I ushered the new year by conquering Dipolog’s highest
summit. At 463-m above sea level, Linabo Peak commands a 360-degree view of
Dipolog and Dapitan from different vantage points. If you’re going around
Dipolog, Linabo Peak is the looming mountain where 4 communication towers are
perched. Before it was developed in 1994, it was a massive stone-ground
mountain slope with scattered boulders leading to the summit. Due to extensive
tree planting activities, the once stone-ground mountain slope was turned into
a massive verdant forest.
Linabo Peak is one of the premiere eco-tourism sites in
Dipolog. It is famous for its 3003 steps marked with the 14 stations of the Way
of the Cross. The annual Lenten“Katkat
Sakrispisyo” (Sacrificial Climb) is the most-attended religious re-enactment
of Jesus’s death in the city. For adventure-junkies (wanna-be!) like me, I am
more interested to reach the summit and tick one mountain off my non-existent
list.
The jump off point of the climb is in Barangay Lugdungan, 6 kilometers away from the city. I and
Person A left my parent’s house at 6 in the morning. After traversing 20 mins
of concrete and 1-km stretch of unpaved road we finally reached the first step
towards the peak.
If you plan on commuting, there are trucks from the public
market or you can hire a “habal-habal”
(stretched motorbike) anywhere around the city to take you to the starting
point. Do haggle for the lowest price.
We Climbed
With its remote location, water and food are hard to come by
so bringing your own provision is a must. Although, there are small sari-sari stores at the foot of the
steps and at the end of the 3003 steps you can go to for emergency supplies. A
bottle of energy drink and a banana would also come in handy once your body
needs electrolytes during the climb.
Climbing steps is no easy feat.
Trust me. It is also
important that you prepare yourself by doing cardio at least a week before and
wearing comfortable sports attire. If you just want to conquer the steps, a pair
of regular trainers would do. However, if you intend to trek to the top,
mountaineering shoes/footwear is a must to provide traction when going through
the slippery rocks.
Off we started the ascent. The steps are whimsical early in
the morning.
The first four stations were conquered in a jiffy.
With the lush vegetation, battling the sun is not a problem,
although I can’t really say considering that it was an early morning climb and the sun was still rising behind us.
Interesting geological formation
By the time we reached the 7th station, we were
tired so starting at that point, it was purely mind game and encouraging each other. Person A
concluded that if he lives in Dipolog, he would do cardio once a week
conquering Linabo’s 3003 step. I consider that a brilliant idea.
And finally, the 14th station!
There’s no view of
Dipolog and Dapitan in this area but you get to see the community. Makes me
wonder how do they get all their supplies up those steps! Well on the positive
side, these people must have extra toned legs and nice butts!
There’s a school
A piglet getting a tummy rub from the monkey. Priceless.
Nothing like a bottle of coke to quench Person A’s thirst.
I
had water.
We Conquered
With our tired legs we pushed ourselves to get to the peak.
By this time, it took us an hour and 30 minutes to finish the steps, much
longer than most climbers time: an hour. We took our sweet time, held hands
climbing the steps, took pictures on the side … namamasyal lang sa parke ang drama.
We came so unprepared. First off, we did not expect that the
way to the top be laden with rocks, slippery rocks as it rained the night
before.
Second, we had running trainers on, no traction. Climbing up was easy
but requires wall-climbing skills and extra care. A minimum of 3-point contact is
necessary.
Going down is totally a different story. With the steep,
slippery rocks and cliff, it is a DIFFICULT DESCENT. For amateur (and
unprepared) climbers like us, extra care should be taken unless you want to
seriously injure yourself. We accomplished the descent with at least 4-point
contact, mostly on 6-point contact (including our butt-cheeks) and that did not
stop Person A from slipping and falling hard: big, black bruise and a strained
shoulder.
After 30 minutes of sweating it out and promising to obtain
basic rock climbing skills, we conquered the top.
Got a good view of Dipolog
And Dapitan
Shared our sandwich with the communication tower’s guard
dog, which I named Shaider. It was very shy yet very curious.
Cheers to conquering peaks in 2012 and beyond.
In Summary
1. Linabo Peak’s 3003 Steps is a worthwhile climb. The lush
trees, Stations of the Cross and the cardio exercise are reasons enough to give
it go. It is an easy climb as long as you don’t have muscle-bone limitations
and cardio problems so this can be done with anyone: with your kids (at least 7
y.o. unless you want to carry them to the top!), friends, significant others or
family bonding activity.
2. Reaching the top is an entirely different story due to the
slippery path. If you want to conquer the peak, come in footwear with
sufficient traction and arm yourself with basic rock climbing skills. If you
want a good view from the top, there’s a spot a few feet from the end of the
steps that doesn’t require difficult climb. You can consider this as an
alternative.
Linabo Peak/3003 Steps
Lugdungan, Dipolog City
