Trek to deadly Philippine Volcano

  • Girlie Linao
  • India
  • Jul 18, 2014

 

 

 

 

The sun rises as the red Land Cruiser off-roader makes its way through dusty and rough terrain, littered with rocks that crack under the weight of the vehicle. A thin coating of dust covers everything and everyone inside the jeep, making the eyes water. The bone-jarring 24-kilometre ride is the start of a day trek to the crater of Mount Pinatubo, one of the Philippines’ active volcanoes. The mountain’s 40-kilometre base straddles the northern provinces of Tarlac, Pampanga and Zambales. The most accessible jump-off point for the trek is the Santa Juliana village in Capas town, 100 kilometres north of Manila. The final 7 kilometres to the volcano’s crater lake are to be undertaken by foot. The ride to the volcano passes through an army camp and a former bombing and gunnery range complex, which was buried by pyroclastic flows during Pinatubo’s eruption 23 years ago - leaving behind a wide, barren expanse. Streams and rivers break the parched stretch of land, which is sandwiched on both sides by what seem to be jagged-edged mountains, some covered in green outgrowth. But these are just shifting piles. “Those are fake mountains,” says Edwin Ventura, 45, as he navigates the jeep over a shallow slope that ends in a gushing river. “That is actually volcanic debris spewed out from Pinatubo’s belly. Every year the trail’s contour, shape and route changes,” he adds. “ Even veteran off-road drivers can get lost in this place. The landscape is both a stunning and dreadful reminder of the death and destruction that occurred when Pinatubo blew its top in June 1991, after more than 600 years of dormancy - burying towns and cities and killing more than 800 people. The second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century sent columns of fine ash and gases into the stratosphere, forming a huge volcanic cloud that encircled the world and cooled global temperatures by as much as 0.5 Celsius, according to scientists. It was mid-afternoon when Pinatubo’s strongest eruption occurred on June 15, 1991. Night-like darkness enveloped the villages at the volcano’s foot as it spewed grey ashes and huge boulders, which turned farmlands, forests and villages into wasteland. More than a decade later, the volcanic debris is still there, turning into deadly mudflows during heavy rain. Jojo Rodejero, 30, who has been a tour guide since 2010, says that though danger still lurks, the tours restarted in 1996; they provide a good livelihood to those displaced by the eruption. In August 2009, two Frenchmen, a Belgian and three local guides were killed when their vehicles were caught in floods and landslides after heavy rains. In January 2013 a Filipino tourist died after jumping into the summit
lake, while three months later a Canadian hiker died from heatstroke, after reaching the summit. “We want the tourists to keep coming, so we take precautions to keep them safe,” says Rodejero Swimming has been prohibited in the lake. 

After what seems like an eternity, the Land Cruiser stops in between two huge volcanic ash cliffs, just a few metres after a sign that reads, ‘No shouting please. Noise can cause soil erosion’. Two groups of hikers can be seen walking in single file in the distance, negotiating a wide bed of sand, rocks and boulders. Along the way are towering walls of volcanic ash, streaked by erosion. The trail is broken by streams of sulphuric water, which turns stones to red, yellow or black colours. “This is an easy hike,” Rodejero assures the group, as he murmurs what he later says was a little prayer to keep everybody safe. “You will not notice the ascent except in the last 20 minutes,” he adds. At the last leg the trail narrows and turns into a rocky incline, covered in wild foliage. With a sharp, tight turn on wet and mossy stones being the last hurdle. On reaching the top of Pinatubo, the sweaty hikers are greeted by a cool breeze. At the bottom of a steep flight of cemented stairs is the lake, filled with turquoise water and surrounded by green and brown peaks on all sides. The 2-kilometre-wide lake was formed when rainwater pooled in the volcano’s caldera, a depression that formed when the mountain’s summit collapsed by 300 metres - to a 1,440 metres’ altitude - during the 1991 eruption. Just off the shore, the sulphur-laden water falls to a sudden depth of up to 800 metres. At the top of the stairs, British brothers Nick and Daniel Caley sit on a rock that provides a good calming view of the lake. Nick rubs his sore feet and smiles when he finds no blisters. “It’s breathtaking,” says Nick, a 21-year-old student of anthropology. “It’s as if a great hand has taken a scoop out of the earth and then put water into it.” “We’ve seen something similar but on a smaller scale: Mount Snowdon in Wales,” adds Daniel. “It’s very beautiful, very quiet here.” On the way back the hikers meet and take photos of a family of Aetas washing their clothes on a stream. The Aetas are among the aboriginal inhabitant groups who were displaced by Pinatubo’s eruption. Taking shade from a huge rock,  Juanita Develina, who estimates that she is in her 60s, recalls. “It was like midnight here when Pinatubo erupted. You could not see anything and the dust was suffocating. They forced us to evacuate, I was fighting it because this is our home.” But later, after seeing the destruction, she was thankful that they had listened to the authorities. “The government wanted to resettle us, but the resettlement site is crowded, and so we decided to stay here,” she says. “All my four children and my 11 grandchildren stay with us. That’s my husband up there,” she says, pointing to a thin bearded man with silvery curly hair, squatting on a hillock while quietly watching over his family. “Life is hard but we will survive. We always do,” she assures the visitors, as they began their hike back.


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