A hike through Bohol's man-made forest

Man-made forest connecting Loboc and Bilar town, Bohol

Every year, I make the most of my available holidays to spend time with my family (and friends) home on Christmas and New Year. Last 2017, I was fortunate to have acquired a free international flight ticket home via ANA mileage (PAL courier). From December 22 to January 4, I spent a fulfilling time with my family and caught up with my childhood friends.

Our trail captured by my twin's
Garmin

One of the memorable activities we did was when our dad took us hiking in his hometown, Loboc. It was actually the first time for me to hike on the island, which was not the popular hike to "Cruz Daiko" (cross-shaped monument above the town of Loboc commonly visited during Holy Week).

The trail was quite unfamiliar which starts from the "Man-made forest", a 2-km stretch of Mahogany trees planted after the World War II. Probably not more than 10 people (including the party who hiked that day) knows the trail which ends at an elevated plain land owned by of our great, great grandfather. I hiked with my father, twin brother, younger brother, best friend, and 3 guides whose ancestors used to work with our great grandfather. The hike uphill from the forest to the land took around 2 hours, while the hike downhill took around 1.5 hours.

The landmark for our starting point was an abandoned waiting shed with a toilet. One of the prevailing problems of our local government is its capacity to maintain public facilities which are sometimes initiatives of previous municipal leaders. In spite of its being useless, the waiting shed being consumed by nature itself is such a site where one can imagine a long history witnessed by the structure itself.

Broken trees blocking our path

The most noticeable feature of the hike were the presence of millipedes, which I think some people would fine disgusting. For us, we didn't really mind but it was a little bit distracting trying to avoid stepping on them. As we went deeper into the forest, we left the area filled with tall Mahogany trees and felt being surrounded by the tropical nature itself. The trail is sometimes blocked by overgrown shrubs and logs. We often took breaks since our dad hasn't hiked in a long time. We didn't really mind the breaks and we enjoyed listening to the sound of nature itself, sometimes birds chirping from a distance and the trees occasionally swaying in response to the wind. The winding path is occasionally surrounded by walls of rocks that are actually potential areas for bouldering in the future, one of my recent hobbies.

Deeper into the forest our trail disappears

Upon entering the man-made forest

Inspecting a wall (potential for bouldering)

A remnant of the past

When we finally reached our great grandfather's land, I was surprised to finally see a vast plane free from the wild trees and bushes we encountered earlier. The area was instead filled with Carabao grass and coconut trees, probably remains of how it was almost a 100 years ago when our great grandfather used to visit it. We saw a few water buffalos ("carabaos") and two dogs owned by our guides. We set up our hammocks and took our lunch. I was able to launch my drone to survey the whole area. There were areas with cacao trees and an abandoned hut. Our guides prepared boiled bananas and chopped openings of coconuts for us to refresh ourselves. We spent a few more hours in the area taking naps and idling away until it was time for us to return before it went dark.

It was a hike filled with surprises and very different from the hikes I went in Japan. I thought to myself that someday I should set camp there with my dad (or mom if she's up for it), bros, and my friends.

Credits: All photos except the trails were captured by my amazing creative bro, Al Chris Rey Varquez.