Hive Philippines Travel and Nature Photography #1197 - by Allmonitors

#1197 - Mount Pulag Shots for Tuesday.

A wonderful Tuesday dearest amazing Hive family all over the world! I hope you are making great progress on whatever is on your plate today. Wishing everyone a safe and fulfilling Tuesday and enjoy the beautiful flow of today😊!

Now for our daily shots during our hike to Mount Pulag. We started our preparations right at midnight in multiple layers of clothes, flash lights and water. The air was already freezing. By the time we started the actual trek, it was pitch black.

The only things we see were the small circles of light from our flash lights and our guide leading the way. We walked in a single file through steep trails and narrow paths along with other groups who we come across. It was exhausting. After more than four long hours of continuous climbing, we finally reached the summit while it was still dark.

The sun hadn't come up yet and the temperature at the peak was brutally cold. It was a different kind of cold that bites through your thickest layers of jackets. We huddled together shivering. Honestly, I thought I wouldn't make it. My hands were numb and my body felt heavy.

My wife was having the exact same struggle, all pale from the freezing wind. Our friends who came with us were in the same situation haha, they were crouching down and trying to hide from the strong breeze. We just had to wait it out for about thirty agonizing minutes for the sunrise to come. It felt like the longest half hour of my life.

Then, the horizon began to change. A line of orange appeared, slowly replacing the dark sky. As the sun finally started to peek over the mountains, the atmosphere changed, it got a little warmer.

The biting cold eased up just enough for us to stand up straight and actually enjoy where we were. The famous sea of clouds appeared below us. It was a magical reward for our suffering.

With the warmth of the sun on our faces, the exhaustion and the cold were quickly forgotten. My wife and I, along with our friends, pulled out our phones and started taking a lot of photos. We took lots of selfies with wife, capturing our huge smiles and the breathtaking sea of clouds behind us.

Every angle was perfect. We made sure to take plenty of pictures together as a remembrance of our triumph at the highest point of Mount Pulag, taking silly and happy selfies with my wife, made all the shivering and midnight trekking absolutely worth it.

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Shot taken in Kabayan Benguet, Philippines.