Conquering Mt. Hibok-hibok

Never in my wildest dreams that I climb a high mountain until I was driven by an urge to challenge myself; yet, this happened because of a planned team building - climbing the summit of the famous Mt. Hibok-hibok in the island born of fire, Camiguin - with my team. Mt. Hibok-hibok is one of the active volcanoes in Camiguin Island with an elevation of 1,332 meters ASL. 

a photo of Mt. Hibok-hibok as seen from White island

On June 29, 2019, my team went on an early hike to the summit of Mt. Hibok-hibok. Planning to chase for the sunrise, we set off our hike at 1:49 AM via the Yumbing trail with our tour guides. Beginners as we are, we were not discouraged to continue pushing through our plan as we were all determined to reach the summit. 

The dawn was so dark that we used our cellphone flashlights to see the trails. We could not see anything from afar but we were able to see beautiful flowers and birds sleeping deeply as we went along. The mossy forest seemed to be a jungle stealing light from the sun and the dense fog covered the entire area that anyone unfamiliar may think of it as a heavy rain. The sweat we had and the fog we felt were meeting in our bodies. We could not even feel any coldness.

Bob, one of my COs, posed in this mossy forest

The plan of seeing the sunrise at the summit failed. It was already 6 AM when we arrived at Mt. Hibok-hibok's crater which was really impossible for us to see the sunrise. Nevertheless, the breath-taking view at the crater was incredibly amazing despite the denseness of the fog that surrounded the area.

our group pose at the Hibok-hibok crater

After an hour of rest, we went on our hike and experienced the "rope-course-look-alike" way to get to the top. But it was not the summit yet. It was just a way to pass through one of the most difficult trails. Every trail was difficult, anyway, but this was the hardest. There were slippery slopes and rocks were mossy which could lead you to sliding if you are not careful of your steps. After an hour, we reached the first peak where we were supposed to see the first view of the entire island including the crater but we failed. The dense fog covered everything and we could only see a white background - nothing more. After picture taking, we continued until we reached the summit.

This was it. We reached the summit at past 8 AM. Imagine how long we have walked just to reach this scenic view. Although our expectations did not meet the reality, we were still amazed with the view at the top. Despite not having achieved our "clearing goals" to see the whole island of Camiguin, we were still enthralled with what nature can offer. Mt. Hibok-hibok is one of Asia's preserved forests which is truly one of the Supreme Being's beautiful creations.

a captured photo at the summit
Photo credit from Ms. Sissel

Waiting for the clouds to clear out so we can witness what we expected, we got tired. Time to go home now. At 10 AM, we descended from the summit. If you think it is easy to descend, then you are wrong. We realized that climbing was a lot more easier than going down. The feeling of not wanting to go home was within us at that time. We were like, "Is there a zipline here?" that we just wanted to take the easiest and shortest trail as quickly as possible because our feet were already swelling and shaking upon every step.

a quick pose as we took a rest from a tiring descent

By the time we reached some of the plain areas near the foot of Mt. Hibok-hibok, we were all exhausted but we still continued on our hike just to get to Ardent Hot Spring. Yes, it was our end point. We looked back and asked ourselves, "Did we really just climb there?" "Were we really there few hours ago?"

a view of Mt. Hibok-hibok summit as seen from above the Ardent Hot Spring

At last, we descended safely. We could not believe that beginners like us were able to conquer one of Camiguin's highest peaks and it was awesome. Our tiredness was paid off.

our tired faces and bodies as we took a rest and fetched water for a drink

Our end point was in Ardent Hot Spring which was a little far from the place where we took longer rest (photo above). There we met a Spanish tourist named Martha and started a small talk which resulted to a beginning of friendship.

Our photo with Martha at Ardent Hot Spring

We experienced hardships as we traverse the dense forest of Mt. Hibok-hibok. We ate nothing but loaf bread and drank an inadequate amount of water. We slipped on mossy rocks, pulled up ourselves to surmount the hardest trail, but we made ourselves proud for successfully achieving our team's goal: to conquer Hibok-hibok as a team.

The mantra "leave no trace" is common for all travelers but we left our traces and footprints but the memories we had there will always be with us.

Post notes:

♣ More photos and videos in this link: https://www.facebook.com/ymgygar12/media_set?set=a.881938032175005&type=3

♣ If you wish to climb Mt. Hibok-hibok, feel free to leave a message or contact our tour guide Jerald Rabile through his Facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/jerald.rabile.98