An unusual and interesting hike with the Friday group yesterday. For one thing, we had 17 hikers in attendance–that’s a record for our group. The other thing we did was rent one-way transport to Tibag, a trip that wound up taking about 45 minutes. Part of the problem was the road was in poor condition which made for slow going. We were also stopped at two different checkpoints along the way. Why they are still doing that at this stage (no new COVID cases in Zambales for weeks) is beyond me. They asked some questions of the Filipinos with us, checked some IDs, and eventually let us proceed to our destination. I’ve done some hiking in and around Tibag before and like the area, but this time we were going to walk from our drop-off point all the way to Subic town on a trail none of us had ever actually traveled. What could go wrong?

The road to Tibag ends at a newly opened landfill. The trail as we understood it started on the other side of the dump. We found a trail there and took it all the way up near the top of the mountain. And then the trail ended at a creek. Well, we ain’t much for backtracking and figured if we walked downstream we’d eventually find a trail, if not the trail. I hate hiking creekbeds, but at least this one didn’t have a bunch of large boulders to climb over. Water was flowing, but the rocks weren’t all that slippery. At first, we attempted to hop, skip, and jump over the water along the banks, but eventually, we gave up and just splashed our way downstream. After an hour or so of creek walking, we found ourselves back near where we had started. There were two paths to choose from and luckily a friendly farmer pointed us to the trail that led in the direction of Subic. Once on the proper trail, our march was almost pleasant, but it was still a long way to go and our detour had left us somewhat exhausted. But in the end, we reached our intended goal with no casualties.

Here are some photos from the adventure:

Although the hike didn’t go as planned, it was good to be out and seeing some new scenery. I rather enjoyed it. My day was far from over though, I still had a dart tournament to compete in.

After darts, I went to visit Pearl at her food stand. Had some sweet and sour chicken for dinner there. Pearl sat with me and we had a nice long chat. Interesting gal and nothing like I’m used to. I told her that I’d be taking things slowly with her, but I’m definitely ready to try one more time. It should be interesting.

I would have given you all of my heart
But there's someone who's torn it apart
And she's taken just all that I had
But if you want, I'll try to love again

Baby, I'll try to love again but I know

The first cut is the deepest
Baby, I know, the first cut is the deepest
When it come to being lucky, she's cursed
When it come to loving me, she's worst