Click here for Day 1
Day 2 – Sunrise and more trek, November 17, Tuesday
Our day 2 itinerary consisted of an early morning visit to Kiltepan’s Peak for sunrise. We woke up at 4am so we can leave at 4:30am. It was a good thing that our hotel does shuttle service to the view point or else our trip would have been postponed since the tourism office is only open from 7am to 5pm.
Kiltepan’s peak was a 10-minute drive away from our hotel. It was probably a good walking exercise, but since the location was new to us and the way to the peak was dark with no street lights, we had no choice but to pay P450/pax instead.
The weather at the peak is cold. I repeat cold. I was already wearing long sleeves and another thick jacket and I was still shivering from the cold breeze. It’s a good thing there was a store up above the view point who sells hot coffee and cup noodles so we were able to beat off the weather for a while.
The waiting game for sunrise is meh. The more we wait,the more people come. Which means the more photobombs from capturing the great view. Sadly it was inevitable as Kiltepan’s Peak is probably one of the most mainstream tourist spot in Sagada, especially since it can be easily accessed by cars.
Sunrise came roughly around 6am. We weren’t the luckiest as the clouds fog up or disappear many times and we had to be quick to take decent photos for when they create a bed. It was still a great view though despite.
We walked back to our shuttle and back to the hotel restaurant, Cafe Bodega, to eat breakfast.
For food reviews from our Sagada trip, you may visit this this link.
Then we redeemed our disrupted sleep and woke up around 10am to pursue our next destination.. Bomod-Ok Falls.
We availed of a shuttle service costing at P650/pax two-way. It was a good thing as the trip was far. And we had a jeep (I don’t know why they call it that, it’s an L300) and I was able to check one of the things in my bucket list. To ride above the vehicle while in travel. Sweet.
We reached the information booth near the entryway to the starting point of the falls, the Bangaan point. Paid our guide fee, Paula (P500/pax) and prepared a P10 entrance per person to be paid in the mid point of the route.
Before we started, Paula handed us walking sticks to help us during our trek and she told us the words, “Ang importante ay mag-ipon kayo ng maraming determinasyon.” Which scared me for real. Whyyyy would you say that XD What was I really up for? She pointed to us where we were heading, and it’s not the nearest.
The route contained a majority of cemented stairs and paths which was convenient. They were steep but it was a good thing that we were going down. With the heat of the sun on our backs, we coursed down the numerous steps till we reached Brgy. Fidilisan which was the mid-way point to the falls. This was where we were required to register ourselves and pay the P10/person entrance fee to the falls.
More walking begins. After the mid-way point there were more stairs and rocks, we also crossed rice field borders which I thank heavens were cemented. (I don’t think I want to be covered in mud when I fall) Do note that all of these happened under the heat of the sun. It was a good thing Sagada is generally cold or else it would have been more exhausting.
Stop points with small stores/sellers of water and food to get by were also available which is ideal for those who need to take a rest.
We stopped by the falls and took photos for a while. None of us swam as it was a hassle to bring wet clothes back.
The journey back up was tiring compared to the journey down. No joke, no exaggeration. We had no stops going down but back up, I had to take a pause and slow everyone because I was gasping for my breath.
Despite it being a different route back up which consisted of more cemented paths that stairs, it was still tiring. Real tiring.
Later on have I figured that the going to the falls consisted of 9000+ steps to and from.
Probably the reason why I had palpitation and was basically crawling the stairs due to the very very tiring trip. To be honest, I’m not really a water person so seeing the falls made me somewhat regret the long walk we had to go through. For anyone who wants to try it out, if you’re not in for catching your breath, have little to no exercise and not ready to feel all kinds of pain on your lower limbs during and after then this is not the best path for you. Trust me. I’m not physically fit. lol.
When we finally got back up, we were fetched by our shuttle service in Aguid gym. I just couldn’t imagine if we were to take the route to Bangaan to go back up. Those stairs * ^ *
Finally, we asked our service to take us to the town so we can get ourselves our lunch. We were able to get back around 2pm then stopped by Salt and Pepper to finally fill us up.
For food reviews from our Sagada trip, you may visit this this link.
We were destined to watch the sunset at Lake Danum. Transport service was P550/pax. We arrived there too early so it took us a while of waiting.
To be honest, Lake Danum was a disappointment to me as I was expecting a nice view of the lake AND the sunset. Sadly the two locations does not meet in one photo. Plus the lake looks more of a pond.. and the water is not the cleanest. Sure it was the sunset, a nice relaxing view, but paying P550 even as a group seems to much.
Around 5:30 the sun finally started to set. It was a spectacular view with the clouds and the silhouette of the mountains.
Soon after we rode back directly to our hotel instead of the town for less hassle. Little did we know that the driver charged us P250 for the ride back to our inn when it wasn’t discussed earlier. It was P50 more expensive than if we were to call our hotel to fetch us 😦 But we didn’t want to argue as we still needed him the next day.
We cleaned ourselves up when we got back and we decided to stay in the hotel for dinner. Like usual, food and service is as great. It’s probably the best things I love about the hotel. Fast service, good affordable food and convenience. BTW, our contact, Wanda, was actually in Baguio the whole time we were talking to her for shuttle service and other questions. She was also outsourcing it to her staff while she’s some place else. Plus she replies pretty fast at that, neat right?
We had an early lights out to prepare for another trip in the morning.
Life and Lemons 