December 22, 2013; Glenn, Mark and I woke three hours up late than the scheduled 5:00 AM call time for the Mt. Asog climb. I woke up at 4:30 but intend not to wake up Mark and Glenn because the muscles in my legs and in my feet were shouting for rest. Without me knowing, that time, Glenn ad Mark were likewise wishing for a later wake-up call because, they too were experiencing muscle fatigue after our Mt. Isarog expedition in the past two days. Although, muscles were still aching then, the heart 'beating' for more terrain forced us to wake up at around 8:00 AM. Thus, immediately after taking a bath, we checked out of the hotel and had a quick breakfast at the nearby Bigg’s Diner.
At 9:00 AM, we went to Sitio Ilian in Barangay San Nicolas, Iriga City, the jump off point but we were advised that we need to register first at the City Hall prior to the climbed. We went to the city hall, registered at the City Tourism Office, and went back to the jump off where we were endorsed by the Barangay Officials to the chieftain of one of the Aeta Tribes at the foot of the mountain.
After series of discussions, we had courtesy visit to the military camp located at the trail head and immediately started trekking at around 10:30 with the chieftain as our guide. Initially, we passed through coconut and vegetable farm. We stopped for lunch in a kubo in a vegetable farmland owned by our guide (450 MASL) and indulged ourselves with fresh buko juice.
At 9:00 AM, we went to Sitio Ilian in Barangay San Nicolas, Iriga City, the jump off point but we were advised that we need to register first at the City Hall prior to the climbed. We went to the city hall, registered at the City Tourism Office, and went back to the jump off where we were endorsed by the Barangay Officials to the chieftain of one of the Aeta Tribes at the foot of the mountain.
After series of discussions, we had courtesy visit to the military camp located at the trail head and immediately started trekking at around 10:30 with the chieftain as our guide. Initially, we passed through coconut and vegetable farm. We stopped for lunch in a kubo in a vegetable farmland owned by our guide (450 MASL) and indulged ourselves with fresh buko juice.
After an hour, we started the steep ascend along seemingly endless steep trail covered with thick cogon grass. The assault was bit difficult due to the very slippery condition. There was a need to grapple and pull-up ourselves using the sharp and itchy leaves and body of cogon grass. Good thing that while we are dealing with the steep trail, the light stories and practical jokes of our guide kept us all from laughing. That probably made our way up bit psychologically manageable. At 2:50 PM, we reached the crater rim, and proceed to an area were the explosion crater as well as the view of Iriga City and the adjacent towns could be seen. In the summit, Mayon Volcano and other major peaks of Albay and Camarines Sur were visible. Lakes Buhi, Baao and Bato could also be seen highlighting the picturesque view. The view on top was breath taking… we took a lot of pictures, in my case, almost 100 shots!
After spending an hour at the summit under the scorching sun which we did not mind at all; we started descending. We reached the military camp at around 6:30 PM, fulfilled and delighted! We then proceeded to Ligao City for our next climb.