Climb Abra | Mt Bullagao, Langiden

After a tricycle ride from Bangued via Calaba and San Antonio our small group arrived at the Municipal Hall of Langiden where we registered with the local police, whilst waiting for our habal habal (backriding a motorbike) to transport us along the river bed to Barangay Malapaao, our starting point for the climb.

We met up with our Guides, Artemio and Marlon, at the Barangay Hall and after an early lunch set out on the first leg of the hike, crossing the river and trekking up to the rice fields. This was a gentle warm up before we began the actual climb up to the campsite at 586masl.
It took us an hour of climbing to reach the first water source, a small spring, where we refreshed ourselves, had a snack and refilled our bottles for the second leg up to the campsite where we would spend the night.

The Trail

The trail is a pleasant, but steep in places climb, which passes through several levels of old abandoned rice terraces that have been replanted with a bamboo forest providing plenty of shade before opening up to some stunning views of Malapaao, Bangued and the Abra River flood plain far below.

From the Campsite to the Summit, the trail is steep with loose soil and stones in places that make it slightly hazardous before it enters a cool green forested area where wild boar, monkeys, deer and native chicken roam wild. Our knowledgeable and experienced guides, educated us by pointing out the tell tale signs of footprints, disturbed ground and calls of the various fauna along the way. 

Mt Bullagao Summit

Coming out of the green forest we are suddenly at the Summit covered in solar panels and communication equipment. The views are extremely limited here but there are some trees a few metres below, where you could hang a hammock if you decided to spend the night at the Summit.

After taking the obligatory Summit photos we hiked about ten minutes to the South Summit where there is a 180 degree view over Abra and the Ilocos Sur coastline in the distance.

There is also a trail from here leading back to the campsite 400 metres below but since we did not need to return to the campsite we didn’t try it out and instead descended along the same trail we climbed earlier. It took us four and a half hours to reach the Barangay 1048 metres below and a well deserved ice cold coke.