The Cordillera Adventure Tour Level 1 has 4,816 curves which covers 6x provinces in the Cordillera, Cagayan Valley, and Ilocos Regions - passing the provinces of Benguet, Nueva Vizcaya, Ifugao, Mountain Province, Ilocos Sur, La Union, then back to the start-stop point in Ritz Hotel, Baguio City.
We left Angeles City (for Baguio City) early morning of the first day – meeting with the boys at pre-defined locations in Mabalacat City and in Tarlac City.
Tracking the distances being covered is one of the fundamental tasks when doing official and registered tour under ATPi - the starting odometer reading from Angeles City is at 33,199km.
Arriving at Ritz Hotel, Legarda Street, in Baguio City, we were very sleepy, exhausted, and hungry – so we took the chance to relax in the lobby while processing our registration forms and waiting turns for our passports releasing.
My Kymco Xciting S400i odometer reading is now at 33,403km - covering 204km distance from Angeles City to Ritz Hotel Baguio.
Printed inside the passport are the checkpoints that you need to pass through as checkpoints for the Level 1 tour – you need to record the odometer reading in the passport prior to take-off, during checkpoints, and upon returning to Ritz Hotel Baguio.
From Baguio City to the 1st checkpoint at Ambuklaw View Deck, I was very sleepy to the point that I had to stop for safety, and power nap beside the road for safety.
After about 15 minutes of power nap, I was rejuvenated by the rest and the splash of cold water on the face.
Arriving at Ambuklaw View Deck after just few kilometers from my power nap stop at 33,446km, the boys we're already waiting and wondering why we took so long to arrive.
We have not yet taken our breakfast by this time and most of us were sleepy and a bit tired - but the view instantly erased all except the hunger - luckily, there were karenderias in front of the elevated view deck.
Ambuklaw View Deck offers the scenic view of the dam on the right which was so relaxing to ponder for a few minutes seeing the vastness of nature on the horizon.
The up and down sigsag roads from Ambuklaw to Aritao was infamous - if not to the goats that often cross the road on the stretch near the Aritao junction, it was so thrilling to ride hard and fast.
We have pass by this Petron Aritao Junction too many times - going to Cagayan Valey, Cordillera, and Dupax Sea of Clouds.
Refilling 7.95 liters of gas from here will be enough to Banaue and then to Batad, our target end destination for this 1st day.
My odometer reading was at 33,523km - which means we have already travelled 120km from Baguio City to here in the 2nd checkpoint in Petron Aritao.
After everyone has refilled with enough gas and a moment of resting, we then ride to Banaue bringing all the excitement.
Take note, never miss this left turn called Bagabag Junction to Banaue or else you will find yourself in Santiago, Isabela.
Somewhere in Lagawe and just before reaching the Banaue Welcome Arch, it was raining hard, and we needed to stop and were raincoats.
Gagay was shivering in cold when we reach Banaue Welcome Arch with odometer reading now at 33,681km.
From here, we are about to ride the most dangerous roads in Ifugao called the Batad Trail, a sigsag road for about 2 hours in pitch black and in heavy rains condition.
With all the prayers, we were able to park our scooters in Batad Trail Parking, trek for a few minutes, then reach the Batad Countryside Inn - the most ideal place to stay in Batad.
I was an awesome 1st day because all of us were safe reaching a safe place for the 1st night in this tour.
The internet in Batad was like in Batanes - a metered access via the NorthernLink Network.
We were greeted and welcome by Nisha, the owner and her mom, whom I met during our Ifugao~Mountain Province Loop Rides 6 years ago on December 2018.
Aside from having the best vantage point overlooking the Batad Rice Terraces, value for money room rates, and warm welcome - Batad Countryside Inn offers well-prepared Filipino dishes that's so unexpected for its location.
The locally harvested and expensive Batad rice was served, alongside delicious dishes that we ordered: sinigang na bangus, chicken buffalo, beef kare-kare, and chopsuey veggies.
You will be surprised in Batad during the early morning - you will not see anything due to heavy and thick fog.
Nature's surprise will about to be uncovered when the fog starts to clear and the awesome scenic view of Batad Rice Terraces were seen from atop the Batad Countryside Inn.
The Batad Rice Terraces is perhaps the most beautiful rice terraces in the entire Cordillera Region for a reason.
Imagine that it was built 2,000 years ago with walls built of stones carefully stack up unto each other - while the Banaue Rice Terrace has walls just made of mud and straw.
It was very cold there in Batad during the night which will put you in a tight sleep - then, regain your strength fully upon waking up during the morning.
The view from afar was so awesome even from the 1st level lobby of the hotel building.
This makes Batad so nice to come back over and over again - although, we failed to trek and see the hidden treasure of this place - the Tappiya Falls.
The breakfast was equally sumptuous - imagine the efforts of bringing all the supplies from Banaue to Batad, trek, store, cook nice, present nice - only to satisfy and surprise tourists at a very cheap price.
The Batad Countryside Inn was located in the highest viewpoint in Batad which makes the place the most ideal vantage point overlooking the best rice terraces.
We were so fast on the 2nd day from Banaue to Sagada, passing Mt. Polis and Bondoc - refueling with bottle gas along the way.
We easily reached the 4th checkpoint in Sagada, the St. Mary's Church just before lunch time.
At this point, we already covered the distance of 390km - my odometer reading was at 33,793km.
The St. Mary's Episcopal Church was a modern angelical church and one of the landmark in Sagada - inside it was very calm and serene.
To save a bit of time, we decided to immediately push ahead with the rides and hope to pass by a karenderia for late lunch - that became the problem as some of the boys were terribly hungry.
We were able to take our very late lunch at Sabangan Junction - then press on to Halsema HW going to Garden Breeze Hotel, our 5th checkpoint.
The sigsag roads from Sagada to Halsema HW passing Sadsadan and Mount Data was so thrilling to ride if you are an experienced sigsag roads rider in the Cordillera.
It was late in the afternoon when we reach Garden Breeze Hotel with odo meter reading at 33,860km - we were contemplating to stay there, if not to the very expensive rooms beyond our set standards.
Hoving not anticipated to stay in a very expensive hotel, we decided to push the ride to Cervantes Junction via the Cervantes~Mankayan~Abatan Road.
We reached the Cervantes Junction already dark, after losing time in the wrong roads in Mankayan Town Proper.
We then again refill our gas tanks - mine taking almost 6 liters - and at this point my odometer reading was at 33,899km.
After just 19km of rides in the sigsag on Bessang Pass, we reached the Natural Monument on a very dark night.
It was scary riding in Bessang Pass when in the dark and still raining - I ride this sigsag roads too many times but not in the dark - there my odometer reading was at 33,918km already.
We still manage to take some photos in Bessang Pass with flashlights helping each other.
After leaving the 6th checkpoint, we were rushing down to Suyo and then to Tagudin on very fast pace.
The riding pace improves when the rain stops and the roads offered us more confidence reaching the 7th checkpoint in Petron Tagudin near the junction with odometer reading at 33,967km.
There we rested for some time, eat side street siomai rice, and hydrate a lot - we were thankful that at this point, all of us were in good perfect shape.
We then rushing down to the 8th checkpoint in San Juan, La Union for another 60km of super-fast rides from Tagudin.
The caretaker simply left the keys on our rooms because we arrived nearly at midnight - taking the shower immediately after parking out scooters - we then took some few beers and quality time joking with each other before ending the day.
We've been staying at LC Apartelle for many times because of the rooftop that offers the overlooking spot of the Urbiztondo Surf Beach - stayed there during the 1st Lockdown rides, 90th Lockdown rides, Ifugao~Mountain Province Loop, Bessang Pass~Quirino Skyline Loop, and etc..
It was a bright and shining morning on our 3rd day of this CAT-1 and we were fully rested - this day we aim to finish the loop by going back to Baguio City.
We visited the town hall of San Juan, in La Union then went to give thanks in the beautiful St. John the Baptist Parish in front of the people's park.
This church was built more than 300 years and considered one of historical churches in La Union.
From there we started our ascent to Baguio City via Naguilian Road with the odometer reading at 34,039km.
The Cordillera Adventure Tour Level 1 ends with 1 tourist spot in Baguio City before returning to Ritz Hotel.
I was one of the very first to arrive in the 9th checkpoint at Lourdes Grotto after enjoying the sigsag roads in Naguilian Road.
The rest of the boys came safe and very tired - we all had fun knowing after a few minutes of silence and prayers, all that we needed to do then was to get back to Ritz Hotel, submit the passports, and presented evidence of getting into all the 9x checkpoints successfully.
The final odometer reading is now at 34,114km reaching Ritz Hotel.
For every registered participant whether a rider and with a pillion (backride) there had to be individual passports to complete and submit.
Here's the final odometer reading captured for each checkpoint - starting from 33, 403km to 34, 114km which yielded a total distance of 711km completing CAT-1.
Same as in the Philippine Loop Adventure Tour, you have to take photos of the checkpoint's landmark with you holding the passport and then capturing the odometer reading when in Cordillera Adventure Tours - never miss it.
We were surprised that after the careful review of our submitted photos and passports, the plaque for completing the Cordillera Adventure Tour Level 1 was just a bit smaller but same when completing the Philippine Loop Adventure Tour.
Same also in the Philippine Loop Adventure Tour, the Cordillera Adventure Tours award the finishers with shirts that was designed for the specific levels - in our case, blue for completing the Level 1.
To reward ourselves of this personal achievement, we took our dinner at Canto Bogchi Joint, a well-known restaurant in Baguio City specializes on ribs, grilled food, salad, etc. with one of the highest in quality food in a very cozy ambiance.
This "oven-baked beef ribs" with red wine jus, topped with chimichurri sauce, served with roasted veggies and organic brown rice with gravy was a blast for me...!
This "burger and mashed" was actually a grilled Hungarian sausage, caramelized onions, roasted bell peppers, alfalfa sprouts, mashed potatoes, with mustard on the side was mouth-watering and equally delicious.
After the sumptuous dinner, we went back to Ritz Hotel to finally wrap-up with our stuffs and gears that was left in the hotel lobby - and while waiting for the others taking turns in the comfort rooms, some of the boys tried to relax and went into this corner to take short power naps.
Angkol Gibo, a very experienced expressway and long-distance rider, and one of our buddies in Mindoro Loop - were just simply resting while browsing the net and charging his mobile phone.
The grueling 711km of up and down, left and right bends, at medium to very high speeds visibly pounded the rubbers on my Kymco Xciting S 400i maxi-scooter.
All good things must come to a beautiful end - and we immediately went down from Baguio City to Clean Fuel, TPLEX Rotunda Rosario La Union, for another gas refill of about 8 liters.
Finally arriving home sweet home, the final odometer reading was at 34,319km back in Angeles City.
The total riding distance to complete the Cordillera Adventure Tour Level 1 from Angeles City and back was at 1,120km - 711km of that was the official CAT-1 loop from Ritz Hotel and back.
If you can dream it, you can do it.
The 3 days CAT-1 tour that we did was very short - imagine that we were already in Batad but we had no time trekking down to Tappiya Falls.
Tappiya Falls is one of the most majestic waterfalls in the entire Philippines, and accessible only to explorers that's willing to trek crossing the Batad Rice Terraces stoned walls.
You can ride a small scooter, a maxi-scooter, or any motorcycle in CAT-1 - the main problem however is the time to invest during the tour. As we have experienced, CAT-1 is best toured for about 5 days so that you can enjoy more the scenic views, landmarks, and the never-ending sigsag roads in the Cordillera's, Ilocos Sur, and in La Union.
The Happiness is in the Journey.
(Starting Point) Ritz Hotel, Baguio City
Checkpoint #1 - Ambuklaw Dam Viewdeck, Bokod, Benguet
Checkpoint #2 - Petro Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya
Checkpoint #3 - Banaue Welcome Arch, Ifugao
Checkpoint #4 - St. Mary's Church Sagada, Mountain Province
Checkpoint #5 - Garden Breeze Hotel, Buguias, Benguet
Checkpoint #6 - Bessang Pass Natural Park, Cervantes, Ilocos Sur
Checkpoint #7 - Petron Tagudin Mina, Ilocos Sur
Checkpoint #8 - Urbiztondo Beach, La Union
Checkpoint #9 - Lourdes Grotto, Baguio City
(End Point) Ritz Hotel, Baguio City
Thanks to Gagay, Robin, Jervy, Kerwin, Eldon, Leovi, Herbie, Chack, mommy Joyce, and angkol Gibo for this wonderful CAT-1 experience... Let's ride the CAT-2 soon boys...!!
Byahe lang..!
2024 March 9~11 | Benguet, Ifugao, Mountain Province, Ilocos Sur, La Union
Comments