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We took YPO on this trail on Oct 26, 2003.
It was fantastic. The trail was in incredibly good condition, in stark contrast
to the usual "tourist trail".
This was my first time on this "new" trail which was blazed by "Mangulings".
These people are uneducated and jobless. They chop down trees and turn the
wood into charcoal. Its a hard life.
It is certainly another sad commentary on the results of overpopulation in
this Catholic country, but thats another story.
The trail is quite far from the usual trail, and that means the
banca costs P2800 instead of the usual P1800. But it is definitely worth it.
Remember, that is the price PER BANCA- as in the whole boat. It is NOT the
price per person!
The price isn't going to go down over time, but the trail will surely
deteriorate quickly. There is probably very little that either the government,
or the private sector will be able to do fast enough to SO, TREK THE TRAIL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! It won't
be a secret forever. The fact that its an easy trail, will mean that
the pressure on this trail from an environmental impact standpoint, will
be even greater than the "Daan Kastila".
We anchor the bancas behind a point to protect them from getting battered
by the waves.The banca landing area is several hundred yards from where the
trail begins. At high water, the horses even need to travel through the water
to get to the main trail. Taking horses is recommended, especially for
kids. This is a really kid friendly trail. The horses can go all the way
to crater lake. If you take horses to the rim, it costs P500 per horse. The
ride to the rim takes about 30 minutes each way, and the views are truly
spectacular. The ride into the crater, and back out, takes over an hour EXTRA
in total, and the cost is P750. Thats only an extra P250, for more than double
the distance, so thats pretty much a no brainer. Go all the way!
One of the great things about this trail is that you get to swim
in the crater lake. A word of caution though.
The crater water is highly sulfuric. This might do wonders for getting rid
of microscopic bugs that damage your skin, but its probably going to be hell
on your clothes!!! Rinse them when you get home! This picture
shows cliffs in the background. Thats the ridge where most of the tourists
go. Getting down to the lake for a swim is not going to be easy from there!!
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