Tagaytay Hills: A Night Trek and Camp In No Plan

campsite

Spontaneity seems my adventure trend these days since our Singapore trip last April. Apart from being too preoccupied with my life, juggling between work and personal, yes, I felt always excited every time. Not until I got myself into this short-notice, and I mean short – as in just hours before, camp. That excitement turned frightening when I realized Isa, my friend who invited me for the camp, actually didn’t know the direction.

 

Malubog Lake

Disclaimer: All thoughts expressed in this blog are based on my own. Every traveler may differ in perspectives on things they experience at traveling.

Long-story-short, the journey towards Toledo, where we head out for a weekend camp, was scary with much of misfortunes. From Cebu City, we had a long wait for the bus to Toledo. It took us approximately 2 hours on a bus ride until we reached the city proper.
We miss jeepney ride at the terminal so we transferred to Sangi for the ride going to Brgy. Casoy. It’s getting dark and I can already hear the cries of my stomach inhabitants. Added to the discomfort was my confrontation with the tricycle driver who resisted changing my 50 pesos for an 18-peso fare.

We waited for long minutes for the jeepney to go for an hour of the trip. It’s so dark outside until we reached our destination, the jump-off area. I supposed our guide and some of our companions were waiting. Yes, the guide was there but he is asking for 250 pesos to guide us up to the campsite. I tried to haggle since there’s no signal on that area and we can’t contact those ahead of us. He’s unlikely negotiable so we decided to find some alternatives as we have no extra money for it.

My heartbeat rate started to increase and faster, and at this point, I’m so scared already. I still managed to calm myself though while Isa isn’t responding with me anymore. Anyways, we were lucky to meet some guys who were also in the same way except that they were in a different direction at the top.

Every step and every stop to the top made me terrified as what could have had happened to both of us with these 3 strangers. I was so succumbed by my fear that the thirst, hunger, tiredness, etc. were nothing until I saw tents a few meters away.
I was praying all along for guidance, and thank God He never left us all the way. I was relieved meeting and seeing the Pobreng saag troupe accommodating us and helping us pitch our tent.

The moon and the socials we had that night made my day. It’s overwhelming to meet new friends with the same values in life somehow. No matter what happened that long day, we still retired to bed sound.

Early morning came and the weather favored us so well. The campsite is so wide and there were only 2 groups of campers there, including us. We prepared a delicious breakfast, had photoshoots, laughs, stories, and more.

We started to decamp before the heat of the sun hurts. But nop, we’re not heading home yet. We decided to have a side trip somewhere. We were told by a local that there’s a river that we can go to next. I forgot the name of the sitio and the river. You may as any local there for details then.

Another weekend was well spent with new friends. A new adventure unleashed indeed! Hopefully, we can go on more adventures in the future.

Always be a responsible traveler and keep in mind the Leave No Trace (LNT) Principle…
Itinerary:

Day 1
4 pm – Meet-up at South Bus Terminal Cebu
6 pm – ETA at Super Metro Toledo
6:30-7:15 pm – Sangi to Brgy. Casoy (by jeepney)
7:30-8:15 pm – Jump-off to Tagaytay Hills
8:30 pm- Dinner and Socials
11 pm – Lights Off

Day 2
5 am – Wake-up Call
6 am – Prepare Breakfast
8:30 am – Decamp
9:30 am – Descend
10:30 am – Jump-Off
10:40-11 am – Side trip to a river
11:20 am – ETA at the river
11:30 am-1:30 pm – Swimming/Lunch
1:50-2:10 pm – to Brgy. General Climaco (quick view of Malubog Lake)
2:30 pm – Depart to Toledo Proper
3:30 pm – Depart to Cebu
5:30 pm – ETA Cebu South Bus Terminal

Estimated Budget:

2-Way Bus Fare (Cebu-Toledo) – 70
Jeepney Fare (Sangi-Casoy) – 20
2-Way Motorcycle Fare (Casoy to the River then to Brgy. Gen. Climaco) – 20
Jeepney Fare (Brgy. Gen. Climaco-Toledo Proper) – 20
Registration Fee – 30
Total = 160 excluding food

Watch Vlog at:

 

 

*Some photos and videos credit to friends