From our beautiful base at Mt. Moriah’s New Faith Family Children’s Home, we can see tall, pristine mountains that seem to change almost moment by moment, with the fleeing clouds, sunlight, and gorgeous blue skies. And yet, for all of its beauty, I don’t think any of us were prepared for the cuts, bruises, and sore muscles we would bear as a result of climbing to its summit.
“Let’s climb the mountain,” Drew had suggested one morning. Due to inclement weather, we had had to scratch our plans to swim at a local waterfall…twice… and Drew was antsy to get out and see whatever we could see of Malay Balay before our rapidly approaching departure.
I’m not sure what the eight of us were thinking when we said, “Sure.”
It was 4am when Drew, Olivia, Brandon, Peggy, Sabrina, Stephen, Tom, and I left Mt. Moriah by van towards the base of Mt. Kitanglad. It was nearly 4pm when we finally summited, after a grueling seven-and-a-half hour vertical climb. From a starting altitude of 900 feet, we climbed more than 8,000 feet on steep, narrow, muddy, root-strewn paths, to the top of the Philippines’ fourth highest peak. Much of our path was slick and slimy, with shin-deep mud and twisted branches that literally knitted the path together beside two-hundred feet drops. It was like climbing the highest setting on a Stairmaster for seven hours straight. Our guide, Kenneth, is an extreme sports lover who can run up AND down the mountain in 3 hours flat. Needless to say, this crew of World Racers certainly destroyed his record by more than doubling his racing time. Go us.
We passed (okay, we were passed by) many locals along the way, each carrying heavy, long metal beams on their heads up the mountain. These individuals climb the mountain several times a day, bearing the materials that will enable construction at the top of the mountain for the region’s telecommunications towers. They make 10 pesos (25 cents) for every kilogram they carry. For most, this means they will make about 270 pesos ($6.42) for a full day of strenuous mountain climbing. Seriously, I admire their strength and dedication to do what they do day after day after day. I don’t think you could pay me enough to climb that mountain again.
There were plenty of falls, plenty of scrapes and bruises, but I have to say they were all worth it when we finally reached the top and saw the view beneath. We were above the clouds, looking down across Bukidnon District, all the way to the Pacific Ocean (a three hour drive away).
The sunset was hidden by the clouds, but the stars were unveiled later that evening as we watched an incredible lightning storm flash in the distance over the towns below us. The next morning, the sunrise was brilliant, with colors vibrant and alive with the dance of a new day. After a night of sleeping side-by-side with Sabrina in a tiny cubby-hole compartment smaller than a twin-sized mattress, we were ready to begin the arduous hike back down the mountain, which ended up taking us six-and-a-half-hours.
As I type this, my poor body feels about ninety-five, but my spirit feels alive and grateful that we made it up and down the mountain in one piece. It is truly a feeling of surreal bliss when you reach the summit of such a beast, but when you reach the bottom and look back, you realize the absolute madness that must have possessed you when you said, “Sure.”
The Sovereign LORD is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to go on the heights. Habakkuk 3:19
Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. In His hands are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him. The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land. Psalm 95:1-5
