Cordillera
to Sierra Madre [Day 3 and Day 4]_Motorcycle Riding
Day 3: Sagada to Isabela
Date: February 19, 2014
Route Taken: Sagada –
Bontoc – Barlig – Natonin- Paracelis – Ifugao – Maris Dam – Magat Dam –
Santiago – Echague, Isabela
Woke-up around 7:30 in the morning, took
my breakfast of bread and water, plot my route and prepare myself for today’s
adventure.
Past 9AM when I left the hotel. Drop by at
the church in Poblacion to have some
prayers and pictures as well.
Then
I started rolling heading Bontoc. I know that this segment is a very long
off-road and far from city civilization so I told myself to at least lessen the
stops and picture taking for me to complete the route before sundown. But there
are some points that I can’t resist pulling over to have a sneak to the beauty
of Cordillera Mountain Ranges such
like this.
I continued riding heading East direction
going to Barlig. My next stop is on top of these majestic rice terraces. The Barlig Rice Terraces which is part of
Cordillera Rice Terraces that was acknowledged and inscribed by UNESCO to
showcase the ingenuity of Igorot engineering.
After few more clicks from my camera,
continued riding heading Natonin. From Barlig, it is already a complete and
challenging off-road condition. Lucky for me that it is summer time so the
bumpy road is dry and more manageable. Few kilometers from Barlig, I found
myself riding alone in the middle of the mountain. Anywhere you point your
eyes; it’s all mountain, and mountain, and mountain. What should to expect,
this province is called Mountain
Province.
From Barlig to Paracelis, it has
approximately 70kms of complete off-road. But from Paracelis, it is already 99%
paved roads up to Isabela. Continued riding with no stops until I reached
Isabela proper aiming to arrive on this province while the sun is still high.
I’ve drop by at the two dams in the
boundary of Ifugao and Isabela for few more pictures before going to Santiago to
look for place to stay.
Maris
Dam:
Magat Dam:
Past 5PM when I arrived in Santiago,
Isabela. Looked for a place to stay, but as expected, hotel inside the city are
more pricey than the nearby Municipality. So I decided to travel 10 more
kilometers going to the nearby Municipality
of Echague where I found a cheaper room worth P450 for overnight stay
compared to P800 to P900 in the city.
After I settled my room, looked for something
to eat, looked for gas station to fill the bike’s tank. Had few bottles of beer
and I ended the day.
:: End of Day 3 ::
Day 4: Isabela to
Dinggalan, Aurora
Date: February 20, 2014
Route Taken: Echague,
Isabela – Jones – Maddela – Dinadiawan, Aurora – Dipaculao – Maria Aurora – San
Agustin – Bongabon, Nueva Ecija – Laur – Dinggalan, Aurora
Get-up from the bed past 7AM, lubricate
the bike, prepare myself and left the hotel at 9AM.
I was assessed the previous day that I
almost short of budget so I asked helped from my friend Rey who’s in Manila to
send me some thousand bucks and he remit it to Cebuana Lhuiller yester night.
So first destination after I left the hotel is to look for Cebuana Lhuiller in
the area to claim the money.
After that errand, I started rolling via the Echague backdoor bypassing the National
Highway going to Maddela.
In Madella, I dropped by to a known
tourist attraction at this municipality, the “Maddela Waterfalls”. It is 3kms away from the main road. The 3km
road are off-roads but manageable that you can even bring your sedan to the
area.
Maddela Waterfalls is a series of falls with
basins below each falls for swimming. Others called it “Governor’s Rapid”. They
have curved the stones to form natural steps for easy access going to the other
falls above the hill. I was able to reach 4 waterfalls and basins. I believe
there are more surprises and adventures above of it but the terrain is more
difficult and stiff and I don’t have more time to explore so I enjoyed relaxing
for few minutes on the last rapid that I’ve reached.
It’s almost lunch time and I am not even at
the half of this day’s route. This lap is one of the longest laps of the entire
trip so even I still wanted to stay; I need to move forward because I am still
too far to my today’s destination, in Dinggalan, Aurora.
I get back on the road again traversing
the mountainous terrain on the boundary of Isabela and Aurora. This is now part
of the Sierra Madre Mountain Ranges that’s why I titled this trip as
“Cordillera to Sierra Madre”. There is an on-going construction on this part of
the mountain with only approximately 20kms off-road left and I believe this can
be completed the soonest.
From Dinadiawan, Aurora to Baler is
already 100% complete paved road. It is nice traversing this part of the road
because it is a coastal road at the East
Side of Luzon. I was even tempted to pull-over and touch the salt water
because of the beautiful view and this was my first time to see body of sea
water again after 4 days since I left Manila.
Then continued riding heading Maria Aurora
bypassing Baler proper. I been to Baler and Maria Aurora years back but I
missed to visit this said “Century Old
Balete Tree”. So I made it sure to put it on my itinerary this time.
I enjoyed roaming around the area, passing
through small openings to get inside or in the middle of the tree, climbing on
top, picture taking and chatting with the locals when I noticed it is already 4
o’clock in the afternoon.
Part of my route is the Villa to Bongabon road which I believe
is a 70kms off-road with river-crossing so I need to move now to complete
traversing this segment before sundown.
Lucky for me that construction on this
area is also on-going and there’s already around 20kms off-road left, so I was
able to reach the Nueva Ecija – Aurora boundary right just in time that the sun
is kissing the edge of the mountain.
I arrived in Bongabon past 7pm. Heavy rain
falls when I arrived in Bongabon so I put the electronic gadgets inside the bag
with plastic for waterproofing. Passing through the mountainous area of Laur –
Dinggalan road on heavy rainfall, cold weather, total darkness with small
amount of light coming from a dirt bike really slows down my pace, but manage
to arrive on my destination safe around 8:30PM where I met my father Allen to
join with me on tomorrow’s adventure.
Had some beers and chatting with my father
before we hit the bed to rest our body in preparation for tomorrow’s more
adventurous and final segment of this ride.
:: End of Day 4
::
