KIBUNGAN TRAVERSE: CROSSING BOUNDARIES

Kibungan Traverse also known as Kibungan Cross Country Traverse (though its not really a cross country hike) is a hike starting from the town of Kibungan in Benguet, passing through the province of Ilocos Sur in the town of Licungan and will exit at a community in Santol La Union. However, maybe most of us will wonder how long the climb would be since it will pass 3 provinces. But the fact is that most of the climb proper will take place at Kibungan that will spent 2 days of hike, descending Ilocos Sur for about 2-3 hours and an overnight, an hour for the third day crossing boundaries of Ilocos Sur and La Union, and 4 to 5 hours of trek going to the exit point at a community in Santolan La Union.

To start our story to Kibungan Traverse, we assembled at Victory Bus Liner on the night of November 27 since our scheduled departure to Baguio is by 10PM. We need to reach Baguio City before 5 AM since we don’t have a chartered jeepney going to Kibungan (since it will be a one way trip and much convenient) so we chose to commute on the scheduled trip to Kibungan at 5 AM. It may took 4 to 5 hours of bus ride from Baguio City going to Kibungan through public transport compared to a chartered jeepney that may take 2 to 3 hours directly to Kibungan.

We arrived Baguio City at 4 AM,  we go directly (through taxi) to the local Bus Station near the Baguio City Slaughter House to secure our seats since we are 20+ in the group. The bus departed at around 6 AM since there are lots of passengers that time. At around 6:30 AM, the bus hanged us around at Km. 10 La Trinidad Benguet for breakfast. From there, we had a quick breakfast and purchased a cooked food from the restaurant for our lunch. The travel time going to Kibungan will took for about 3 to 4 hours of winding, rough, dusty (since its summer) and some parts of landslides along the road.

We arrived at the municipality of Kibungan by 10:30 AM, bit late to start for our hike since the ideal time to start the trek should be at around 10 AM, but since we chose to go for a public transport, this would be the consequence; however the time is still manageable. Once we arrived at the municipal town hall of Kibungan, we looked for Sir Cha Ro, the head of Mountain Guides of Kibungan. However Sir Cha wasn’t there but still he assisted us who will guide us for the whole climb. We registered first at the Tourism office, paid some fees of about P160 per head, arranged our guide and set ourselves to prepare for the climb. We had our early lunch by 11 AM, and once we settled ourselves, logistics and other stuffs for the climb, we pushed ahead and started our journey for our much awaited climb of the year.

At Kibungan Municipal Hall

We started our hike at exactly 12 PM. The start of the trek is at the municipality itself passing through local houses, schools and their public highways. Once we entered into their deep forest, we passed through several hanging bridges and pine forest. It was quite exhausting since the sun is on its highest point. After an hour of trek, we passed on a community at 800 masl where local and traditional houses are present at the area. After passing the community area, we felt that we are already trekking mountain. The trails we are passing are the pathways where local’s access to other communities beyond the forest and pines. At 2PM, we reached the bare part of the mountain at 1095 masl where stairs are provided along the trail since it will passing through at some edges of the mountain ridge.

Stairs at the ridge

After passing through the ridges, the trais could be tiring since you will be passing through ridges, up and down hills, and some ascends with humid environment. However, the trail is relaxing due to some pine forest and amazing landscapes. At 4 PM, we arrived at Buga Campsite, a bare grassland summit of one of the mountains that will be passing through. Since its already late by that time, the clouds are starting to cover the mountain top of Buga. And the sun are starting to fade so we have to push ourselves to reach the campsite with enough sunlight since there are some dangerous trail going up to Mt. Tagpaya Campsite.

Mt. Buga Ridge 1380 masl

After passing Mt. Buga, there are few community houses scattered around the area (1375 masl) where water source are available through water hoses supplying the community. The guide will let you disconnect the hose for you to get some trail water but make sure to connect it back again. It is important to have a guide with you during the trek because they will remind you to have the trail water and especially the water you will be using at the campsite. The last water source is 1 hour away from the campsite so you have to secure for at least 2-3 Liters of water each person for trail water going to campsite, for dinner, breakfast and hour of trek on the next day. From water source to campsite was a bit challenging since the night is approaching and the trail is a continuous ascend. The weight of the water made the trek harder since it is heavy added up from your tired body.  I found it difficult to trek to Tagpaya campsite since it is already dark. You will going to crawl on the edge of the wall, however there are some barriers made the climb more safely. We reached Tagpaya Campsite at 1770 masl at 6 PM, already dark and cold, waiting for some of our group to arrive and started to cook for dinner.

Mt. Tagpaya (background) as seen at Buga Campsite

On our second day, after we had our breakfast, and photo ops at the knife edge summit of Tagpaya, we pushed to Tacadang which is an hour of trek from Mt. Tagpaya. Once you descended the summit of Tagpaya, a junction where a signage is provided, pointing towards the Tacadang proper. Several dips along the way from Tacadang and lots of hanging bridges you have to cross. Hanging bridge are located at 1460 masl (45 mins from the start of descend), 1470 masl (15 mins after the first bridge), and some small bridges along the way. The view at Tacadang was the gem of the hike where mountain walls are surrounds the trail and the amazing Ling-ey Rice Terraces or the terraces beyond the wall would be the highlight of the climb especially if there are planted rice during the season.

The Junction at the base of Mt. Tagpaya.

At the base of Tacadang Proper

Ling-ey Rice Terraces view from Tacadang

We arrived at Tacadang proper at 9:15 AM, Tacadang was supposedly the campsite for our first night but since we were late, we opted to camp at Mt. Tagpaya summit. Tacadang was a small community surrounding the beautiful landscape of mountain walls where there are lots of waterfalls drawn on its canvass especially during rainy season and the luscious green rice terraces during the rice plantation season. We were lucky that we hiked Kibungan during the nearly harvest season that made the terraces green and amazingly beautiful. And the traverse hike will let you experience to trek along the ricefield of Ling-ey terraces. However, after the harvest season, the view of the terraces wasn’t special since you will only find an empty rice field of either pale brown or muddy/watered fields.

Several hanging bridges connecting mountain to mountain before proceeding to Ling-ey and beyond the trail of Ling-ey.  A hanging bridge before Ling-ey located at 1200 masl, at 1015 masl along Ling-ey and another 5 hanging bridge at 970, 935, 925, 915 and 945 masl respectively with 5 to 15 minutes apart along  the terraces prior to the community area of Mt. Batangan.

We reached the community area of Batangan, a community area above the Ling-ey Rice Terraces, at 1PM. But before reaching the community, a challenging assault concreted like trail took us of about 30 minutes of continuous tiring assault before reaching the the 1155 masl community area from 945 masl beyond the last bridge.

As we reached the first few houses of Batangan community, we immediately refilled our trail water, washed our faces and almost took a bath since it was very tiring and hot when we reached the community since its already 1 PM. We rested for a while before pushing our way to the school where we are planning to have our lunch. We arrived at the school at 1:30 PM, some of us napped, cooked lunch and rest for a while prior proceeding to the most challenging part of the whole trek, the trek going to Licungan Ilocos Sur.

At 3 PM, we pushed our way to Batangan summit which is 15 to 20 minutes away from the school. That time, the fog is approaching since it was bit late and the clouds are almost covering the community so we need to rush up before it will cover the whole area. We reached the summit of Batangan at 3:20 PM at 1230 masl. There, you will see the view of Licungan where surrounded by rice terraces which they called as the Les-eng Rice Terraces. At the summit, since a bit of late, the clouds were covering the area. We decided not to take too much longer so we can reach our next destination which is the campsite of Licungan.

Descending Batangan going to Licungan was way too difficult where you will pass along the 70 to 90 degrees of staircases that will took of about 30 minutes to 1 hour of technical descents and more stairs to trek going down to the next community. We never take chances since it would be difficult to descend the mountain with ravines in front and beside you with no enough sunlight. So, most of us rushed to go down and reached on time at the community by 5:20 PM from 1275 Batangan summit to Benguet-Ilocos Sur boundary at 1110 masl down to 660 masl Licungan community where we decided to go for camping.

We took our second night at Licungan Elementary School where availability of water, small store and you can also take a bath from the houses surrounded at the school. The second day was the most epic part of the climb where we witnessed the amazing view of the terraces down to the most crucial part of the climb as we descended the 90 degrees trail.

On the third day of our climb, before we pushed our way to our exit point at Balaoan Community, a part of Santol La Union, we tried to hike the highest point of Licungan. When we reached Licungan Summit which is just a 5-10 minutes trek from the school, the summit of Batangan was boastfully shown and realized the trail we descended. The Inasan River can also be seen at the summit of Licungan, which separates the province of Launion, Ilocos Sur and Benguet. The sunrise at the summit is pretty amazing as the cold breeze let us renewed again the fright from the previous day and the exhaustion from the 2 days of trek.

Once we indulged the view at Licungan, we pushed ahead to Inasan La Union from the school at 8 AM. We reached the Inasan La Union –  Sugpon Ilocos Sur boundary through the longest hanging bridge that I’ve experienced by 8:50 AM. Crossing the hanging bridge made me crazy since it is so long and made me shivered as the bridge swings. Maybe it is about 100 to 120 meters long approximately connecting Sugpon to Inasan. Once you end up crossing the bridge, you can be relaxed by taking a dip at the shallow river below the bridge or a cold soft drinks at the store near the bridge at 175 masl that offer water, coffee, cookies, snacks, etc. A reward from almost 2 hours of trek.

After we take some rest and group reassemble, we pushed ahead crossing another steep assault that we couldn’t imagine that it would be more challenging and exhausting since there are lots of steep climb from a sunny trail head. Since it was too exhausting from the humid environment, we took so many spots to take some rest until we reached another river at 350 masl of 10:30 AM, took some dip and had our early lunch. From that river, we again waited for our group mates for reassemble, and checking if everyone is ok, so on and so forth.

Once we completed and took some premises, we started our last leg of the trek by 12:30 PM. The remaining trail consist of tiring assaults from 350 masl elevation from the river up to 580 masl at the community exit point of Sap-ayan community area of La Union. We reached our final leg destination by 1:15 PM, congratulate each and everyone who arrived at the exit point and waited the rest of the group. As all arrived at Sap-ayan, we refreshed ourselves by washing up our tired body from the public washing station offered by the community. There are also available store offers softdrinks and some snacks. At the store, if you are climbing at a big group, they offer a jeepney ride going to Balaoan La Union. In Balaoan, a town where all modes of transportation and civilization are present which you can ride a bus going back to Manila and going to Baguio as well. The rate of the jeepney from the community to Balaoan town proper range from P3000-P3500. There are also available motorcycle that will send you back to Balaoan for about P300 to P350 if you are hiking in small group. But the transportation is way limited depends on the availability during your time of arrival but I think it is still available up to 4-5PM.

We depart Sap-ayan once we all got finished taking a bath by 3:30 PM. The road going to Balaoan from Sap-ayan was bit too scary since the road is passing beside ravines, zig zag areas and narrow roads. However, the road to Balaoan were already cemented and easy to access. We arrived Balaoan La Union proper at 5:00 PM and took our chance to take a bus going back to Manila. And along the way, the bus will have some stop over for dinner. There is also a bus passing along Balaoan going back to Baguio City where our mountain guides back their way to Baguio for a night and returned back to Kibungan on the next day.

Special thanks to our guides Ferdinand Calasiao (09076939696), Efren Abance and Martin Ancheta that made our climb very memorable and successful. And also to Mr. Cha Ro as our contact to Kibungan that arrange for our guide prior to the climb. You can contact Sir Cha Ro at 09108771725. He can also reached trhough facebook through the same name for his profile.