Mount Pinatubo Crater Lake: Pristine Lake View (Part 2)

After the 4x4 ride, we were all excited to begin our trek to Mount Pinatubo Crater Lake. 

There were so many rocks and stones in various colors and shapes.  I found it relieving that I came prepared with my trekking sandals.

Our Tour Guide

But even if you don't have trekking sandals, not to worry because the guides will assist you in every step of the way.  They will hold your hand as you cross the river and point out where to step through the rocky trails.  

Some of the streams are trickled with minerals:sulfur. 

Trekkers giving them candy.  I wonder if they know how to brush their teeth.

Since the pre-Spanish era until the eruption of Mount Pinatubo on June 1991, Mount Pinatubo and its nearby areas are inhabited by the Aetas.   It's quite sad that their population now is only in thousands.  They are protected under the Indigenous People Republic Act (IPRA) of 1997.

Happy to see an old Aeta woman.  Did you know that the average life span of an Aeta is 27 years old?

With the eruption of Mount Pinatubo, the soil became acidic making it difficult for them to farm naturally and organically as they used to.   In 1996, the Aetas received a legal recognition of their ancestral domain for Mount Pinatubo. In November 2009, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) issued a certificate of ancestral domain title (CADT) covering Mount Pinatubo.

Aeta kids playing

Tourism in Mount Pinatubo began in 1999 as an alternative source of income for the residents of Capas Tarlac (80% of which are Aetas) and it has won several awards for tourism projects: PATA Gold International Award 2001, Kalakbay National Award 2001 and ASEANTA International Award 2002.

You can see stone balancing arts which are made by the Aeta kids along the trail.

My favorite parts of the trek are the streams. 

While many would recommend trekking early to avoid the sun.  I think trekking under the sun rays has its benefits such as being able to appreciate the bright and vivid colors of nature.

The sun makes the water glisten...  

and the leaves so green.

The clouds are also bluer.

So if its me, I'd rather be exposed to the sun than not to see this kind of beauty.  Besides, our Dermplus Moisturizing Sunblock Extreme X80 With SPF 80 and Dermplus Moisturizing Sunblock Ultimate U130 With SPF 13 protected us well from the uv rays of the sun.  My yellowish Chinese skin didn't even turn red.

This sign by the rest huts brought us great relief!  Knowing how near we were to the Mount Pinatubo Crater Lake motivated us to go on further.  We also tried to beat the senior citizen pace but failed.  There are rest rooms here and my companions also bought some ice candy (20 php) and Gatorade (100 php).

These rocky steps are beautiful but they really challenged my knees.

We've gone all the way up and this is it...  There's a park and portalets making this area the picnic and resting nest for the trekkers. 

Hundred steps down and then up

Just a few more steps down to reach the Mount Pinatubo Crater Lake.  Coming on a Saturday, they were already hundreds ahead of us.

When we got done, our Tripinas gave us an quick history of Mount Pinatubo.  We were also advised to stay until after noon time because it usually drizzles around 1 pm.  A lot of people set up a picnic by the lake and eat their packed lunch there. 

It took us around 2 hours to reach here and it's totally worth it!

If you're lucky, the crater water (accumulated rainwater) changes color because of the algae. 

Mount Pinatubo Crater Lake

After this, it's another 45 trek down where you came from. ;)

Overall, we Travel Tripsters had so much fun reaching Mount Pinatubo Crater Lake!  Definitely worth every step.  So have fun and stay sunscreen protected!

Mount Pinatubo Crate Lake
Address	Brgy. Sta. Juliana, Capas, Tarlac, Philippines
Budget Per Person (c/o Trip Pinas)	1,790 php	Mount Pinatubo Crate Lake Map
Payment Options	Cash
Operating Hours	Monday to Sunday: (even holidays) 4 am-7am
Reservation Required	Yes
Contact

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Mount Pinatubo Crate Lake Experience: 4x4 Ride (Part 1)

Last week, I was invited by Dermplus Sunscreen along with 4 other bloggers to embark on our Dermplus Sunventure in Mount Pinatubo.  A day hike to Mount Pinatubo is a great option fun activity to try this summer.  

We arrived in Brgy. Sta. Juliana, Capas, Tarlac at around 4 am.  This is the jump off point to our Mount Pinatubo hike.  You can buy walking sticks here for only 20 php.  Rubber slippers are also for sale at 50 php.

We were very early as the call time for our tour group with Trip Pinas is around 5:30 am.  We used the time to prepared ourselves on what to bring and put on Dermplus Sunscreen.  For our face, we used Dermplus Moisturizing Sunblock Extreme X80 With SPF 80.  And, we used Dermplus Moisturizing Sunblock Ultimate U130 With SPF 130 for the rest of our exposed body parts.

Here's What to Bring to Your Mount Pinatubo Crate Lake Trek

1. Bottled water
2. Trail food and/or lunch
3. Towel 
4. Cap
5. Sunglasses
6. Dry bag (to protect your things when it drizzles)
7. Sunscreen (we brought our Dermplus Suncreen for retouches)
8. Camera 
9. Trekking sandals - very useful against the rocky terrain and river crossing

There were many tour groups gathered in the area.  According to our tour guide, they accommodate around 1,000 of tourists in a day during weekends.  We all stayed together because our cellphones didn't have any signal so if we do get lost, it would be challenging to find each other.  While there are ATV's available for rent, I guess not one of the 1,000 rented it during our hiking day.

We and the rest of the tour groups rode the 4x4 ride.  Each 4-wheel drive vehicle has a maximum capacity of 5 passengers and 1 tour guide.

During the half way through the 4x4 ride, I was at the back of the pick-up truck.  

According to our tour guide, the route we're passing through is a river and the walls by the side gives us a hint of how high it goes during wet season.

It's really difficult to imagine how it looks when there a typhoon or heavy rain because it's like a vast desert to me.

The terrain is really rugged with some wet parts so it really puts a 4x4 vehicle to the test.  The ride was very bumpy which differentiates it from my Paoay Sand Dunes ride before. 

When we reached the half of out 4x4 ride, we took a quick stop.  Aeta's children are gathered here knowing it's the famous stop point.

And, this is what everybody is stopping and taking a photo of.  Perhaps, because it looks like Toblerone right?

Gen-zel (of gen-zel.com), Eyah (of eyahnism.com), Jhanzey (of jhanzey.net), Jamie (of themermaidinstilettos.com) and Me

Pardon our lahar swooned and frizzy hair. 

Our hair underwent a whirlwind of blow dry like this!

It's amazing how nature has created it's own masterpiece right?  These are lahar deposits.

As you can see, the height of the lahar deposits is majestic. 

As the sun continued to rise, the more we could see the wonders of the lahar-laden landscape.

After roughly 1 and 1/2 hours of this amazing ride, our 4x4 ride ended and our Mount Pinatubo hike on foot began.  Read more about our stunning trek here.

Mount Pinatubo Crate Lake
Address	Brgy. Sta. Juliana, Capas, Tarlac, Philippines
Budget Per Person (c/o Trip Pinas)	1,790 php	Mount Pinatubo Crate Lake Map
Payment Options	Cash
Operating Hours	Monday to Sunday: (even holidays) 4 am-7am
Reservation Required	Yes
Contact

Read More