On the assembly area are 2 Hato tourist buses waiting for the 106 participants bound for Sta. Lucia, Dolores, Quezon. The project which was sphereheaded by MFPI batch 4 was tasked to clean the trails at Mt. Banahaw usual pilgrim sites. From 6:00 to 8:00 assembly, it seems to all that the 2 hours time is forever, waiting patiently until the last participant has arrived. Finally, at 8:30 AM everyone was delighted to depart towards the scheduled destination.
The long wait is over
While the bus has departed at Alabang, I was still at home trying to measure the time of their arrival at Max’s SPC, my pick-up point. And so not to get bored while waiting, I have decided to go to SPC Mall by 9:00 AM. After a while, I went straight to Max’s and dine with Debbie still waiting for the bus. At the same restaurant was Gen. Nocom of Phil. Army, the Commander of our support group who is also bound for Sta. Lucia monitoring the bus arrival using their UHF radios. At 10:30 AM finally, I boarded the bus and greeted everyone good morning.
The Tasks
Participants arrived at the campsite and immediately pitched tents and prepared lunch. After a hefty lunch, everyone’s get ready for the major activity: The Trail Maintenance and Clean-up. There are 4 groups and each has different assigned task to do. 1st group is to clean "Ilog Jordan" pilgrim area. 2nd group assignment is the "Santong Jacob" area. 3rd group will sweep-clean trail to "Kalbaryo". While the last group, our group will traverse "Kalbaryo" and from there will clean-sweep trail going to Kinabuhayan up to the "Yapak" area. Since the 4th group was the anchor and have the longest route, it was decided that we will be picked up at Kinabuhayan with our collected sacks of garbage.
Good to be back
It was already around 3:00 PM when our group left the campsite. As soon as we start the traverse, rain started to pour on the whole "Kalbaryo" area. Several minutes later, everyone slows down ascending. Sharp edges of volcanic rocks, trail in-between boulders, everyone got very cautious not to harm parts of their bodies. While they wonder how much longer is it going to the summit, I begun to feel this "adrenalin rush" pumping inside. Familiar with the trail, several minutes after, I just found myself traversing ahead, leaving the rest of the group. Yes, I know the place! Looking back, it’s exactly ten years since I last set my feet traversing the very same route going up to "Kalbaryo" and all the way down to Kinabuhayan. Still raining hard, with fog all around, I arrived at the summit and immediately touched the Cross. "It’s so good to be back." Thank you Lord for another opportunity.
Nature’s Appreciation
As soon as most of the group members arrived at the summit, I then decided to go ahead and start scouting for camp garbage. Nature seems to appreciate us while we were doing the clean-up. Rain stopped and the sky suddenly smiles and shed light perfect enough to take the magnificent panorama of the summit for the pictorials. Heading south, I collected several but noticed everyone’s enjoying pictorials back at the summit. I immediately headed back to joined them. We took a number of pictures from there. Several minutes more, group members started to sweep-clean the trail all the way down to Kinabuhayan. We finally got back at the camp around 8:30 in the evening.
Pour More Rain
It’s passed 9:00 PM when we had our dinner. After fixing-up our mess kits, all group members decided to take a quick shower. I was left at the camp since I already took a shower long before they got the idea. Alone, I decided to stay inside my tent and take a nap until they arrive to start the fellowship. I was already inside when rain starts to pour hard. Confident of my equipment, I still took a nap. It was a good nap that when I finally opened my eyes, there was this flood infront of our camp that my sandals outside were already afloat apart moving away from my tent. A number of participants already evacuated their respective camps. Our group stayed-put instead. By 1:30 AM Sunday morning the rain finally stopped. While everybody is awake fixing their camp shelters, still a perfect time to start the much delayed fellowship. Though most were wet and camp soaked in water, we still enjoyed the fellowship and had a lot of fun until the Sunday sun rises.
The Big News
After breakfast, everybody took the chance of that sunny morning exposing wet clothes and gears to sunlight. Hours after and as scheduled, we broke camp and assembled at the bus parking area for the closing remarks, raffle draw and other bulletin. The big news was: we had collected a total of 1.3 tons of garbage. MFPI thanked and recognized all 106 participants for their wonderful support. Needless to say, not enough to take down all the trash from the mountain, but good enough to note that there are still somebody like us who can show concern to help mother nature rebuild its ailing environment.
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