The Playground Of Demigods And Nephilims: Tarak Ridge

I once read that all mountain landscapes hold stories. And those stories may come from what we read, from what we dream, and from what we create.

One of my most notable climbs before leaving the country more than a year ago is at Mount Mariveles, most popularly known as Tarak Ridge, in Bataan. The euphoria and the peculiar experience I and my climbing buddies had during that day are still vivid in my memory though. The reason is, for the first time, we felt being coalesced into the cliffs, jags, and peaks so you could visualize us “literally” dancing on the steep sides of the mountain. Also, I finally bestirred another former student, Mel Morada, to indulge in this activity. I had always talked up living a healthy lifestyle, where mountain climbing is an absolute part, to all the classes I handled when I was in the academe. I could not be prouder that some of them have already taken the proverbial road less traveled by, at this point, too.

Mount Mariveles in the background is a massive stratovolcano topped with a 2.5-mile summit caldera which drains to the north. The highest peak is called Mariveles with an elevation of 4,554 feet above sea level. It is still thermally active but there are no recorded historical eruptions its last activity indicated by the radiocarbon occurring around mid-Holocene. Rock type is predominantlybiotite, hornblende, and andesite, with dacite flows and dacitic tuffs. (References: Pinoy Mountaineer & Wikipedia)

Mount Mariveles possesses a major climb belt so we had to box with her cardiac and craggy trails during the ascent and descent. That is, we needed to get past the steep trails of the long and winding woodlands to get to the grassy surface of the mountain where the playground proper is situated.

But not on that, I may say, mythological day because we were turned into demigods and nephilims by an unseen force, leaping from one point to another when warmed by the divine rays. Gravity just seemed to have moved away from equation that using the word “suicidal” to describe our attempts to be one with the mountain is an understatement.

Had the Golden Snitch appeared on the scene, we would have turned this clearing into a Quidditch pitch without the need for flying broomsticks.

The mountain does not only boast spectacular ridge formations, it is also swarming with exotic flora and fauna contoured for its declivitous terrain.

And, its summit is not only marked by the stunning views around like that of the historical Corregidor Island, but by the deafening and thewy winds—which make the assault more rip-roaring than it already is.

No matter how physically exhausting the long hike was, our asperities were but consigned to oblivion as soon as we glimpsed the world from that vantage point.

Nothing inspires quite like the view at the summit where we rested as demigods and nephilims simultaneous with drinking in the scenery and ready to utilize our unearthly reflexes and spread our wings after. All we did then was romp, play, and caper with the winds, the trees, the rocks, and the grasses.

Yes, all of us were demigods and nephilims on that day who had nothing but fun and the magical clasp of nature.

This is the short, off-the-beaten-path story I created for the mountain’s landscapes.

(PS: GE X5 and Agfa Photo Eclipse Explorer)

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