Journal: Chun Made it to Mt. Apo

Last April 2023 we embarked on an extraordinary journey to the Philippines' highest summit, Mt. Apo. A one-of-a-kind opportunity for an outdoor enthusiast like me organized by Fjällräven Discovery. It was a 3D2N adventure to conquer the country's highest summit.

It started with a long flight from Singapore to Manila and then a domestic flight from Manila to Davao City. We reached the city just right before the dinner time and drove straight to our hotel where all the participants were planning to meet. We spent our first night enjoying local cuisine, catching up with old friends and making new ones.

The next morning, we started our journey traveling to the nearest bus terminal to get our breakfast and packed lunch. From there, we took a drive to the starting point. Our first checkpoint was a rural village home to indigenous group Bagobo-Tagabawa. We took a break at the village to do a final check on our supplies. After which we continued to traverse a rather moderate trail to our first basecamp.

We ended our first day early and finally got to spend time interacting with each other. On our second day, we woke up early and started our journey to enjoy the sunrise. It wasn't an easy one as we were greeted by an endless trail of boulders. The trail to the summit was definitely physically taxing yet a motivating challenge. Despite missing the view due to the overcrowding of clouds around us, it was a good achievement.

Walking down from the summit we encountered plenty of amazing scenery until we reached our second basecamp. Finally enjoying our last night with the rest of the crew. The next day, we started our journey back walking down back to the village from nine in the morning until four in the afternoon.

Throughout this whole trip I garnered a lot of practical tips from the other hikers. It was a fruitful experience overall.