Naupa, Naga – The WANDER (FULL) LIFE

Last year I started the year trekking in Mt. Naupa for the first time with BRB on the 3rd weekend of January. This year was the same but I’m with NCR Trekkers last weekend, January 30-31, 2016 while last year was spent on a challenging weekend traversing to Kawasan from Osmeña Peak.

Group picture at Sto. Niño Chapel labeled in groups. No labels are day trekkers.

My 2nd time in Naupa was no longer wet. I’ve loved Naupa on my first visit but it was sweeter the 2nd time around. Here are my reasons why trekking to Mt. Naupa rocks every (damn) time.

1. Wet and dry, Mt. Naupa is very accessible. The mountain can be accessed via Tungkop, Minglanilla or in Lanas, Naga. Both of my visits started in Minglanilla and ended in Lanas.

How to reached Mt. Naupa via Minglanilla
From Our Lady of Lourdes in Punta, ride a jeepney bound to Tungkop, Minglanilla. The last stop of the jeepney is the corner where you can hail a motorcycle to Sto. Niño Cogon chapel. Fare is Php35/pax or Php70/motor.

2. The trek is short but still gets your heart pumping. On our first visit, despite some lost moments, we were able to reach Mt. Naupa from Cogon Chapel in 45 minutes. The trail was mostly ascent. Last trek, the trail was a bit different. It was shorter but still have some parts where you will have to catch your breath. Just my type of trail ’cause I can talk in between walking. Haha!

The pave road leading to the highway in Lanas!

3. Big or small group is not a problem in Mt. Naupa. We were the only campers last year but this time, there were 27 other tents aside from our 15 tents.

Views of the camp from all angles including a bird’s eye view of the camp at the foot.

4. Day or night trekking is possible. Because of its accessibility, you can start your trek in Naupa as late as 5 PM or if you’re pretty adventurous, go on a night trek. I haven’t tried night trekking to Naupa yet but last weekend, we saw a group who arrived around 7 PM. We were already preparing our dinner then.

5. You can camp in the peak (though I don’t recommend it)! Yes you READ it right! Only a few mountain in Cebu allows you to do that. On our first visit, we camp in the foot with the peak as the background. This time, we CAMP in the peak. I was VERY hesitant at first. We were around 30 campers and I never thought it could accommodate us all. But it did. A total of 15 tents were accommodated.

Upon going up, one of the trekkers from the group who arrive first warned us about camping in the peak. We were told that the winds would be strong and it’s not a good idea to camp. But when I arrived at the peak, some tents were pitched already. It took me a while to settle down and accept the decision that we would camp there.

Do I recommend camping in the peak?
Unfortunately, NO! Despite the nice experience of camping at the peak, it is not recommended. For me, it was like denying the other campers an immaculate view of Mt. Naupa. If I was camping in the foot, I wouldn’t want all my pictures to have a view of a peak with a camp. I feel for the campers who walk up to see and capture the view from the peak and was (maybe) having a hard time taking a perfect angle without the photo bombers. I actually heard some saying “Selfiesh! Selfiesh!”

On the other hand, camping in the peak was sort of a good decision that time too because the campers below were very noisy. There were 27 tents in the below camp plus our 15 tents, there was a total of 32 tents in Naupa last weekend.

But of course there are a lot more reasons why climbing Mt. Naupa rocks but as always every mountain trekking is a rocking adventure no matter where you are especially if you share it with equally rocking people. 🙂

My amazing group! Group Binay ’cause we have the NCR Trekker’s VP on our Team. Yay!

How ’bout you? Have you been to Mt. Naupa? How was your experience? Do tell. See you in the mountains!

See below our itinerary and major expenses:

12607234_10207460209137423_365495989_n — Itinerary w/ day & overnight options.

Expenses:
Php13 Fare via jeepney from Our Lady of Lourdes Punta to Tungkop
Php35 Fare via motorbike from Tungkop to Sto. Niño Chapel
Php14 Fare to Naga from Lanas
Php18 Fare from Naga to Our Lady of Lourdes Punta
Total: Php80 (for fares only)

Meal Plan for a group of 13 people:
Saturday Dinner:
– Buwad Kinamatisan
– Tuna with Cabbage
– Inasal Manok (Palit lang daan. Snr. Pedro)

Sunday Breakfast: (American breakfast)
– Bread, hotdog, Egg w/ cabbage, tuna w/ cabbage, coffee/milk/milo

To Bring:
Kresia: 1 Cookset, 1 Burner, 1 Butane, 2 packs Buwad, 1 Loaf bread with spread
Diana: 1 Butane, 2 Tuna (Flakes in oil)
Phoebe: 1 Butane, 1 Inasal manok
Nadia: 1 Cookset, 1 Inasal manok
Elijah: 1 Burner, 12 pcs eggs
Alquine: 1 Loaf Bread with spread, 1 kg Hotdog
Analyn: 1 Burner, Magic sarap, Oil, Onion, Garlic, Salt, Kamatis, 1 Cabbage

Everyone: 1 cup rice,
2 liters water,
Your choice of drinks (coffee/milo/milk/others),
Noodles (sa katong ganahan)

GRAND TOTAL: Php80 for fares + Php85 for food = Php165

Always,
Kring

It hasn’t been a while since knowing that Mt. Naupa has become a mountaineer’s destination. Seeing pictures of other mountaineers of the campsite puts me in awe. I wanted to be there and experience the beauty for myself. So last weekend, January 24-25, we finally took the time to climb Mt. Naupa as part of our preparation to conquer Mt. Canlaon on the 3rd week of February.

The green meadow was everything I’ve hoped for. The grass was so clean that it’s okay to barefoot but do it only if you could bear the cold. Unlike other’s experience, our Naupa weekend was a cold one. There was no rain but it drizzled a bit. The wind was chilly. I didn’t bring my jacket but good thing the boyfie insisted that I took his red long sleeve. Without it, he would have given me his again (he loves me too much <3).

The adventure started with an approx of 20 minute motorbike ride to the jump off, Sto. Niño Cogon Chapel. From Gaisano Minglanilla, we were supposed to ride a multicab for Tungkop. But since there were motorbikes in front of Gaisano, one of the BRBs asked if they knew the place. We settled with a Php50 fare.

02 ViewOnTheWay — The motorbike trail was a combination of paved, slippery and rocky ones.

The boyfie and I’s driver was quite chatty or maybe because I kept asking him things. Haha From him, I’ve known that the chapel could be reached in 2 ways via Estaca (opposite of Tungkop) or via Cantao-an (this is our way). Despite his knowledge, he kept looking at the others since we were not sure what way to pick as well. The other driver signaled that we were to take the via Cantao-an route. On the way, I kept talking and taking pictures. Always burdening the driver with questions that is maybe the reason why we seem to miss the turn when we were in KSS. Haha! The other couple went on the paved road above us while we ended in the muddy one near the river. I feel a little uneasy. Manong driver assured us, we would surely reunite with the others in a while. He’s quite familiar with the place, he said.

03 ViewOnTheWay — Finally, the fear vanished when I saw them arriving.

Because the road has become muddy and impassable, I focus my attention elsewhere. Praying a little that accident wouldn’t befall on us. At the back of my head, I kept praying that we were on the right track. When we arrived at the chapel, there was no one but us. It was then that my heart hammered. Oh my! There were 2 motorcycles before us, where are they?! The boyfie was quite agitated as well. We each proceeded to call the other BRBs.It turns out, it was them that had the wrong turn. Haha! Sorry, Manong Driver for doubting you. 😀

04 JustBeforeTheClimb — Chatting about the rather adventurous motorbike ride before a group pic.

After the motorbike chatters died down, we gathered for a prayer and started on our way. We left the chapel around 3:15 and arrived at around 4:00 PM. Yay! We had it around 45 minutes which can be attributed to our luck in choosing the correct point on the fork paths. Haha! Plus there were locals everywhere as well, just when we needed them. 🙂

09 TheClimb_WhereDoWeGoFromHere — First of many fork paths? So where do we go from here?

11 TheClimb_WhereDWGFH — Catching our breath 2!

13 TheClimb_Quarry — Human wrecking havoc to nature. Hayst!

The campsite was very wide. Since it’s still early, we laze around before setting up camp. The summit was a perfect background to the campsite. It was a short climb but mostly uphill so it might take a while before I’ll include it in my funtrek list. The motorbike to the jump off was quite scary too. 😀

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Setting up camp!

DINNER, GAMES & POSES

After setting up camp, we then prepare our yummy dinner. Unlike our previous climbs where we ate mostly canned goods, we had grilled meat this time. We had 2 wines and coke as well. Yay! Chat and almost 9 rounds of “The Resistance” game followed after. Haha! The night ended with me failing badly as a spy. Pffft! Learning how to bluff is no longer an option but a necessity. Hahahaha!

game — The RESISTANCE! It’s not good to be a spy on the expansion!!!

etc1 — Hello Liz! First time with BRB! 🙂

THE DAY AFTER

It was around 30 minutes to midnight when we decided all that spying were enough. But Liz and I talked until 12. The night was tolerably cold but the howling wind kept me restless. It was foggy even at 7 AM. I decided to forego climbing the summit but after a while, the sun shone and everything went clear. Yay! Thanks to it, I was able to make the most out of Naupa. 😀

ON THE WAY DOWN

I’ve known that Naupa is in my hometown. As a child, I have neighbors who has relatives in Naupa but I wasn’t that adventurous then. So I was quite excited when I knew we would have our exit in Lanas. It’s very near our place but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to give my Mom a heads up that I would be visiting with friends. Maybe next time! 😀

And then…home! I thought it was an easy climb but my body thought otherwise since when I arrived home, I’ve only managed to clean my feet and then I dozed off until 10 PM. The boyfie and I miss our Sunday mass again. Waaaaaaaaaa! And we’ll miss it again next week since we are off to Osmeña Peak then traverse to Kawasan the day after. Wew! Loving the weekend climbs. 😀