Our little (well, initially) group of 8
started out on a long weekend, when we could fit it into our
vacation schedule at work. Truly an international group we had
between us 5 nationalities: Filipino, English, Canadian,
Singaporean, and American.
We arrived in Davao and were met by our guides, hired a vehicle and were off to our last bed for a while--at Casa Leticia. Early the next morning we were off by hired jeep to Apo. The jeep leaked exhaust fumes and we weren't terribly disappointed to have to change vehicles at Kidapawan. From here we continued to Ilomavis and Lake Agco. We looked longingly at the bubbling lake, imagining how wonderful it would be to decend Apo, tired and sore, and soak in its refreshing waters. Meanwhile, porters were organized (sorry folks, we're stuck at desks most of the time, and getting ourselves up the mountain was going to be difficult enough--if we lugged our stuff, it would be--well--forget it). The porters were Manobo, lead by a Bagobo, and they were great!
After lunch, we were off to the first stop--Mainit. The weather was overcast and drizzly, and as we crossed the Marbel river a whole bunch of times (counts ranged between 9-13), we got pretty wet, and a couple of our group said the next day they were going back to Agco--climbing Apo in this weather didn't appeal.
Mainit has a small campsite and
hot and cold springs. Real luxury. We ate and slept well that
night. The next morning, the two who said they would not continue
began to waver, partly because the sun peeked through 
and we could actually see the summit. They
decided to give it further thought after coffee. As I (being the
slowest) started out, they had decided to continue up with the
group.
The second day on the mountain was a long uphill to Lake Venado, through beautiful foliage, wonderful mossy-mist forest and hard woods. Along the way there were some difficult (for us) patches. In a few places, previous climbers had errected ladders to help, but some of them were in need of repair. We pushed on, arriving in mist and fog at a field of grass where innumerable spiders had built webs to catch insects in the wind, creating a sort of fairyland of delicate 8-legged beasties and their nets.
From here we traversed part of the bog that surrounds Venado, and set up our campsite beside the lake. The lake was beautiful! Unfortunately it was also full of trash and ample evidence that many climbers have no comprehension that they should leave things alone and pack out EVERYTHING that they bring.
Campers had carved huge chunks out of the bog, baring the soil so that they could leave, for a while, their own names. Tree trunks along the trail were similarly vandalized. Wrappers of various colors, shapes, and sizes littered the trail. We were quite horrified! Don't they understand??? Obliviously not.
Despite it all, we did enjoy the lake, and
were treated to a glorious sunset. Then we prepared for dinner
and had another good night's rest.
In the morning, we had breakfast and then started through mud that was more than ankle-deep to the summit, for me a 3-hour pull. I remeber that, as a child, my mother was always telling me to keep out of the mud. Here I had ample opportunity to get into all the mud I could possibly have avoided as a result of her admonitions--at least this is what I told myself as wet, cold feet sloshed onwards.
The views from the summits were awsome. Once up there, you find many peaks, with many wonderful views. We shot lots of film of views and each other--the mountain had decided for a bit to reveal her true majesty--words don't suffice to describe how beautiful this is.
But...there was all that garbage! the thought of Lake Venado turning into a high-altitude Smokey Mountain (once a huge garbage dump in Manila) horrified us all. One of the climbers suggested "what if we pay the porters extra to fill all our trash bags and carry out as much as they can." We discussed this and decided to offer them a ganta of rice for every trash bag they filled and carried down. The porters were delighted, and in no time were scurrying about picking up. The mountains of trash dwindled, and pretty soon Lake Venado looked much better.
We decided to spend the next night at
Mainit, rather than at the lake, in an effort to get back to
Davao in time for shopping. We hurried down to the lake for lunch
and continued down Apo. Because Apo was back into her rainy
season mode the descent was wet and slippery, and I came in well
after dark to the campsite at Mainit.
The next morning we descended to Agco, and arrived to find our transport out hadn't. So, there was haggling with a waiting jeep that wanted to capitalize on our plight. Meanwhile, garbage bags were counted and gantas of rice produced--to everybody's satisfaction. Eventually (after taking our bags off that jeep) a bargain was struck and we were on our way out.
Along the way back to Davao City, we discussed the trip ("GREAT") and the basura problem ("AWFUL"), feeling quite strongly that "educate" was the name of the game--signs were needed, frequent ones that informed people about why they should not litter and then nagged them into remembering about it. The signs should be permanent and not burnable. We also decided that it would be awfully nice if the fee one pays for entering Apo could be doubled--and half of it returned only if the hiker came back down with enough garbage to show that he or she had indeed packed out everything brought in. If indeed this were not the case, the extra money could be used to pay the porters or other locals to go in and get the offending refuse.
About a month after our climb, another
friend went up Apo. He said that Venado looked fairly clean (so
nice to know we had "lasting" results). However, he
said that Mainit had developed a mound of garbage! ERK!
Apo is clearly not the only victim.
The big thing in development these days is making projects pay for themselves--and the whole problem with protection of the few remaining natural areas that the country has is--How do we pay for it? Usage fees are of course the answer--but a very simplistic one, because it's implementation of the fees and then directing the resulting outcome properly that is the real answer.