We went for a drive on New Year's Day and one of the places we have been to was Sagada in Mountain Province, a known tourist destination in another region, yet still in the Cordilleras.
The Hill's slopes via Pinmapple's StreetView.It was almost mid-day (11:30am) when we arrived at the entrance to the so-called Blue Soil Hills (Mountain) which was one of our intended stopovers. We parked along the Mabisil-Balili Road, rested for about 10 minutes just enough for the engine to cool down then we started trekking.
Here's a screen photo of the route on the map for a view of the trail.
It was the first time for the husband and I in that particular place and luckily, we have both our niece and nephew who had been there before so they accompanied us in the hike.
There were some rocky tracks and other parts of the trails were wet and muddy. It was gloomy that day and it probably rained in the morning. The fallen pine needles also made the trails slippery. A bit challenging but not that difficult. We met a few groups of trekkers with young children coming down while we were going up and there was no evidence that any of them slipped. Like them, we managed to climb up without breaking any bone, lol!
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The mud so clingy they got stuck into the FarmBoy's sneakers, haha! He had to scrape them off quite a few times. It's best to use proper hiking shoes when going there.
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And we found a pair of slippers abandoned along the way. The owner may have expected the trail to be friendly but it wasn't the case so she had to leave them there and may have trekked up and down barefooted. What a great way to reconnect with the mountain through grounding!
We walked, stopped from time to time to take a breather, enjoyed the views and some wild plants and blooms along the tracks.
Other interesting things observed were the shapes and colors of the rocks along the tracks.
The tall, tall trees are a stunner too! We felt so small in their midst. It was so calm and fresh out there!
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"Are we there yet?" the husband asked after we had been hiking for a while. "We're almost there," my nephew answered pointing to the electrical posts from the distance. Seeing the hints of blues, we felt the rush of adrenaline and the excitement of wanting to see what's waiting out there gave us added energy to move a little faster.
And finally, we arrived. And there it is! The majestic beauty before our very eyes... We stood silently in awe of what we were looking at. A natural wonder tucked like a treasure in that beautiful mountain, with pine trees all around. It was so peaceful and quite. We felt no wind even.
Besides us 4, there weren't anybody else. We were expecting to encounter some people in the vicinity 'coz we met groups on our way up but there weren't any so we have the place for ourselves which is good.
We went closer afterwards. My nephew commented that the colors were more prominent compared to when they were there the last time. Lucky us, huh! Thanks to the morning drizzles for bringing out more shades on that hill - white or creamy, faint blue to darker ones and perhaps bluish-green? I can't tell. There were some patches of brown too on the slopes.
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The mountain by the way is also known as "Kaman Utek" (means "like a brain"), probably because the slopes and their color consistency resemble the brain matter. Aside from the small signage facing the temporary shacks, there weren't any other information found on the place.
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We feel so fortunate to have been there and be able to step foot on that mountain and touch the colored soil too.
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Would we go again if given the chance? Most definitely! Perhaps better to be there earlier in the morning, witness the sunrise, spend a little more time to reconnect with oneself and nature.
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And while we were at the west side of the hill, a group of young people arrived and they were yelling at each other, so loud that they disturbed the tranquility of the place. I don't like it when people do that and had I been near them, they would have heard me say "ssshhh!"
And because of that, we figured it was time for us to go but not after temporarily imprinting my footprints on the wet soil. According to my nephew, it is advised not to walk on the slopes. They were told on their previous visit that it's a way to preserve the natural state of the hills. Worry not, I made those footprints along the edge, near the electrical posts.
Some final shots before we bade goodbye whispering our sincerest thanks to the heavens for allowing us to see such a splendor.
The climb took us 45 minutes which is definitely worth it! Even the husband said so. It may take shorter or longer than that depending on one's speed in walking. The trek down was only about 20 minutes because we didn't stop as often as we did when we were on our way up.
Almost half-way on our descent, we met some friendly faces with their little one. We exchanged New Year greetings and smiles and headed on our ways.
We sure had an amazing time out there and I'm happy to have gotten some blues on the sole of my shoe too!
The place is quite secluded yet reachable. I hope it will remain as it is and won't get spoilt by fellow visitors so that the next generations will be able to enjoy it too as we did on New Year's Day.