We spent the night at around 1200 MASL, as per our guide we are approximately 8-10 hours away from the summit via normal pace.  Pitched our tents and hanged our hammocks and had our dinner. The weather is pretty cold, right after we had our dinner and the sky began to pour. We ended our day wet and bloody because of pesky limatik bites, rattan and pandan scratches.

Day 02: Rolling way to summit

The next day after our breakfast we started to climb at around 8 AM, after 30-45 minutes of technical steep upward climb, we reached the Salakot Junction, roughly 8-9 hours from the summit. Still a losing and gaining game till we reached the Big Tree at 1600 MASL. Along the trail we witness how rich the ecosystem was.

From the Big Tree, we need to hurdle and squeeze ourselves through the massive pandan that obstructing the dense, wet and unestablished trail.  Through that, we had a great chance to see the abundance of nepenthes as we crawled out of the thick part of the pandan trail.

We continue to push, it’s getting colder as we aim for a higher elevation. The changes of vegetation are very evident from dipterocarps to small shrubs. At around 1600 MASL we were surrounded by lush green mossy forest. Wide varieties of coral-like mushrooms can be found, carpeting the wet forest ground.

It was pass eleven o’clock and we decided to have our early lunch, we don’t have sufficient water to drink since day 1 because there are no available water along the trail.   

Unfortunately we are not able to reach the summit due to the limitations of time, food and availability of drinking water. To cut the long story short, after 8 hours of hike on second day we camped at 1400 MASL feasted our dinner and had some good rest.

Day 03: Going down is mandatory

Our third day started at 7: AM prepped our breakfast and packed some food for our lunch, the weather was fine and the forest were obviously wet.

We all know that it’s going to be another 8-10 hours of gradual ascent-descent to a full downhill again, our normal speed pace will decrease, because we need to slow down as we encounter steep descent segments.  A perfect time for me to slow down on a trail while capturing flora and fauna living from the undergrowth. It was amazing that we were able to witness the richness of Mingan through a different type of species that we saw while climbing down.

We don’t have enough water and that’s our major problem. The collected rain water from our tarp and tents are not sufficient. Good that we still manage it till we reached the bukuhan, from there we gathered some coconut, use our knife (because our machete fell from the ravine while climbing down) then quench our thirst. Thereon from bukuhan we need to pass several stream arteries connected to Inipit River.

Having a short dip at the cold water of Inipit river soothe our aching muscles. The cold water was coming from the nearby Gabaldon falls. We headed to falls and had some great refreshing splash then continue to walk till we exited from the unforgiving jungle of Mingan.

Going Home:

The team celebrated its victory by having a pot of spicy tinola, though we were not able to reach the summit, were still managed to go down safe. That moment, the victory is not only by reaching the roof of Aurora but also winning some friends and expanding the good network of mountaineering.

Thanks to all the people who joined me in this climb, to Sir Migz and Donno Mapalad of YABAG Mountaineering, Maam Donna and Kryztin, Sir Yunan Reyes and to our guides, it was a pleasure climbing up with you guys!

Tips and observations:

1.     Mingan is a protected natural park please secure your permit before climbing it. Make arrangements from the nearby municipal hall of Gabaldon just in front of NEUST.

2.     There are no available water sources along the trail. Plan ahead, prepare a practical meal plan for a 3 days itinerary.

3.     2 days itinerary is possible. You just need to start very early.

4.     Mingan is limatik infested like Halcon. Bring eco-friendly limatik spray. Salt solution is effective, its more environmental friendly than alcohol or any bug repellants.

5.     Wear proper clothing. Mingan is a series of ascent and descents with abundance of rattan and pandan along the trail. Long sleeves and pants will do to avoid pandan blade scratches. Wearing gloves is highly recommended.

6.     Small camping space. There are no ideal spaces for tent pitching. The available camps can accommodate small groups. Better to use hammock for camping.

7.     It’s very cold at night. Since Mingan is a rain forest, temperature drops at 17-12 degree Celsius at night.

8.     Don’t disturb wildlife. Since Mingan is a protected area and a home of Philippine Eagle, snakes weird looking plants and insects can be found.