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Hiking matters #629: Mt. Kiamo, pitcher plant mountain in Malaybalay, Bukidnon
MALAYBALAY, BUKIDNON – This province is known for towering giants – most especially the peaks of the Kitanglad and Kalatungan Ranges. Who can forget the D2k? With the further establishment of...
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Hiking matters #627: Mt. Azumaya (四阿山) in Nagano, Japan
My fifth and last summer hike in Japan – after the rains drowned my prospects of more – was Mt. Azumaya (四阿山) in Nagano Prefecture. From Nagano, I took the short Shinkansen ride to Ueda, and from...
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Hiking matters #631: Mt. Daibosatsu (大菩薩嶺) in Yamanashi, Japan
TOKYO – The summer rains drenched my plans to make a Hyakumeizan run – I ended up with 5 instead of the minimum 7 I had set for myself. So I decided to do some catching up by spending a weekend in...
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Hiking matters #632: Mt. Amagi (天城山), the highest peak in Izu Peninsula, Japan
TOKYO – A day after climbing Mt. Daibosatsu, I continued my weekend hiking by heading down to Izu Peninsula and climbing the highest mountain there: the 1405-meter Mt. Amagi (天城山) – yet another of...
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Hiking matters #630: Mt. Kibuwa via the ridges of Impasug-ong, Bukidnon
More and more hikes are emerging in Mindanao, not just the grand multi-day climbs up the big mountains, but dayhikes that everyone can enjoy. Generally speaking, this is a welcome development, but my...
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Hiking matters #634: A late autumn hike up Mt. Ryokami (両神山) in Saitama, Japan
TOKYO – Capping off my year of hiking in Japan, I managed to push for a hike up the 1728-meter Mt. Ryokami (両神山) in Saitama – my 33rd of the Hyakumeizan! Given the season, I was not very confident...
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Hiking matters #633: Mt. Mitake (御岳山) and Mt. Hinode (日の出山)
It was late autumn in Tokyo and I wasn’t sure how cold the mountains have become so to test the waters I decided to do an easy dayhike of Mts. Mitake and Hinode in Okutama -within easy range of Tokyo....
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Hiking matters #636: Easy hikes near Baguio City – Mt. Yangbew
Over the past few years I have gone up and down Baguio City and while I would normally hope for a decent hike – at the very least a dayhike of Pulag or Ugo – sometimes I would have to settle for just...
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Hiking matters #638: Mt. Salumagayon dayhike in Alubijid, Misamis Oriental
I really had no plans to climb that day, but when I accidentally bumped into Dean Tony Gutierrez in Cagayan de Oro, and he invited me to join him on a dayhike, I thought, why not? Anyway, I was just...
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Eulogy: Edwin Gatia, pioneering mountaineer and community builder (1954-2020)
Today, the mountaineering community wakes up to the deeply saddening news that Edwin V. Gatia, one of our great heroes and inspirations, has passed away. Born on July 30, 1954, Sir Edwin – a native of...
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Hiking matters #637: Finally, Mt. Balatukan! A great mountain in Northern...
In May 2012, after doing the first-ever Sumagaya-Lumot dayhike, my friends and I were face to face with Mt. Balatukan, but because of security reasons we decided not to push through with another hike....
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Hiking in the Philippines during the pandemic: Guidance for mountaineers
Happy New Year, everyone! 2020 was very challenging for all of us and this site has been inactive since the start of the pandemic: Personally I found it challenging to write about something that I am...
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Hiking matters #639: Mt. Sutot (Sawtooth Peak) in Iba, Zambales
Little did we know that it would be our final hike of the pre-pandemic world I couldn’t write this for a long time because shortly after this hike, the lockdowns began and the world as we knew it...
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Hiking matters #640: Mt. Kalisungan, my lockdown mountain
Despite the fact that the outdoors are a safe space during the pandemic, and people should actually be going outdoors, it took time for mountains to open and even today they are at risk of being...
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Hiking matters #641: Mt. Arayat’s Pinnacle Peak
I’ve hiked Arayat many times since 2007, when I headed up South Peak with my classmates Julian and David, fulfilling my childhood dream of climbing a mountain I’ve always seen as the northern...
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Hiking matters #642: Mt. Pinagbanderahan in Quezon Protected Landscape, Atimonan
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced upon us a (re)appreciation of the local and the proximate, and in fact, because the Philippines is a mountainous archipelago you don’t have to go far to find hiking...
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Hiking matters #643: Manabu-Malipunyo traverse, revisited (2021)
It’s been a tough 2020 and after a fantastic hike up the highest mountain in Ethiopia, Ras Dashen, the pandemic started to unfold and I was not able to do much hiking. In fact, I wasn’t able to hike...
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Hiking matters #644: Mt. Batolusong dayhike in Tanay, Rizal (2021)
I’ve always known Mt. Batolusong to be a pleasant dayhike and when I found out that it had reopened I put it on my list of mountains within the region (or, in today’s parlance, ‘NCR plus’) that I...
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Hiking matters #645: The so-called Mt. Zamatam in Subic, Zambales
Intrigued by news of a ‘new hiking destination’ in Zambales (thank you, Simon Adriano, for the information!), my friends Daryl, Jeshua, and I decided to see for ourselves, and on February 26, 2021 we...
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Hiking matters #646: The Mt. Mulawin Trail in DRT, Bulacan
Right before the ‘second wave’ of COVID-19 caused a new round of lockdowns in ‘NCR Plus’ and beyond, my friends and I managed to check out yet another new hiking destination north of Manila, this...
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