PadyaKayumanggi, Cordilleran Kilometers: LAGAWE-LAGAWE LOOP (PART 2)

23 12 2010

text | Carla Ocampo

photography | G-third Atanque, Carla Ocampo and Lester Valle

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(In this post’s Part 1, the merged cycle touring teams of The Kayumanggi Trails and Lagalag Exploration— together with local bikers from Ifugao and members of the MTB forum PHILMOFO— reached Tinoc via the Lagawe-Kiangan off-road, but not without harsh difficulties and setbacks. Eight of them were rescued by a dump truck. Here, now, is the second installment of this epic ride.)

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In fog-shrouded darkness, with the truck heaving its lonely climb to Tinoc, all of us fell silent. Never had the off-roads seemed so dangerous, until now: a wall of mud and rock gaping over us at left… and at right, an abysmal ravine— a fatal drop— from which our truck was less than a couple of feet away.

After what could be the steepest five-kilometer assault in the closing stretch of the ride, the frontier transitioned at last… and we were greeted by houses with galvanized iron walls, dimly lit by fluorescent bulbs.

Finally, the Tinoc town proper. Read the rest of this entry »


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PadyaKayumanggi, Cordilleran Kilometers: LAGAWE-LAGAWE LOOP (PART 1)

29 11 2010

text | Carla Ocampo

photography | G-third Atanque and Lester Valle

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“…the place, the way people lived was beautiful. The terrain here is hard. These terraces the people made, that is because of their industry and the need to grow rice in order to live. In all of that there is something to be admired.“

- Eduardo Masferre, photographer of the Philippine Cordilleras

In the heyday of Masferre— the late, great visual documentarist who was half-Spanish and half-Kankana-ey— these were his words, as he was humbled by the people and the terrain… the soul, the character of Northern Philippines‘ Gran Cordilleras.

More than half a century later, we are equally humbled by the very same things, as KT‘s Lester Valle and yours truly— together with Lagalag Exploration‘s Levi Nayahangan and G-Third Atanque— pedaled through rocky soil, mud pools, steep uphills, elbow curves and perilous downhills… Philippine cycle touring at its finest… and arguably, one of the hardest.

All these via the Lagawe-Lagawe Loop, a zig-zagging stretch of 85% off-road glory, hissing a challenge to all self-proclaimed hardcore MTB enthusiasts. Winding around some of the best places of the province of Ifugao (through the towns of Lagawe, Kiangan, Asipulo, Tinoc, Hungduan, Banaue, Hingyon, and back to Lagawe) the loop is around 130 Cordilleran Kilometers— or CKm— in all. Read the rest of this entry »


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Batad for the Budget-Conscious

22 04 2009

text | Carla Ocampo

photography | Lester Valle


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DATE: 20-23 February 2009

LOCATION: Sitio Batad, Banaue, Ifugao, Philippines

COORDINATES: 16°56’4.71″N 121° 8’10.09″E

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Who hasn’t seen a postcard of the Ifugao Rice Terraces?

Each of the province’s major towns all have their own versions of terracing. Hungduan, Mayoyao, Kiangan, Asipulo, Hingyon… yet the most well-known are the terraces of Banaue. Tourists often drop by a couple of viewpoints in this town to photograph some impressive vistas of the rice terraces.

But then, ‘ever you stop to ask the locals, they would draw you near to tell you, “Banaue has a secret place, the terraces there are spectacular. Amphitheater-like. And they soar high, just below the peak of their most prominent mountain.”

“Where’s that?”

“In Batad. But it’s an hour’s worth of rough road climbing up to the Saddle, your drop-off point. And then you have to hike down a very rocky trail, by foot, for about an hour and a half. There is no other way to it.” Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Alternative Education, Food, Mountains, People, Travel and Adventure, Waterscapes


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