Guiltless Getaways Travel Q&A - Planning for Mt. Pulag Adventure

This segment is for your questionstravel tips, your travel pictures and comments. I just talked to someone yesterday about his plans for Pulag and I was moved that he remembered my posts =) I've only been there once and I didn't actually reach the peak. Even then, I would like to repeat my advice and write it here (more organized) as a reminder for my future self too for my next climb. 


Q&A / Requests

How do you prepare for Pulag? Do you think I can make it in Pulag?

- If your doctor says you can, you have the first permission. Listen to your body up to the last day of the trip.
- Do listen to the tour coordinator when he tells you to bring something. Bring food.
- Do not walk-in (especially on a weekend). Call up Ma'am Mering if you're organizing on your own and do the required briefing. Slots fill up quick and I've heard they only allow a certain number of climbers a day.
- Do leave your pride behind. Pay up (you'll be helping somebody out too) and ask somebody to carry your bag if you're not used to the weight or if you're feeling tired. If not, bring close to nothing. You have to decide this before you climb.
- Don't be choosy. Expect the worst bathroom situation. You can wait until everything is over to take a shower.
- Leave your laptop and gadgets. No charging station, not even lights haha. With that said, make sure your camera and phone are fully charged (or bring an extra batt, don't think there's signal on some parts though..).
- Choose your trail wisely. I can manage the Ambangeg Trail. I don't exercise regularly. It's like a super loooong walk. They said it's the easiest. It's not that easy for me and I walked at my own slow pace (I arrived at the camp site after 2.5 hours). And I'm happy I did it =)
- Do leave early for Pulag. When we got there, all the flat surfaces were already taken. We had to sleep at an incline and the bathroom from where we were was like a mountain away. Haha.

Notes to self for Pulag (that you can adopt but fine tune it to suit you):
- Preparation is key when you go to Pulag.
1. It is cold up there and it's not something I'm used to. It gets hot when you're walking. The temperature and heat of the sun varies as you go up and as you go down. Prepare and protect yourself for hot, cold, rainy, dusty and windy. Check out my list of things to bring to Pulag and OC reminders post.
2. Sleep all you can before the trip. Sleep every chance you get. Sleep early when you get to the camp site (eat first). This way you can manage to wake up at around 2 or 3 a.m. for the long and dark hike to the sea of clouds.
3. Bring ready-to-eat food, medicine and water. Bring a soft blanket if you're not used to sleeping in a tent. Bring another blanket to cover yourself. Better yet, bring that super cool Space Blanket (it's like an aluminum / thin tin foil that bikers and campers use, no kidding!).
4. Do exercise for a bit before the trip to build endurance. Hehe.
5. Do check out my Mt. Pulag blog posts in sequence (sort by date). ;)
6. Do consider going on a tour group like Anywhere Philippines if you're too busy to plan haha.

Hope this helps!


Guiltless Getaways Travel Q&A - Planning for Mt. Pulag Adventure