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Remembering the Battle: A Historical Hike in Mt. Tirad, Gregorio Del Pilar, Ilocos Sur

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Jump Off Point: Brgy. Mabatano, Gregorio Del Pilar, Ilocos Sur
Elevation: 1,388 MASL
Difficulty: 5/9 (Pinoy Mountaineer’s Rating)

                                       
The “Battle of Tirad Pass” is one of the most significant event in Philippine History. It is also called as the “Philippine Thermopylae”. According to  history, American troops were hunting President Emilio Aguinaldo, he then tasked Gen. Gregorio Del Pilar together with 60 soldiers to avert the pursuing more than 500 American soldiers to put more distance between them and the fleeing Aguinaldo. He saw the potentials of the Mt. Tirad terrain that  could shield the defending Filipino troops. Del Pilar was eventually killed by a shot on his neck.

Commuting Directions:

1. From Pasay or Cubao, take bus to Candon, Ilocos Sur.
2.   From Candon, ride a jeep bound to GDP. Fare: Php 75 each (Take Note: Very minimal jeepney trips. Might as well rent a Jeepney from Candon to GDP vice versa if travelling with a big group. 

 With Car/Rented Van:

1.       From Cubao, drive your way to Candon. (Use waze/google maps) Travel Time: 7-9 hours
2.     From Candon, drive to Santiago-Banayoyo-Lidlidda-San Emilio. Upon arrival at San Emilio slow down and find the arc & waiting shed at the right side with “Brgy. Paltok” signage. Note: You can’t find this on waze or google maps that’s why I’m describing it carefully. Enter the road that leads to Brgy. Paltok, you should be going down/descending. Just follow the road until you reach Gregorio Del Pilar Municipal Hall. From there, another 30 minutes to Brgy. Mabatano.

The road is cemented but old. We regret bringing a van instead of renting a jeepney from Candon to GDP. Don't bring a car unless its a 4x4 type. I have a video of our van struggling on its way up to GDP. I posted it on my facebook account. 

Breakdown of Expenses: (Actual)

Van Rental: Php 14,000 (All in with gas, toll gate, driver's fee, driver's meal) But with all the road destructions we encountered, I decided to give the driver an additional of Php 1,500.
Registration Fee: Php 30
Guide Fee: Php 1,000/guide for Overnight (We're just feeling generous but its actually Php 300/day per guide)

 But if you wish to rent a jeep from candon to jump off, Jeep Rental costs Php 3,500 Roundtrip.

I don't really recommend our guide, you'll find out later why. So here's the number of the guide we met.

Recommended Guide: Kuya Eddie 0939-273-6927
Jeepney Rental Number: 0919-519-8803

 THE CLIMBERS
As usual, I'm with my M-Trek Mountaineering family together with some joiners. We have Ela, a 9 year old female. She's the daughter of Kuya Roel, this is her first hike. At first, I thought we wouldn't get along because she's not talking to me and I'm not really likable by kids. But for the whole trek, we were holding hands. She told me she have been training for the past weeks by jogging every afternoon and I'm amazed on how strong she is. I bet she's also going to be addicted to mountains like her father. And yes, I'm also seeing my future self bringing my own kid into the mountains. Can't wait for that moment!

 BEFORE THE HIKE
We started our hike at around 11 o'clock in the morning. This is because of the road destructions we encountered along the way. We met Kuya Eddie at the Brgy. Mabatano waiting shed when we we're looking for a comfortable place where our driver could spend the night while waiting for us. Kuya Eddie  then offered his house.

THE HIKE PROPER 
So we started trekking from Brgy. Mabatano Waiting Shed. An approximate of 15-20 minutes walk on an uphill cemented road. When you reach the end of the cemented road, you will see this:


Isn't it beautiful? I love how we were welcomed by the flowers!

 There's a registration area just 15 to 20 minutes after that signage. We met our guide
there which I contacted a week before our climb. I'll just call him Kuya Guide here, okay? 

Anyway, the trail from the jump off up to the campsite is already established. I love the trail because it is covered with trees that's why its not hot and I kinda feel like I was just walking on a park. Also, several markings of history are all over the trail. We usually stop walking every time we see one. It's like refreshing our history class. Very informative and could relate with our history.













We reached the campsite at around 1 o'clock in the afternoon. That's a 2 hour trek from the jump off. We ate lunch and decided to pitch our tents since we noticed that the clouds are getting dark and it seems like its going to rain hard.
The campsite has a kubo, restroom and unlimited water source
After we pitched our tents, the rain started to fall. Two participants decided to stay at the campsite. So we continued on our way up around 2:30, the rain wouldn't stop. Kuya Guide suggest that we should not continue our hike to the summit because of the continuous rain. It is because there are around three river crossings and the water would go really big he said. So with their precaution, we decided to go back to our campsite especially because we also a have little girl with us. 

The rain is still pouring hard when we got back to our campsite. We had our socials and decided to sleep early hoping we could continue our trek to summit early morning if the weather permits us to do so.

 I woke up at 4am, I was chilling because of the cold weather caused by the heavy rain. I can hear their conversations outside, talking if we should continue the trek or not. But regardless of the participants decision to continue the trek (of course without our baby girl) the guide wouldn't allow us. We respected his decision because we assume that he knows the mountain very well. 


So we just had our group picture at the monument of Gen. Gregorio Del Pilar and decided to descend. After all, we're also looking forward to our side trip which is Vigan.












We reached Kuya Eddie's place at around 11am. He let us take a bath on his house, we even had a few shots while waiting for our lunch. We told him that we were not able to reach the summit since our guide told us not to do so but Kuya Eddie appealed that its possible since he can see that we're already experienced hikers and additionally, the rain also stopped around 6am that morning. But maybe, just maybe Kuya Guide was just feeling lazy that morning. That's just my opinion tho because he seems to be making excuses for us not to continue our trek.

Anyway, we had our lunch cooked by Kuya Eddie's wife which is heaven to our taste buds! After eating a sumptuous lunch, we bid our good bye to Kuya Eddie and his wife and we promised to come back for our unfinished business with Mt. Tirad.


Vigan is just two hours away from Candon. We bought a lot of Longanisa, Chihacorn, Bibingka and whatever delicacy we can buy so we can have our "pa-consuelo" for not reaching the summit. We walk through the historical Calle Crisologo and drove our way back to Manila at exactly 5pm.





Suggested Itinerary:

 Day 0

 22:00 Assembly at Jolibee Farmers Cubao
23:00 ETD Cubao

 Day 1

 06:00 ETA Candon, Ilocos Sur; Breakfast at Town Proper (Jolibee, Chowking etc)
07:00 Quick Tour around the plaza; Buy Packed Lunch
07:30 Rent a jeep; Proceed to GDP
10:00 ETA Brgy. Mabatano
10:30 Start Trek
11:00 Registration Area
12:30 ETA Campsite; Lunch
2:00 Continue Trek
05:00 ETA Summit
05:30 Descend
07:30 ETA Campsite; Socials

 Day 2

 06:00 Wake Up; Breakfast
08:00 Start Descend
10:00 ETA Jump Off; Shower etc. Early Lunch
12:00 Proceed to Vigan
02:00 ETA Vigan; Quick Tour; Buy Pasalubong
04:00 ETD Vigan
10:00 ETA Manila


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