

When we finally reached the peak and set up camp by sundown, my ire evaporated, quelled not only by the scenic beauty of the peak, but by the force of gale that raged on well into the night.

Around the middle of the night, I woke up with a dire need to pee, which I tried to sleep off but failed. I braved the cold night, stepped out of the tent and found a nice secluded spot away from the prying view of other campers. Or so I thought. While grandly sitting doing my thing, the clouds just whisked by revealing a very bright moon. So bright indeed I could visibly see my shadow. Silly me, if any of the other campers woke up and took a peek, I would have been bummed.

Next day I came home with battle scars on my right leg, earned from slipping through very dry soil during the descent. And hell, yeah, two left feet when it comes to climbing.
















This girl almost could.





















This lady could: Pan de sal at the peak

But this four-legged creature definitely could.

Happy campers all