TARLAC | Unforgettable Charm of Mount Pinatubo

Considering this travel as my 2018's highlight!

This one is also my second hike up a mountain within a month and I'm truly glad I booked this spontaneous trip with my officemates, Joan and Rach, even though my body is awfully recovering from my last hike in Batangas. Talk about super woman!

Beforehand, I was doing my research on what to expect in this trip like how far are we going to hike, things usually encountered in this kind of tour, reviews of people who have been there and most importantly if there are gonna be stores along the way so I know how much food shall I pack. Fyi, food is definitely life.

So first things first! Here are my tips:

1. We hiked 7 kms from the jump-off to the crater and it took us an hour and a half.

2. Wear sandals because I cannot even count how many times we have crossed the river! In my case, I wore rubber shoes but I brought slippers (You'll see my shoes dangling from my backpack in one of the photos below). It's enough although I personally prefer sandals because it happened when we crossed somewhere with strong current, your slipper might get carried away and I had to chase it.

3. A cap or a hat is truly a blessing. Most of the path has no trees and has no shade at all.

4. The lighter you bring, the easier the hike. Bought my small backpack from Decathlon for only Php 150 and I swear, I was able to put a lot of things there including my make up kit, hygiene kit, food, slippers and change of clothes.

5. From the base where the tourism registry office, a lot of locals will be selling you face covers and hiking sticks. I'd say skip the hiking sticks because the hike isn't hard and it's just extra baggage. Go for the face cover/scarf (Php 100) because you'll be going through a lot of lahar area and scorching heat of the sun.
6. Even though it's scorching hot, I do strongly recommend that you schedule your tour on a not rainy month.

Here's the jump off area which is about an hour away from the tourism registry. Really a very bumpy but thrilling ride. I remembered one of my friends bumped her head too hard on the 4x4 roof so watch out. From here, we'll be walking 7 kilometers to the crater. A few meters, we've already encountered a mini stream so I decided rubber shoes won't work so I've changed into my slippers.