(Day 3- March 15, 2015)
It was Day 3 of our Baguio Adventure when we went to the summit of Mount Pulag standing at 2,922 m(9,587 ft), the highest peak in Luzon, 3rd in the Philippines and is ranked as 106th on the list of 125 most prominent peaks in the world.
If you haven’t read my Mount Pulag post, click “HERE”.
Right after our Mount Pulag climb, we were all set going back to Baguio City but we need to have side trips of course. It was part of our itinerary to visit 3 places – sulfur spring, Jangjang hanging Bridge and the Ambuklao Dam.
Unfortunately, 1 group from Pagnat Saka hasn’t arrived yet from their descent from Mount Pulag Peak. It was because they had been to the other summit aside from the one that Pagnat saka group went to. It simply meant that we’re not going to visit all the places for our side trips since we’re already late for our itinerary schedule. We’re late for more than an hour. That’s okay anyway as I was being tired already and just wanted to go back to the city directly if I just could. 🙂
It was almost lunch time when they arrived so we hurriedly heeded back to the DENR Office to Logout. (FYI: It is part of the National park policy that every visitor/tourist must logout.) Along the way, at the same place where we had lunch the previous day, we stopped again for lunch.
At the DENR office, we just waited at nearby stalls where our jeepneys had park. It was our guides who logged us out. After logging out, we then went to our next stop, the Jangjang Hanging Bridge in Ambuklao (aka Jangjang-Balengasay Hanging Bridge). We skipped the Sulfur Spring as we are running late and we need to be back to the city by 6PM.
Jangjang Hanging Bridge is a hanging footbridge located in Sitio Jangjang in Barangay Ambuklao, hence the name Jangjang Bridge. It is used to facilitate the transportation of products from local livelihood like fish and provide safe passage for school children especially during elevated water level in the river that benefited about 85 households from 10 sitios in the area.
Horror movies and amusement parks are great gimmicks for daring lovers or buddies but if you want to have a real outdoor adventure, try crossing a narrow hanging bridge. Hanging bridges are not new to the locals of Benguet but tourists love crossing them, do you not? The Jangjang Hanging Bridge is situated just at the back of the Jangjang Café. The footbridge is 290 meters long and it is one of the longest hanging bridges in Benguet and to cross it would be a challenge for those who have acrophobia. Nonetheless, Jiangjang bridge has also become one of the stops and a favorite pictorial spot for climbers.
Here are some of our snapped moments. 
Next stop was the Ambuklao Dam. During the 50’s the Ambuklao dam was the highest and biggest in the Far East which measures 129 meters in height and 452 meters in length. The gross storage capacity of the dam’s reservoir is 327,170,000 cubic meters
and it has a usable storage capacity of 258,000,000 cubic meters.
Ambuklao Dam serves as a source for generating electricity of the Ambuklao Hydroelectric Plant and was designed to provide 75 MW (megawatts) of energy to the Luzon grid. Aside from generation of electric energy, the water held by the dam is used to irrigate the agricultural fields of Pangasinan. The lake itself also provides most of the fish consumed by the people in the area.
For photo enthusiasts who want to take photos, the clear water of the lake that mirrors the blue sky above, provides a dramatic setting of the scene. The mountains surrounding the lake further amplify its beauty.
It was almost 4 in the afternoon when we left Ambuklao Dam. We’re back at Baguio City just before nighfall and before going home, the guides had distributed our certificates. Yay! It’s official. We did it! We survived Mount Pulag! And our adventure to the sea of clouds officially ended with a group picture together with our 2 friendly guides (Eugene and Hausen).
(From left to right: Tats, Eugene, Hausen, Norman, Aimie, Josh, Aldrich, Angel and Me. Not in the picture is Michelle)
Everyone was excited to go back to the transient house and have enough rest for the tour around Baguio City on the following day. The places on our bucket list were:
– La Presa
– Lourdes Grotto
– Tam-awan Village
– Strawberry Farm
– Chines Temple
– Mines View park
– The Mansion
– The Wright Park
Our journey and experiences on these places will be shared on separate posts.
