Mt Palaopao, Sumilao, Bukidnon
Bukidnon is the home of the 4 major mountains of the Philippines - Mt Dulang-dulang (2nd highest mountain in the Philippines), Mt Kitanglad (4th highest mountain), Mt Kalatungan (5th highest mountain) and Mt Maagnaw (8th highest). Never had I heard about Mt Palaopao until one of my friends asked me recently about it.
Mt Palaopao was dubbed as The Sleeping Giant. As to why - I really don't know! Compared to the other mountains we were able to climb, Mt Palaopao stands at around 255 meters above sea level - not that high compared to Mt Loay which is around 1040 masl. It was also rated as 3/9 by mountaineers.
We did a dayhike, left Davao around 2am and we arrived at Sumilao Terminal by 7am.
Sumilao Public Terminal
We started our trek at the back of the public terminal.
The first part of the trek will be a rice field where we can see Mt Palaopao at the background. We were amazed to see the rock formation of Mt Palaopao which is very visible even afar. We were very excited to climb!
However, we kinda lost our excitement after the rice field. We were surprised to see that the view of the mountain we saw during the first 5 minutes of our hike is just half of the mountain itself! We need to descend first on a slope, then pass by a hanging bridge, then ascend to reach the Sitio which will be our jump-off for the climb.
We then registered ourselves and got ourselves a guide.
We really did underestimate this mountain. We should have started the hike early. So now, we were hiking this open trail under the scorching heat of the sun!
We did the reverse trail (instead of the usual "Stations of the Cross" trail).
And finally, we got some shade! Wuhoo thank you!
After how many uphills, we then arrived at the Paiyak Cave.
I was able to conquer my fear of caves during our Mt Palaopao climb. I don't have a choice! We really need to go inside the cave to reach the peak! Unless I wanted to go back alone... Hahaha!
And we need to enter this small hole before entering the cave.
Mt Palaopao Peak
We stayed for some minutes at the peak to rest from the heat.
A few meters from the peak are the Stations of the Cross.
Mt Palaopao, Sumilao, Bukidnon
#TravelBudDear
Mt Palaopao was dubbed as The Sleeping Giant. As to why - I really don't know! Compared to the other mountains we were able to climb, Mt Palaopao stands at around 255 meters above sea level - not that high compared to Mt Loay which is around 1040 masl. It was also rated as 3/9 by mountaineers.
We did a dayhike, left Davao around 2am and we arrived at Sumilao Terminal by 7am.
We started our trek at the back of the public terminal.
However, we kinda lost our excitement after the rice field. We were surprised to see that the view of the mountain we saw during the first 5 minutes of our hike is just half of the mountain itself! We need to descend first on a slope, then pass by a hanging bridge, then ascend to reach the Sitio which will be our jump-off for the climb.
We then registered ourselves and got ourselves a guide.
We really did underestimate this mountain. We should have started the hike early. So now, we were hiking this open trail under the scorching heat of the sun!
We did the reverse trail (instead of the usual "Stations of the Cross" trail).
And finally, we got some shade! Wuhoo thank you!
After how many uphills, we then arrived at the Paiyak Cave.
I was able to conquer my fear of caves during our Mt Palaopao climb. I don't have a choice! We really need to go inside the cave to reach the peak! Unless I wanted to go back alone... Hahaha!
And we need to enter this small hole before entering the cave.
I have never been inside a cave but I have seen some pictures of caves and most of it are dirty - full of vandals! But this cave is clean. I haven't seen any vandals nor any pieces of garbage.
And after that cave experience, we were back again to an open trail. Here comes the sun du du du du! Hahaha!
We stayed for some minutes at the peak to rest from the heat.
A few meters from the peak are the Stations of the Cross.
We know it's kinda hot, but we stayed here for a couple of minutes before going down. It's like we were asking for repentance, asking for forgiveness for all the wrongs we've done.
Hashtag "Feeling Blessed"
Lol
Going downhill is very easy.
We were supposed to visit Cedar Falls after the climb; however, we were informed that it was closed.
But due to the heat during the whole duration of our climb, we feel like we really need to refresh ourselves. Our guide said we can instead bathe at the river near the sitio.
The river is clean and very cold - a perfect combination to rest our sun-burnt skin.
After our very relaxing swim, we decided to end our Mt Palaopao hike.
The bad thing though, we don't have any shortcuts to go back to the Sumilao terminal where our van awaits. So we climbed the ascending slope and walked through the rice fields again.
The relaxing feeling after that dip turned to exhaustion.
But still, we enjoyed our Mt Palaopao climb amidst the very exhausting uphills and unbearable heat of the sun.
Mt Palaopao, Sumilao, Bukidnon
#TravelBudDear
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