The Blue Hiker

Hiking Leaf # 10: 6 mountains in 1 day! One of my dreams is to climb the mountains in the province of Benguet. Main reason is because of the towering heights of the mountains and, of course, the cool climate there. So when I found out that one of my Hiking friends had a Purgatory event, I didn't hesitate to join. Based on my research, you can climb six mountains upon completing the "Purgatory - Mangisi Traverse." Wow! Six mountains? Can one really finish the entire event in a day? Our event is a day hike, so I was a bit doubtful if it can really be completed in one day. According to the organiser who have climbed it before, it is indeed possible to finish all six mountains. This made me even more excited for our hike!    The meet-up was scheduled for 9:00 pm in Cubao, and for the first time, I was late for the meet-up (I was the last participant to arrive). But according to Sir Jovi (Coordinator), my timing was just right because the driver of our van, whi...

Hiking Leaf # 9: Major Tarak    I decided to look for a replacement event for the cancelled hike with Kat to Pinatubo. I happened to see a post on the Climber Page that matched my rest day, and I found out that it was a Major climb, Tarak Ridge. I invited Jaypee to join this climb, but he couldn't make it due to an off-issue. Instead, I invited Sir Adz (my companion at Mount Sawi) because I also learned that he was looking for a hike. March 11, 2018 - At 12:00 am, I waited in Munoz for a pickup along the road since our route was heading north (our meetup point was at Quezon Avenue). I found out that we had three vans for this event. Sir Jhay picked me up in Munoz because the van I was supposed to ride in had passed by, and I was fortunate that he noticed me right away. Upon boarding the van, I truly felt like a solo-joiner because I didn't know anyone in the van (Sir Adz was in the other van). Natsumi greeted me because we had been chatting in the Tarak Group Chat befor...

Hiking Leaf # 8: Trilogy hike Returns! My schedule for this month changed because my rest day fell on a Sunday, making it easier to head back to the mountains! Fortunately, I was also invited to an event called the "Mascap Trilogy" . It involves three mountains, which is exciting, although I initially thought that some peaks in that trilogy were just peaks, I still committed to their event. I invited my friend Mary Rose (whom I hiked with at Mount Sawi) to join me for this event, and we met in Aurora, Cubao. I also invited others to join, including Edlen (my colleague and companion in Batulao), her sister Ella, Ken (my companion during Montalban Trilogy V1) and four more of her friends. We went straight to the meet-up point, McDonald's on Aurora Blvd. Some of the joiners were already there, and as far as I knew, we had 2 vans for this event! Exactly at 1:00 am, we departed for Rizal. I fell asleep during the journey to catch up on rest because I came from work. A...