Mt Pinatubo, A Beautiful Disaster 2017

After a long hiatus, I am back in blogging! I missed a lot and wasn't able to blog my other trips last year, 2016. But I'll try my very best to write my experiences so I will have something to look at when I get older. 

Last month, January is my birth month. I decided to book a trip before my birthday (January 29) together with my boyfriend and cousin. I want it to be something adventurous because I started to love hiking since last year so Mt. Pinatubo was the first place that came to my mind. I also read from other blogs that it is best to hike there during ber months to February. So January 28, we packed our things and started our adventure. We picked TRIPinas (click the link) as our travel agency. Whole trip costs (2300 php) roundtrip van, Environmental fees and hike.

If you haven't heard of Mt. Pinatubo, it is located in Botolan Zambales Philippines. It is an active volcano that errupted in the year 1991. It is covered with dense forest which supported the livelihood of Aetas people and has an elevation of 1,485 meters above sea level.

See below photos of our trip. I included a short video of our experience that you might want to check-out.

We didn't sleep at all because our meet-up time was 2 AM. Macy (my cousin) and I cooked our food trail (Egg sandwich and Adobo for lunch). We arrived the campsite around 5:30 AM. 

 Me in peach sweater and Macy in black.

Mr. Tee, the tour coordinator briefed us about the hike, from the history up to the things to do and avoid. He is very friendly and accommodating.

Started the tour with a 4X4 ride. Dang, it is a bumpy 1-2 hr ride. From this pic, you can see vehicles that were stucked in the middle of the raging water. The water is not that high but it made the soil soft thus the vehicles couldn't cross it. The start of our journey is not favorable (took 1 hour before our vehicle decided to cross it) but instead of complaining, we enjoyed the view and the lovely sunrise.

 Boyfie's bad boy look. Calm down, it's only cigarette.

Hello ate photobomber. :P #MessyHairDontCare

Luckily our 4x4 ride was able to passed through the water. It took us 3 hrs to reach the Caldera Lake (crater of Mount Pinatubo), 1 hr for lunch and 3 hours to descend. There are a lot of big rocks, sand and water streams. Wear proper shoes. If ever you like to wear sandals, be sure to wear socks to avoid blisters. In the middle of our journey, it drizzled. We got wet and very haggard but what it is to complain? When you hike, you must ready yourself to get dirty. You will see the Aetas village along the trail. They are friendly like they will greet you "Hello" and "Bye bye". They are super happy with the Stick-O that we gave them. It also made my heart smile.

 Famous Caldera Lake. 

Yey we made it. I can't believe there is something so wonderful like this in the mountain. Indeed it is a beautiful disaster. :)


Short video of our whole trip. Hope you enjoy watching!