View From The Top: Mount Talinis

Enter 2014, I seethed with a sense of adventure. I don't know where it came from but I hope more is coming. And I believe I started this year right, crashing out the first thing on my list: to climb a mountain.

I had never been an outdoor-kind of person. I like the outdoors and I enjoy travel but I never thought I would enjoy doing things like biking on rough trails, let alone climb a mountain. I promised myself I would do more firsts this year, learn a new hobby, go to a place I have never been to and meet new friends along the way. It's the best resolution I've had in years.

I took the opportunity to climb Negros Oriental's second highest peak, Mount Talinis at 1,903 m.a.s.l. I had little to no expectation as to everything I would be seeing or doing. I just knew I wanted to do it and that I knew I could.

The hike was not a walk in the park, as I had been warned, but I already knew that long before I decided I was doing it. I am terrible at directions and I found the trail a bit confusing at times. Ok, make that a lot of times. In our group of six, I was always the last and the one most likely to get lost. I was extremely thankful that our experienced mountaineer friend put up with my painfully slow pace and accompanied me while I fell on my butt countless times slipping on mossy rock surface and losing my balance as I stepped on the labyrinth of tree roots that clawed everywhere on the ground.

The climb involved a lot of crawling and lifting myself up on steep levels of ground. Surprisingly, I think I liked doing it. I have no idea why. Maybe it's because it brought an exhilarating feeling of being able to move and stretch my limbs in different ways than what I am used to doing. I thought I would look forward to our descent but truth is, I enjoyed the hike up more than the one going down.

photo by Don Ray R

We were blessed with perfect weather that day. Nothing but sunshine and not a drop of rain or drizzle. I couldn't be more thankful. If it had been otherwise, the ground would have been more slippery and difficult. But hey, had it rained that day, I think we would have had more memorable stories to tell when we got back.

As much as I regretted not to have had taken so many photos during the climb, I'm glad I still have in my memory the amazing scenery I saw from up there. The view from the ridge was wonderful. It's just something no photograph can give justice to. There are things in this world that you really have to see with your own eyes to appreciate its beauty that no words or photograph can ever describe it.

view from the ridge

Nice to meet you, Mt. Talinis

One of my favorite parts was passing by an area where there were a lot of intricate tree roots, with rich green mosses on its surface covering them like fur. The most amazing thing was seeing these mosses delicately sprinkled with countless dew drops that glistened in the morning sunshine. These teeny tiny beautiful things gave me such a fresh feeling that for a certain amount of time, I actually forgot my legs were tired from all that walking. In those places, it was easy to imagine a scene from the animated film, FernGully. But seriously, it was quite something as never in a long time has anything been etched so vividly in my mind. Sadly, I do not have pictures to show you, as I had been too focused on taking good footing on the ground.

One thing I was glad about the trail we took (Bidjao), was the fact that I did not have to face my fear of heights. Anything high up and open or any suspended structure made of rope and similar material would most likely (more like "surely") send chills down my spine and eventually freeze my entire body. Heights are not my friends, but mind you, I'm on a mission to conquer them.

stop-overs. tired but happy

So all in all, we climbed up for about ten hours, stopped over two lakes, Lake Yagumyum and Lake Nailig. Another forty-five minutes would take us up the peak but we didn't bother. Lake Nailig was where the camp site was and there we settled for about an hour or two to have our lunch. And oh, I drank about a liter of water from Lake Nailig - another first. It's potable water, yes. Aside from lunch, we also had some hot coffee and a good time. It would have been great to have spent the night, camp and have a bonfire but we had only the day to spare for the hike so maybe we can do that another time.

lunch preps

"kapuy..."

Lake Yagumyum is the smaller lake but the water was really cold. We took off our shoes and dipped our tired feet in its clear shallow waters. It was cold like water-from-the-fridge cold. My feet felt numb after some ten to fifteen minutes of being in the water.

Hello, from Lake Yagumyum

photo by Don Ray R.

Lake Yagumyum (wished I had anything with a wider lens)

dipped in the cold water of Lake Yagumyum

lunch break

glad I didn't forget to take my "looking down" photos

the unspoken calmness of Lake Nailig

Lake Nailig campsite

photo by Don Ray R.

I had aimed to traverse the trails of Mt. Talinis without any help. It was unfortunate that less then an hour to the end, I felt pain in both my thighs that ran all the way down my feet. It may have been from being overworked, to have been hiking for hours. But I refuse to give myself excuses. My newbie companions were able to finish without any help so I kind of felt a bit disappointed with myself. But it had to be done and allowed myself to humbly accept help. I will just have to train better next time. Nevertheless, I am proud and happy I returned to Dumaguete in one piece.

As for the finale of our hike, here is the beautiful sunset that greeted us on the horizon. Isn't it amazing, or isn't it amazing? There is simply nothing you can say otherwise.

Any regrets, you ask? Of course, my answer would be none. None at all.

photo by Karla Aguilan