Mount Pinatubo is one of the more popular volcanoes in the Philippines next to the perfect coned Mayon Volcano and the small but terrible Taal Volcano. It is located somewhere in between Zambales, Tarlac and Pampanga provinces. The last time the volcano erupted was in 1991. According to some websites, prior to this eruption, Pinatubo last erupted more than a thousand years ago. Wow! Now I know why the eruption is considered one of the largest eruption in the last century.
Anyway, this summer, I had a chance to go to Mount Pinatubo. Naturally, it was just one memorable and fun experience.
To get to the crater, you’d need to ride a 4×4 Jeep. The ride was about 2 hours and it’s one bumpy ride. Even if i was just sitting in the vehicle and enjoying the scenic views of the lahar and the valley, the experience was quite FUN!
Make sure you’re with great friends and company that you could easily talk with to make the ride even more worthwhile.
Trivia: Mount Pinatubo was mentioned in Dante’s Peak (1997), a movie about a volcanic eruption starring Pierce Brosnan.
Since the vehicle is open-air, expect dust and splashes of water from the streams of water running along the very rocky path.
We also saw soldiers marching to the crater. I think you have an option to do so. Good thing we chose to ride the jeep. I can’t imagine myself doing that.
Once you get to the starting point of the trek, you’d see a sign that indicates the estimated number of minutes before reaching the crater. Our group was composed of people aged 22 to 29 years old. I guess we could be considered as “Young age” but unfortunately we didn’t finish the trek in 15 minutes. It took us around 30 minutes. 🙂
The crater is beautiful. Swimming in the lake is prohibited. I guess it’s because the depth of the lake is unknown.
The trek going home seemed to be faster though it rained pretty hard. Speaking of the rain, our 4×4 ride became even more interesting because of it. We were wet and cold. The ride became even more bumpy because of the running water caused by the rain. Notably, the rain fell only around the mountainous areas.
Our Pinatubo experience was fun and very memorable. Both the journey and destination were worth the tiredness my not so athletic body had.
Side Note: We saw Aetas, the natives of Mount Pinatubo, walk the 2-hour travel we had inside the vehicle to get to the village. I don’t know what the government is doing for them. I hope they’d be given opportunities to have a sustainable living while still considering their culture.
I really do hope so. *Paging the government*
