Osmeña Peak-Kawasan Traverse

This is my photoblog for the Osmena Peak-Kawasan Traverse. It was really long for me, seven hours is. I'd like to choke whoever made that "small world" phrase. These are my descriptions for the photos above. Spare me the need to be meticulous with the html codes. Just match the description with the order of photos.










A tourist takes a walk at a garden of cabbages.
Jonas looking for a store to buy his nth pack of Marlboro.
A view from the foot of Osmena Peak.
A man carrying bottles on his bukag, a basket made of rattan. The basket is usually used to carry vegetables. 100 kilograms is a "typical" weightload, which is carried by the neck.
A fern-planked footpath that leads to Kawasan Falls, which was six hours away. When you ask locals for directions, they'd talk like it's just around the corner.
A boy carries water container. Locals do not start carrying 100-kilogram baskets right away. They start young, with 30-50 kilograms for their first trip.
A hiker fills up his water bottle from the reservoir. Notice the arm muscles, typing on a keyboard did that.
Jonas phone home.
Another photo of Jonas. He is everywhere.
John Lennon T-Shirt by Chyrel Gomez.
Anne Curtis jeering at my backpack.
Locals enjoying a Jet-li movie.
There are very lush parts of the trip and you'd feel like you are lost. Well, you should have stayed at home.
The walk goes on and on and on.
We were nearing Kawasan Falls at this part. My biggest frustration was that I was not able to find Kanlaob River. But it was really fun, especially if getting back pains and chafed skin is your thing.

Osmeña Peak Dalaguete

A less popular view from O Peak. I over-exposed most of my shots of the "real" peak.

A trip to the clouds is P50 pesos away from the town entrance of Dalaguete. You can take a motorcycle there for a 13-kilometer ascent through smooth and electric-bumpy road.

The froggy foggy road to Mantalongon, Dalaguete. Taken while riding a habal-habal.


Thick fog covering the narrow road that leads to Mantalongon seemed like a natural sight. I have mountain-biked up there three times and the fogs are ever-so-present.

You can ask the habal-habal driver to take you all the way to the foot of Osmeña Peak if walking is not your thing. But if you plan to walk from the marketplace of Mantalongon, just remember to turn left before the first bridge that you will cross. You will immediately see a groto of the Virgin Mary and that road will surely lead you there.

The barangay park at Mantalongon, around 12noon.

A Walk to not-Remember

Chyrel Gomez carrying our spare tent.

On the way to the summit, we were met by a kid who asked if we wanted water. We refused him politely then he went ahead of us to show the way. It seemed at first that he was just going home and leading us while he was at it. But then, our Good Samaritan turned out to be a paid tour guide. He met up with two more kids along the way. I don't know what they were up to but there were a lot of whisperings involved. I didn't want to be outdone so I also talked in whispers to everyone.

Osmena Peak way before you get there.

The tour boys told us that at the camp site we would pay 20 pesos each. When we neared the place, two teenage boys caught up with us. We made them walk ahead because their pace seemed faster than our SM-Ayala-Emall trained legs.

A footpath on the way to the camping site.

At the entrance of the camp area, we found them with handbook in hand, ready to collect our money. It was a surprise that was not welcome at all. I did not know that going to Osmena Peak involved a lot of fine print.

A wild boar.


Suddenly, an elder man joined and got the money from the two boys (I don't know where he sprung up. From the cracks in the ground, maybe!). He started whispering with them and the three kids who guided us. So it was a whispering party. Their equivalent to our metal music? That was the lousiest part of the trip. Any part where locals are conspiring is so not good. Anyway, we did not figured out what the 20 was for. There sure was no guard in the night or free firewood at least.

Campers resting. Osmena Peak is on the other side. I don't know what I was doing up here.

The road that we walked.

I did not bother complain about it. I have this one simple rule: if you are in a place where you are being robbed of 20 pesos in broad daylight in a quasi-legal way, just give them your money. You do not want to mess up with people who are on their own turf.

The wild boar-cat followed the campers.

A Shivery Night (the really scary movie sense)

Do I look like I don't know what I'm doing? Yeah I don't! I'm a mountain biker. This is only my second camp ever.

We bought canned tuna for the night because we thought that Osmena Peak was an ever-verdant place where lighting a bonfire is graver than blasphemy. We failed to consider the "established camp site" part. Soon as I found out that there is nothing to preserve about the place, I gather firewood for the night.

Our camp from afar. We were the only exception.

We went inside the tent at 7pm. We brought two tents, actually. I told a friend that I have a tent, COURTESY OF ROX, that can fit in five people. There were four of us on the trip and one failed to do the math so she brought another tent.

Chyrel Gomez with a bottle of The Bar.

Sahree, I digress like foot trails. Anyway, we went in at 7pm because our Agent friends haven't slept since their night shift. My eyelids were also heavy from exhaustion and boredom so I went inside my sleeping bag as well.

James with the ultimate camping gear: pink-and-yellow elephant pajamas.


But I was kept awake at night by the sound of tuna cans clattering outside (it's getting creepy typing this). There was no wind and definitely those were not fireflies eating from the can.

The five-minute bonfire. There was not enough wood to get by.

The undefinable noise and motion outside heightened my senses like I just chugged a gallon of espresso. Those were not humans outside, whatever they were, they just roamed freely around our tent after they were done with the cans. The fog has passed and the moon was bright enough to cast shadows against the tent. There was no shadow at all of that thing outside.

Our littered camp. We cleaned up before we left, promise!

I could not have cared of they were ghost or other entities (like those humanoids with three fingers who always want to phone home). Humans are the most dangerous creature of all. It is a wonder there is no world record to officially recognize that yet. Nothing could be worse than being robbed or killed for pure psycho murder while you are romanticizing the thought of sleeping in a tent at night instead of staying at the safety of your home.

View from Osmena Peak in the morning. There are so many peaks I don't know which really belongs to Osmena.

Whatever it was/they were, we just let them do what they pleased as they were not harming us (just scaring us to death). It made me wish that I've set up the other tent to give the illusion of number.

That must have happened between 8pm and 9pm. I woke up at 2am and went outside to do my part for the environment. Our three tuna cans were gone and we did not find them with the periphery of the campsite in the morning. There was no time for ghost stories. We had to set out for our Kawasan traverse, a.k.a. the long guess-walk through wilderness. Just to spoil the plot, we did find our way.

The whole place was dewy in the morning.

Camping Gears for Osmeña Peak

Paging Chyrel Gomez, James Tan, and Lester:

The first and only time I camped was during Scouting, about ten years ago. So most probably this will be a disaster. But what da hell. Our existence is disaster enough. Here are some camping gears I "think" we could use:

tent
ground tarp under the tent
sleeping bag
pillow
flashlight
trash bag
rope
first aid kit (optional, just don't break your neck or something)
camping knife/multi-tool
mugs (not sure about this, maybe you don't have to. there's probably starbucks at the peak)
food (can be bought at the market. we can dine at some karenderia to minimize our waste at the campsite)
snacks
booze (it's so up to you)
canteen/water bottle
shoes/sandals (no, not those sponge bob bedroom slippers)
warm clothing for the night, comfortable clothes for two days
matches/lighter
porn mag (optional)

We will head for Dalaguete at 8am. There is a bus that goes directly to Mantalogon but I prefer we ride Ceres then hop on habal-habal to our destination. It is more convenient: more convenience means less fatigue.

There is a plan for a Kawasan traverse. But I do not know the route and Google earth shows nothing but clouds on the Osmeña Peak part. We might, if there are other people going. But then again, we can always guess our way to the other side.