Mt. Tenglawan in Bakun, Bakun Benguet, Philippines

Mt. Tenglawan

Only me and the tour guide watching the breaking of the dawn.

 Introduction

Tenglawan came from the root word “Tanglaw” and as per the tour guide, it means light or illumination. The mountain is one of the first visible mountain range to be hit by the rising sun and people usually hike the mountains early in the morning or camping during the night to meet the beautiful tanglaw or the sun.

How to go there from Baguio City using public transport.

Those having private cars have Google as their friend all throughout their trip.

There are 3 ways to travel from Baguio which pass by the bus stations for Bakun in La Trinidad Valley. The jeepneys are stationed at Rizal Park, below the Baguio City Hall and above the rose garden; the other station is along Magsaysay Street near the Center Mall which would only costs around PhP 10; and the third option is by riding a taxi which would cost around PhP 150. Just inform the driver that you are going to Bakun to drop you off the bus station.

There are 2 non aircon buses from La Trinidad to Bakun. One is in KM 4 Caltex that goes directly to Barangay Poblacion and the other station is in KM 5 Petron that goes to Barangay Sinacbat. If you are planning to take the Bakun Trio which requires up to 5 days itinerary, take the KM 4 as a start. I chose KM 5 since the plan was only for Sinacbat-Mt. Tenglawan-Poblacion itinerary. As a tip, it is cold even in the bus so bring your jacket with you.

The buses usually start between 6 to 7 AM but make sure to be in La Trinidad before 6 AM to make sure that you will have a sit reservation rather than a standing position. The trip from Baguio City/ La Trinidad to Bakun would take you between 5 to 7 hours. Bus fare is PhP 185 per head. Consider 2 days also as travel periods to and from Bakun on your itinerary.

Tourism Contact Information

Before starting the journey, you must contact the following: 1. Arthur Tolito, the Municipal Tourism Officer of Bakun, at 09212113687 or 09053172616 or 2. Peter Diclas, the President of Bakun Trio Tour Guides and Porter’s Association, at 0926210448 or 09062847896 or 3. Mr. Jerome Acbaya-an, Barangay Kagawad of Sinacbat, at 09081512808.

Hiking the mountains are categorized at difficult level so necessary information must be considered first.

Where to Stay

The Barangay Hall of Sinacbat and the old Municipal Hall in Poblacion were designated as the tourist accommodations. Rents are less than PhP 200 including the pillows and blankets. You can cook there if you brought with your utensils or ask the in-charge to cook for you but with a separate fee.

What to Bring

Minimizing the things to carry would be a great idea. People who prefer to camp near the summit would be an option but carrying heavy bags of camping utensils and foods would be a drag for some. If camping is preferred, then the number 1 rule is to make sure not to cause forest fire as it happened previously. I did not bring camping tools since I plan to start the hike at around 3 AM in the morning, so bring a flashlight with you.

Basic medical/first aid kit is necessary as accidents like simple slide along the route is expected.

Water is the most essential thing to bring, there are water refilling areas, which are flowing from the mountains. The sweet flowing water can be classified as an alkaline water but if your stomach is too sensitive for mountain water, then carry 2 litters.

A good hiking shoes will avoid accidents as it is slippery during rainy days and still slippery during sunny days due to the pine needles covering the small moving rocks. Long and comfortable pants will prevent scratches in case you slide down and to avoid the edge of long grass leaving a cut on your skin. Take along the road a stick to hold on to. Also bring extra shirt and handkerchief since it's hot.

Fully charged cameras to record your memories. Drones are not advisable as it is very windy at the summit.

Registration and Fees

Don’t forget to log in your name at the barangay hall upon registration and pay all necessary fees including rental fees for accommodation.

1.      Environmental Fee – PhP 100

2.      Tour Guide Fee – Mt. Tenglawan (PhP 1,000) Mt. Kabunian (PhP 800) and Mt. Lobo (PhP 600)

It’s on your option to pay additional tip to your tour guide after the trip.

Overnight tour guide fees would be more expensive and there are a lot of other packages to choose from including visiting a lot of waterfalls. I skipped the waterfalls since it would be greater during the rainy season.

My Itinerary and Some More Tips

The bus in KM 5 started at 7 AM and arrived in Barangay Sinacbat at around 2 PM in the middle of December which is the start of summer season. Expect a lot of stop overs since this is a community bus not a tourist bus. I chose a weekday also to avoid the crowds during weekends or long holidays, but I was not able to convince a companion as they are all at work and it was just an overnight pop-up hiking plan.

I went directly to the Barangay Hall of Sinacbat for registration, pay necessary fees and plan the hike. The Barangay Hall is being painted so Kagawad Jerome accommodated me in their house for the night for free with free dinner of course.

A view from the barangay hall.

The tour guide, Mr. Dondon came knocking at their door at 3 in the morning while we are having coffee and as discussed on the day before. We started then the trip at 3:30 in the morning. The guide carries with him the food that we will eat for breakfast, flashlight, water and others. Make sure to start at exactly 3 AM or earlier to be perfectly on time before the sun rises and especially if you have someone who walks slow. I carry all my things with few clothes, medical kits, water, camera and a flashlight since i would go to Poblacion after the hike.

From the barangay hall, we walked down the road for about 30 minutes until we reached the bottom of a mountain before we started to ascend. It is still dark, but the light of the moon makes the vegetable farms; several meadows where camping activities were held; and few mountains including Mt. Tenglawan to be visible.

The grassy route has some leaches especially during rainy days but not even one leach did not dare to accompany me. After passing through the grassland, a rocky path with bushy route came next. It was not totally cleared during my visit but manageable. We reached a small cemented pathway going up which is good for resting place before hiking again on a more difficult path. This time, probability of sliding down would be higher. Along the way, there is a small waterway where we can refill our water containers before heading back to the final hike to the camping site, around 10 minutes’ walk to the summit.

It's breaking and not yet at the summit. We have to hike faster.

We arrived almost exactly as the first sun rays hit the summit. Cold winds also welcomed us which balanced the heated body from the final rush hike. The famous stone landmark can now be seen with the cross on top of it. First thing to do of course is to take as many photos as you can.

                                A  post to welcome the tourists.

Playing with the sun and only me with the tour guide on the top.

These is the land mark of the area where it seems that it will fall anytime soon but, it is still intact and safe to climb. The cross on top of it was funded and installed through the initiative of  a priest back when the area is not yet well known.

This is the landmark to search when climbing or leaving the mountain ranges.

Going beyond the steel wall protection is accompanied with high risk.

Before climbing the stone, make sure that your guide is familiar with your camera and on how to take videos or panorama photos or beautiful shots.

This is a panorama view on the top of the stone.

Utmost care is necessary due to the strong winds while on top of the stone since it would be a nightmare of your companions even for a small accidental movement. Falling down the high cliff is never an option. There are steel holders attached on the stones so you can bring rappel equipment to support  your companions. 

                 

It seems that i am not visible sitting at the top of the stone. hehe.

There you go, camera was zoomed and i am now standing.

My tour guide is unaware that he did an amazing job on taking photos and he deserves an additional    tip after we parted ways.

Something magical effect of the sun and the camera. There are photos where the light is directed on me but i won't show it, hehe.

On the right side of the area is still mountain ranges where you can choose where is the next mountain to climb.

This is the view from the right side of the area.

Be careful when crossing beyond the steel boundaries for your protection.

At the back are also mountain ranges bordering with the Ilocos Region.

Cervantes area as per my tour guide.

Imagine how people travel/hike in the olden times.

We took less than 3 hours from Sinacbat to the summit. If starting from Poblacion, it would take around 6 hours hike depending on your groups’ pacing and some hikers might feel giving up probably on the middle of the journey as it would be more difficult than passing through Sinacbat first.

After we took a lot of photos and videos with no queuing, we ate our breakfast on the summit. Eating boiled eggs and meatloaf has never been that delicious especially on a hungry stomach after a heavy hike.

We started then to descend around 8 am in the morning going to Poblacion. It was this time that I had a small slide down where I got scratches on my left knee and hands. The pine needles seem fine but there are moving rocks beneath it which rolls down once you stepped on them. Well, it is part of the adventure and the good thing is that there are pine tree roots to hold on to.

                                                                                      A view down the stone mountain.

We never met any other tourist coming from Poblacion which means I was the only town tourist for the whole day. While walking, i can say that it was the best decision of mine to start the hike through Sinacbat first due to how steep the several hikes if coming from Poblacion. I might have gave up halfway given the difficulty level.

After completing around 80% of the route from Mt. Tenglawan to Poblacion, the tour guide have to go back to Sinacbat and he just instruct the rest of the 20% with a note that someone from Poblacion is on the way to meet me. The photo below doesn't show the distance where we separated on the other side of a mountain where there is a steep descent to the river then steep ascent to Poblacion. Maybe that's the reason why tour guides has to split the difficulty among themselves. Make sure to always listen and follow the tour guides as protecting your welfare is part of what you paid during the registration. Precautions should always be applied by you and master your limits on not following the tour guide sometimes.

A view while resting on my final hike to Poblacion.

There are a lot of waterfalls along the way even if is is during summer but during rainy season, it would be more fantastic to witness a lot of water flowing on the countless waterfalls.

A view from the 1st bridge which makes you feel taking a bath from too much sweat.

Along the way, there are a lot of trashes that some undisciplined tourists have scattered but i started picking them up while hiking up to the town proper as it is really ugly to see. I accumulated maybe around 2 kilos of plastic wastes until  i reached the barangay hall where someone is waiting.  He did not meet me halfway though since he heard that I am from Mountain Province who are also used with these trails and it was just fine since some locals are passing by from their farms. If tourists are coming from the low lands or cities, it would be dangerous for the tour guides to leave their responsibilities behind.

I asked the Tanod then, after resting and chatting, for the route to the house of a relative of my relative where i can stay during the second night. I did not inform them but it's part of the general culture of the Cordillera Region to accommodate relatives of relatives or just friends of friends or even strangers. If you don't know anyone at all, inform the in-charge for him to prepare your accommodation on the old municipal hall, rent for pillows and comforters are separate plus another cost for food if you want the in-charge to cook for you. Many locals have stopped accommodating other random tourists due to the undisciplined behaviors of some who doesn't show some respect to home owners.

After few introductions and laughs with the hosts, i decided to take a bath immediately as i can smell the stingy dried sweats on my shirt and pant. The aunt of my relative have to heat water first since it was already cold in the late afternoon. I had one of the best bath then that the world has to offer. 

The hospitality that they provided was so great, with delicious meals, pure coffee, sweet bananas for muscular pains and a lot of stories that were told. I had also one of the best sleep for the whole year as i am very tired. We continued the chats early in the next morning until the sister of my cousin's wife accompanied me to the bus station. They asked me to stay for another hike while we are having breakfast but my feet can't handle another struggle. 

Manang showed me this and told me to look for the faces.

A beautiful lady and a handsome man with a scar suddenly appeared. 

The bus starts early usually around 6 AM. It is on a first come first serve basis or reservations especially during school time since many are travelling back to La Trinidad and Baguio City or bringing their local goods to the trading post.

A final look at Mt. Tenglawan above and Bakun town below that is not yet reached by the sunrise.

Final Reminder:

Difficulty level is high due to the steep  and several hikes up and down. Many hikers usually take  5 days to 1 week to cover 3 mountains which it is currently known as the Bakun Trio.

I will insert here an edited and compiled short videos along the way soon. For the mean time, here is my YouTube account to see some future travels with me.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNnP6hbWT1C1OIRAjCQubUQ?view_as=subscriber