Along Mountain Roads: San Carlos - Don Salvador Benedicto

The global economic crisis has pressured our company to have forced vacation leaves on the last week of January. I was off to the fields of Negros. For the first days of that week, I indulged in the eat-tv-sleep routine. The outdoor activities were limited by the continuous rain.

The heavens cleared up for two days and on that second day, I headed off to Mierkolesan, a rural area within the mountainous Barangay Prosperidad in San Carlos City. This is approximately 71 km away from Bacolod City. My aim: to take silhouettes of Mount Canlaon during sunset.

I arrived there at about 3PM. I specifically selected this area because I can stay in the "nice but cheap" Nabatang Peak Mountain Resort for the night. Nabatang is situated along a hill's slope. The golden hour of photography started at around 5PM. I went to the higher adjoining hills to have unobstructed views.



And then, it happened for the second time! While I was scouting for possible perspectives, a cow was rapidly approaching me. I had no time to do some metering to adjust my exposure, or even compose for the scene. All I was able to do was to decide for a vertical shot. As a result, the cow was washed out in her portrait together with my shadow. Fortunately, its leash is not long enough for the cow to really reach me.



While waiting for the sunset, I strolled and saw this pathway along the grass.



When I arrived in Nabatang, I already noticed black clouds moving from the northern skies. Just as the golden hour was about to end with the sun slowly slipping behind Mount Canlaon, the clouds have reached the mountain.



I have not made a single, clear silhouette of Mount Canlaon. While it was behind the dark clouds, I decided to move to the highest adjoining hill and waited until much of the clouds have passed for pink-orange lights to be visible. After I took this picture below I then called it a day.



I was up early the next day. It was an overcast morning. Armed with banana chips, biscocho, 1.5L of water and a painkiller ointment, I decided to trek the rising and falling slopes of the national highway from Prosperidad, San Carlos City to Talos Falls, Don Salvador Benedicto.

Six kilometers away from Nabatang is a natural formation slightly similar to that of Bohol. Against the boring, uneventful, and cloud-covered skies here's our version of Chocolate Hills.



After about 5 hours of walking some kilometers (I purposely did not count) and many, many rests in between, I finally reached my final destination: the Talos Falls.



Talos Falls is actually on the other mountain opposite of the viewing deck where I took the picture above. The pic was shot using a 300mm lens - exactly 6x magnification. From the viewing deck, the base of this waterfall could be reached within 30 minutes but it would take at most 2 hours to come back. The viewing deck actually has clean comfort rooms. Due to this, it has become an established bus stop. It has also offered opportunity to local folks to sell bottled mineral water and other snack foods to passengers.

From there, I walked a little further along the road to have another angle of the waterfall.



This is another shot using 300mm lens from the same angle.



After hours of walking, I decided I deserved some comfort. I waited for about an hour for the airconditioned bus and headed home.

Note: Nabatang Peak, where I spent the night, is ideal for short summer vacations for people who want to stay away from the noise of the city. The place is simple, rustic and windy. They have no electricity during the day. At night, one may opt to have generator powered lights or their solar battery powered LEDs. I opted for the latter to somehow relive my childhood days. The rooms have no fans or aircon units. They are not needed. The place will give you a chill. Water supply is abundant. Travelers may opt to bring food or call ahead for their preferred meals. I did neither. I just requested the caretaker to buy a kilo of rice, a can of corned beef for supper, 4 eggs and another can of corned beef for breakfast. Well, part of the preparation for those kilometers of walk is that I have to stuff myself ahead.  :)