When Climbing Mount Ulap

Mount Ulap

Location: Itogon, Benguet
Entry point: Brgy. Ampucao, Itogon
Exit point: Brgy. Sta. Fe, Itogon
LLA: 16.2904 N, 120.6312 E, 1846 MASL (Mt. Ulap) *masl : meters above sea level
3 peaks: Ambanao, Paoay 1788 MASL Gungal 1814 MASL Mount Ulap 1846 MASL
Days required / Hours to summit: 1 day / it depends but for me it took about 4-5 hours
Specs: Difficulty 4/9
Features: Beautiful view, greenland and pine trees, cows ( be careful not step on their poops since there will be a lot lol), cute dogs, rock formations

Things to bring during hiking: 

✅ 1-2 liters of water
✅ packed lunch and snacks (You can also buy your lunch there 15 minutes after you've reached the summit, it' called Ministop/7eleven but don't expect it to be the convenience store we are familiar with, it's a small store/karinderya where you can buy lunch ranging 40-80 pesos, boiled egg costs 15 pesos and you can also buy snacks and bottled water)
✅ flashlight ( if your hiking starts at dawn)
✅ sunblock
✅ extra clothes ( you can take shower there after 20 pesos for shower, 10 pesos for taking a dump, 5 pesos for peeing, shampoo is around 10 pesos and soap is about 20 pesos)
✅garbage bag ( leave no trace and utang na loob please be responsible )
✅Trekking pole ( for beginners but can also buy there a wooden version that cost around 35 pesos, can be a souvenir too)
✅First aid kit ( just in case)
✅Better to wear jacket as well since weather is around 13-15°C specially when you start your hike at dawn

Mount Ulap is the 4th mountain I've hiked so far but the first one for this year. I paid 1200 pesos/ around 24 dollars ( it includes RT Van transfer from Manila- Mount Ulap and also guide and fee. You can dm me on IG @kristine0319 for the details regarding the organizer)
 The call time was 9pm at Mcdo Greenfield at Shaw. But then it was moved at 11pm but the van arrived at 12. We arrived there around 5am and the weather is really cold. We had a warm up hike ( less than 5 minutes) and we felt tired already lol maybe because it was really steep despite of it being a "warm up."

We then started hiking before 6am and arrived at the first peak (Ambanao-Paoay) before 8am. The trail was not really hard and you can see great view on your left side and also be careful with the small rocks because it can be slippery. After we reached the first peak, we also climbed the other mountain in front where we can saw small rock formations .(that I think hikers made)

Then we reached the second peak (Gungal) around 9:30am. Of course, we did not miss the famous spot (Gungal) for picture taking and probably a challenge for me since I'm afraid of heights lol but definitely worth it. We hiked there during weekday so there aren't a lot of hikers (just around 3 groups) but during weekends, it will be hard to enjoy and take good pictures and poses since there will be a lot of people waiting for their turns.

We reached the summit (Mount Ulap) around 10am. And of course, the view there is breathtaking and not even a good camera can capture how beautiful the view was.
I guess what's special about Mount Ulap is that you will feel like you hike 3 mountains in one day since the trail is mostly ups and downs. We then ate our packed lunch around 11am in the carinderya located there and met a cute dog.
We started hiking down after an hour and half and hiked 4kms just to see the sign "I conquered Mount Ulap." Going down is quite challenging because it's quite slippery it made remembered my hike on Mount Binacayan, the trail going down was quite similar. At first I thought it was the end of the trail when I saw the sign but I was wrong because we need to still walk and pass to 3 hanging bridges before finally ending the trail. We finish at around 2pm and then we rested for a while and took a cool shower there.
We also went to Baguio as our side trip.