Pat me on the back because this mama right here has conquered another peak! The last time I hiked was about eight months ago and the time I planned about hiking to Mt. Naupa got me really excited. Well, I do get excited every single time I plan about hiking. Although this is quite a late post, since this happened sometime in August, but let me just share to you our experience and at the end of this post, I will be sharing our itinerary and expenses for your reference, as well.
I planned this day hike trip because our colleagues at work flew from Manila to Cebu for our team outing in Olango Island and one of them—her name's Nam—is into hiking. We wanted to do a day hike only so I suggested Mt. Naupa since the climbers that I know say that it has a pretty easy trail and because I've been longing to climb it too. So I did my research on how to get there and everything we needed to know and then created a draft of our itinerary.
On the day of the trip, we met at IT Park at 7AM. Then we took the 17C jeepney and dropped off at the V-Hire Terminal in Junquera. Then we took the van going to Toledo and paid Php 110 each. The van fare is fixed because it's based on the Cebu-Toledo route so it was quite expensive. The cheaper alternative will be taking the bus at South Bus Terminal. Just take any bus going South since you're going to drop off at Minglanilla anyway.
Around 9:30AM, we dropped off at Gaisano Grand Mall in Minglanilla. There were a lot of habal-habal drivers around the area and since there were four of us, we hired two habal-habals going to Sto. Nino Cogon Chapel which will be our starting point. The trip took around 20-25 minutes. We paid Php 80 each. We were not familiar with the trail so the habal-habal drivers called some of the locals to guide us. Two guys volunteered and then we started the hike.
The first few minutes was actually pretty easy. We were just plainly walking. We talked and laughed along the trail. And I thought, "wow the trail is indeed really easy." But it was just a warm-up. The trail started becoming steeper. I was beginning to struggle in catching my breath. We took a break when we saw a small hut and continued hiking after a few minutes. Then we saw another hut and our guides told us we needed to register our names in the logbook for safety purposes. We paid no registration fee.
We continued hiking and then finally, we reached the peak! Hurray! I took a few minutes to gather my thoughts and catch my breath and then I caught sight of the view and was astounded. The view from the peak was simply breathtaking. The air at the peak was so cool and fresh. It was the perfect spot to "take a break from the stress in the city".
We stayed at the peak for an hour and then we started the descent since our tummies were already screaming hungry. The descent was very challenging because the path was really steep. Going up to the peak took us more or less an hour but going back down only took us around 20 minutes. Going back to the city was not a problem since there were a lot of habal-habal drivers when we got back to where we started—Sto. Nino Cogon Chapel. Again, we hired two habal-habals and asked them to take us to Gaisano Grand Mall since we would have our lunch there. Mang Inasal! Unlimited rice! Mhmmm!!! P.S. This is not sponsored. HAHA!
Hiking up to the peak of Mt. Naupa was not really easy but yes, it was definitely worth it! And I would definitely love to go back.
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