The plight of Osmeña has been heartbreaking to us who have seen it’s beauty before trekking has become somewhat mainstream. It’s sad and disappointing. Lately, more and more beautiful mountains in Cebu has fallen into the hands of human nature – selfishness, carelessness and no love for the environment. We’ve seen some and are greatly affected thus aside from our main purpose of encouraging our office mates to enjoy and experience nature via trekking, NCR Trekkers has added a new line in our mission: to help what we can in keeping the beauty of every place we visited. Last weekend, we visited Mago Peak for the first time and was astounded by it’s beauty.
LNT sign posted by our NCR Trekker champion of the month, Gamz!
In living up to our mission, we posted an LNT sign to a post on the way to the peak. We wanted to put it in the peak but it had nothing to tie the rope on. Aside from posting an LNT sign, we aimed to clean the camp site and the vicinity of the mountain as well. Fortunately, Mago Peak is still clean. We are hoping it will stay clean forever.
Participant’s in this weekend’s activitiy! 7 day trekkers and 13 overnighters of which 13 are NCR employees and 7 guests. Official photo ops at Mago peak. – Pics from Sanberth aka Nognog.
A plea to those who can read this post and be enticed to visit, PLEASE, PLEASE be responsible enough to follow the LNT ethics. If you don’t know about it, I strongly suggest you should know. It’s time we start caring for our environment. Don’t be JUST a mere spectator and bitch about what’s happening. Be an agent of change and PLEASE, DO SOMETHING if you ever saw anyone breaking the code.
This weekend’s climb is NCR trekkers’s less populous activity with only 20 participants in total of which 13 are NCR employees and 7 are guests. 13 enjoyed the overnight at the camp near the boundary marker. The peak was not fit for camping since the grass were just burned. We chanced upon a local who told us the reason why the grasses needed to be burned.
Yip that’s fire in there. Some parts of the mountains on the way to Mago is burnt. That’s not of course fire due to carelessness. The local said, the fire was intended to make way for new grasses to grow. The cows no longer eat old grasses, they have to be burn so that new ones will grow and the cows will like to eat them again.
Road to Santican, The Jump-Off
Mago peak is almost an hour ride from Carmen Public Market via habal2x. The fare was quite steep but it’s worth it. The ride is really long and be prepared to have muscle pains on your leg. The road to Santican was uphill with most parts under construction. The view was nice though. You can pass a road with some pine trees. You can catch a glimpse of Lhuilliers’ richness too.
View on the road. Took this on the 2nd day. I was too scared to take snaps on the way since I am very concerned with my safety in the habal2x ride.
Trek Proper
Duration of trekking to Mago Peak is around 2 hours with numerous stops. We needed it since it’s very hot. Everyone was clamoring for the next shade which were very countable. The vast brown mountains reminds me of walking through Pulag. On our first uphill climb, on top of it is a tree, from there we could already see the peak.
The first longer uphill trek!
This tree provide relief from the scorching summer hotness. We could already see the mountain where the peak is from here!
The view from the tree. See the trail on the mountain slopes, yes that’s part of the trail to Mago. This view is my favorite!
Last hurray till the peak. The arrow represents the camp site near the boundary marker of Carmen, Tuburan and Danao. The star represents the electricity post where we tied our LNT sign. Just 5 minutes from the post is Mago Peak.
Overnight Camp
Mago peak is both good for overnight or a day hike. When we reached the peak at 4:00 PM, we had our group picture and decided to camp on another site. Our plan was either to camp near the boundary or go back all the way to the tree. But the tree is still a long way up so we settled near the boundary.
The camp site! We had our official group picture on top of the hill at the background of the camp. The view was really nice from up there.
Top is setting up camp! Bottom is breaking the camp!
Extended view of the camp. Top right picture has the post where we put the LNT sign. Bottom pictures are views of the camp from the hill.
The food, socials and more
Like always, trekking with NCR trekkers is both rewarding in body, mind and spirits. The 13 trekkers enjoyed the full moon in Mago knowing and learning from each other, listening to horror stories, breaking and strengthening new friendships by playing “Werewolves”.
In keeping up with the mantra of creating quality trekkers rather than quantity, everyone is encouraged in preparing the food and helping cleanup after. It’s our dream for every NCR trekker members and guests to know how to prepare, cook and clean up. We not only enjoy the outdoors but learn whatever we can as well.
Breakfastttt!
Group pic at the boundary marker before going down!
Mangitngit Falls
We ended the event at a dip in Mangitngit falls, a newly opened tourist spot in Carmen. Much of it was still under construction though but still enough to refresh our bodies before heading back to reality…home.
Preparing lunch at our exclusive spot in Mangitngit. We transferred the table here just so we could roam away from the crowd.
Mangitngit falls is off limits this time since an accident happened weeks before. We can only take a picture of it.
Overnighters minus Sanberth who ditched us before Mangitngit falls, Didith and Dena who left after lunch.
Itinerary:
Day 1
8:00 Participants started arriving
(Waiver & attendance signing while waiting)
9:00 ETD from North Bus Terminal
(This is departure time, no more allowance.
If you are responsible with no Filipino mindset,
you can arrive on the dot.
For those who are not, arrive early.)
09:05 Actual departure from North Bus Terminal (Yehey! NOT Filipino time…almost!)
11:00 ETA Carmen Public Market (LUNCH)
11:45 Actual departure to Brgy Santican
12:00 Last batch of departure to Brgy Santican
– Distribution of IDs
13:00 ETA Brgy. Santican
(Registration @ Brgy Hall)
(Pre-camp briefing)
(Prayer & warm-up)
13:30 Start trek
14:30 ETA of water source
(No water this time. It’s dried up!)
15:15 Foot of Mago Peak
16:00 ETA Mago Peak
(Not feasible for camping since the grass are burned.)
16:30 Day trekkers start to descend (back trail)
17:00 Setup Camp near the boundary indicator
17:45 Day trekkers arrived at jump-off
18:00 Prepare for dinner
(Pinoy dinner for 13/pax: 2 lechon manok, 2 packs of dilis in tomato, 7 cups of rice)
18:30 Socials
19:00 Day trekkers arrived at Carmen Public Market
Day 2
05:00 Wake up call
05:30 Actual Waking Time
(Breakfast Preps)
07:30 Breakfast
(Not very ideal, the sun is high up and it’s very hot.)
(Continental breakfast for 13/pax: scrambled egg, hotdog, sardines w/ egg, corned beef, spam, 2 loaves of sliced bread)
08:30 Break Camp
09:00 Trek start
10:45 ETA in Brgy. Santican
11:00 ETD to Mangitngit Falls
12:00 ETA in Mangitngit Falls, lunch preps
13:00 Lunch
(Modern lunch for 13/pax: tuna w/ cabbage, spam, sobra for breakfast, 7 cups of rice)
15:30 ETD from Mangitngit falls
16:00 ETA in Carmen Public Market
18:00 ETA in SM City, Cebu via mini-bus
Expenses individual:
P40 Bus from North bus to Carmen Public Market
P100 Habal2x from Carmen Public Market to Santican Brgy Hall
P100 Habal2x from Santican Brgy Hall to Mangitngit Falls
Php50 Entrance in Mangitngit Falls
Php50 Mangitngit Falls to Carmen Public Market
P40 Mini-bus from Carmen Public Market to North bus
Total: P380.00
Php200 Table in Mangitngit Falls (dividided by 12)
Filed under: Cebu, Mago, Carmen, Trek Tagged: Adventure, Climbing, Mountain Climbing, Nature, outdoors, Photography, Scenery, Travel, Trek, Trekking
