My friends and I somehow managed to drag all the way up to Baguio to "conquer Mt. Pulag". After an overnight bus ride, and a 2 hour jeepney ride, we managed to get to the foot of the mountain. The hike itself took 4 hours. It was a slow ascent to the top. It takes a while, but suddenly you look out over the horizon and then you realize, hey, I've covered a lot of ground. It's not a difficult hike - mostly flat, but make sure to wear shoes with a good grip. I wore rubber shoes better suited for indoor courts which meant that it was really flat. I was literally slipping and sliding all over the place. Tip! Hire people to carry your bags and water. You will be embarrassed because they are older women in their 40s and 50s who climb faster and are stronger than you, but at least by not carrying your bags, you will for sure get to the top vs. collapsing midway from exhaustion. read more

I'm sure you've read a lot of reviews and visited their websites etc. But I thought I'd share my part of experience. Traveled on a Friday from Makati at around 12 PM and arrived at the DENR almost around 8 PM. Chose the Akiki Trail, stayed the night at one of their hotels that is 50 feet away from the DENR, woke up at 5:30 AM, drove to the AKIKI Ranger Station and got there by 6 AM and started trekking at 7 AM, seems late but had to deal with the fees first. As we start to trek up this trail, so far so good--all is normal, but once we passed the sketchy bridge the hike gets more intense and harder to climb. I'm sure, you can make it, (then our tour guide told us that some people have backed out) I mean we made it the whole way. It's definitely not-an-easy trail, we rested every 500 meters or less, on every large tree that we could rest our back on. Took us 8 hours plus my boyfriend and I fell asleep even our guide somewhere probably an hour away from the campsite. At last, reaching the campsite! We were all thrilled or I was at least, setted up our tent that we rented out (600 pesos per night), we suggest that you should bring more water because they don't have water up the campsite, so always refill your bottles at all water streams that you find, it'll keep you going and you need it! Also if you're with your partner, bring your own sleeping bag, we share ours and it was a little ridiculous decision. For food, I suggest you bring something light, because your backpack will get heavy the higher you go up. Did not see the sunset, we were in between the clouds so everything was cold and cloudy. The sky cleared up at around 9 PM and the stars look AMAZING! If you are camping the night, wear as much layers and warm clothes as you can, it gets colder at 2 to 4 AM. The sunrise on a Saturday at dawn, we woke up at 4:50 AM, packed and trekked to the SUMMIT by 5:30 AM, and the SKY WAS BEAUTIFUL! It was like twilight, loved it. By the way, there's more uphill for you to conquer if you want to see the sunrise (on time) to get to the summit. To achieve this trip and see everything you wanted to see, you must be motivated and push yourself. Even if you don't feel good (like how I was, I caught the FLU), but it felt more than good to be there and experience all of it. By the end of the day, you should be proud of yourself. I would be, too. So I'm rooting for you and I hope that you'll enjoy your trip to Mount Pulag either today or tomorrow, some time soon! GOOD LUCK. read more

Look up and what do you see? I see clouds, smog, and an empty canvass. For decades I thought that this was all there was to see up there. It turns out there is more to the sky than I thought, and I had to get away from all the lights to really see what was up there. While most people talk about climbing Mt. Pulag as a physical experience or rave about the see of clouds at the peak, the only thing that mattered to me was the spiritual experience of finally seeing the night sky as it should be seen. I finally understood what it meant when they said "a sea of stars" as blinking lights filled the darkness. Some even floated upon nebulous lakes of gas, the first time I had ever seen such a phenomenon. It was no aurora borealis, granted, but anyone who has lived most of their life in the city has likely never seen such a beautiful sky. Any amount of hiking was worth that sight alone. read more