Hike for Light - Mt. Kanlaon

We had very little time to rest our weary legs after returning from the first hike.  We arrived in Manila on Monday evening, and were on a plane to Bacolod the following Friday.  This hike was Mt. Kanlaon, the tallest mountain in the Visayas region of the Philippines.  Kanlaon is an active volcano, and is known to have a large leech population along the trail.  Needless to say, we were pretty excited.

Our group for this climb was about half the size, and only 14 of us were allowed to climb.  However, our group this time included a couple different team Everest climbers, 4 Climbers from Negros Youth for the Environment, as well as the Menor brothers.  For those of you wondering who the Menor brothers are, where have you been?  Kidding, Ronel and Marlon Menor are two employees of Hybrid Social Solutions.  Marlon has been with the company longer than anyone except Jim himself, and is our highest grossing area sales manager.  Ronel is our technician, in charge of field testing and repairing all of our solar units.  Both gentlemen are super smart, athletic, humble, and annoyingly good at chess.  I consider myself to be a pretty good chess player, but have only managed to beat Ronel 3 times out of maybe 100 games.  I’ve never beaten Marlon.  Apparently both of them played for their high school in their local province and competed at the national level.  It’s to the point where I will think I’m winning, then make a move I think is pretty darn good, and Ronel says, “are you sure?”  And I’m like, ugh, no, I’m not sure, but that’s the move.  And he says, “ok, mate in 3, Danny.” 

We brought a chessboard on the hike, and the three of us played whenever we had spare time - the airport, the airplane, in our tent until late into the night up on the mountain.

We arrived in Bacolod, on the Island of Negros, and proceeded to our sleeping accommodation at the foot of the mountain.  In general our lodgings were much nicer on this climb.  We slept the first night in a dorm type room at a local hotel about a 5 minute drive from the trailhead.  There was running water, electricity, the works.  Our Hike organizer, Bambi, did the first turnover ceremony by herself the next day while we were hiking.  We were sorry to miss it, but had a second lantern turnover scheduled for the coming Monday.

This hike was a bit easier.  I think a lot of this had to do with us being in better shape, but it was also less steep, less muddy, and a shorter distance.  However, the first half of the hike is leech territory.  We had heard slightly exaggerated stories from the Everest climbers that had been on the mountain before, and it was a constant source of worry and group jokes leading up to the hike.  I did a fair amount of internet research, and sent tips to the group (The best advice I found is posted below). 

“Leeches are common in rainforests of Madagascar, mainland Africa, and Southeast Asia. Unlike leeches in other parts of the world, rainforest leeches live in leaf litter and vegetation -- they are not aquatic. They find their prey (you and other warm-blooded animals) by odor and sound vibrations. In leech-rich areas, if you stand still for a few minutes, you'll see leeches dropping from vegetation and moving toward you like inchworms.

Terrestrial leeches are generally small (although they can get quite huge in some parts of the world) but will gorge themselves during a meal, gaining up to ten times their weight. The single feeding will be enough to sustain a leech for several months.

The best protection against leeches is covering up and using insect repellent on clothing, although they are extremely persistent and invariably if you spend enough tromping around in the forest you will get leeched. Do not get overly concerned about a leech attack -- they carry no disease and there is low risk of causing significant blood loss. Leech bites do not hurt -- since they release an anesthetic when they sink their teeth into your skin -- but they do bleed profusely. Leeches use an anticoagulant when they bite to facilitate the flow of blood from the wound. “

Removing a leech

If you are bitten by a leech and are compelled to remove it before it has had its full (leeches drop off on their own when they are done feeding), you can do so by following these steps:

Identify the anterior (oral) sucker which will be found at the small end of the leech. Put your finger on your skin adjacent to the oral sucker Gently but firmly slide your finger toward the wound where the leech is feeding. Using your fingernail, push the sucker sideways away from your skin. Once you have dislodged the oral sucker, quickly detach the posterior (rear) sucker (the fat end of the leech). Try flicking the leech or proding with your fingernail. As you work to remove the leech, it will attempt to reattach itself. Keep the wound clean -- minor cuts in tropical climates can quickly become infected. The leech itself is not poisonous. The wound will itch as it heals.

NOTE: Is it generally not advised to attempt removing a leech by burning with a cigarette; applying alcohol, mosquito repellent, shampoo, or salt; or pulling at the leech. This can result the leech regurgitating into the wound and causing infection much worse than the leech bite itself" 

I personally set off for the hike with my pants tucked into my socks with REI bought insect repellent smeared around all openings in my clothing.  However, about 2 hours up the trail there was a waterfall with a deeper pool beneath it, and I just had to go swimming, leeches be damned. 

After all the fretting, the leeches turned out to not be that big of a problem.  Our guides told us we were lucky because it had been relatively dry lately, which meant fewer leeches.  However, we did see about 10 of them, and they are pretty creepy.  The creepiest thing is that you never feel them.  You just look down and this thing is on your hand or your pants wriggling around looking for a place to attach.  We sat down for a snack at one point, and a leech just fell onto my hand.  Like, literally dive-bombed me out of the foliage above.  

In general the hike was quite pleasant, beautiful weather, and we reached the campsite by around 2:00pm.  We set up camp and decided to head up to the summit  before dinner.  The hike to the summit is about 45 minutes from the campsite.  The campsite is right at the end of the tree line, and the surroundings are lush and green.  However, the scenery changes drastically on the hike up to the summit. The hike is mostly a scramble over loose volcano rocks, and you quickly climb past where anything can grow.  The summit provides an amazingly picturesque view.  It is possible to walk right up to the edge of the crater and look over the edge.  In one direction lies the crater with another tall peak on the other side, and in the opposite direction is the way back down, with lush green mountains in the distance.  We were above most of the clouds, and visibility changes rapidly.  One minute we could see for miles, and the next minute it’s difficult to see anything over 20 feet away.  The crater has an amazing echo, and we spent a while whooping, whistling, and throwing rocks over the edge. 

After about an hour of photo taking, we hiked back down to camp.  There was a moment on the hike down when the clouds parted, the sun came out, and there was a gorgeous view of the mountains below.  I could see our campsite, right on the edge of the tree line, and the old crater below it.  I sat and gazed for a few minutes, until the clouds moved back in and the view was gone.  

That night, we feasted on Chicken Adobo (Thanks Paulo!) and had another round of rum combined with telling the group about our thoughts on the hike for light and favorite moments so far. 

We got up the next day at 4:00 am, boiled some water for coffee in the dark, and headed back up to the summit in time to catch the sunrise.  It was absolutely beautiful, hard to describe, but fortunately I don’t have to.  We brought a professional photographer, Fung, along with us this time, and his specialty is 360 degree interactive photos.  Check out the link below.  If you zoom in really far you can see me sitting on the edge of the crater.  Hope Fung is able to join us on future hikes, this really is the only way to do this scene justice.

http://www.virtualphilippines.net/Panoramas/H4L/Kanlaon/Kanlaon_Crater.html

http://www.virtualphilippines.net/Panoramas/H4L/Kanlaon/Summit_Group.html

 

After hiking down, cooking breakfast, and breaking camp, we headed back down.  On the way back down, we dropped our bags off at one point, and hiked down into the old crater, a bright green valley surrounded by mountains on all sides.  It was quite a steep hike, roughly an extra hour of climbing, but totally worth it.  The crater is now flat, and covered with a grass-like fern.  It would have been a sweet place to camp, but the hike down with packs on would have been a little rough.

Once back on the trail we hiked down very quickly.  We were all excited to get back, and were blessed with Ronel’s singing top 40 hits from the last 15 years to give us encouragement.  With only a couple short stops, we were back at the base in about 3 hours.  We got there just when it started to rain for the first time, bought snacks from the local sari sari store, and played a few games of chess.  

When the rest of the group got back, we ate lunch, then bussed to the Mambukal Spring Resort which had…hot springs!  The whole place reeked of sulfur, and the pools were really hot, even by lobster standards.  We all soaked in the hot spring for about an hour, gazing up at the huge bats (flying foxes?) soaring overhead.  That night we had cheeseburgers and red horse (strong local beer) for dinner, the perfect meal for tired hikers.

First thing the next morning we headed to the second turnover ceremony in Guintubdan.  About 40 residents from a village quite a ways away, had been provided with transportation to Guintubdan to meet us for the turnover.  Jim flew down to meet us for the ceremony, and spoke to the group about the purpose of our organization and the benefits we had scene the lanterns have in nearby communities.  Representatives from local NGOs including the Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation and the Alliance for Development spoke, and Ronel gave a demonstration of how to set up the lantern, use the solar panel and charge a cell phone.

http://www.virtualphilippines.net/Panoramas/H4L/Kanlaon/Turnover_Group.html

The trip back went very smoothly, this time on a flight donated by Zest Airlines. 

Stay tuned for Mt. Majaas, Dec 15-18, just before I leave for Christmas in Seattle!!