Location Details:

From: O’Donnell River, 11 kms from Mt Pinatubo

To:      Same finish                  

Via:     Mt Pinatubo Crater Lake                                 

Time:  4Hrs 20Mins                             Distance: 22kms                  Total Kms to Date: 3042

Hare: Single Malt                               

Comments: A group of Malaysian hashers who were traveling to the P.I. Hash Bash at Subic had requested a hike up the big one so here we were on our way to Mt Pinatubo again and not without a fair bit of aggravation. Well we arrived at Sta Juliana, paid all the assorted fees, grabbed our guides, jumped back into our jeepneys (cheap charlies, la), and drove the half kilometre to the military check point to be told “Sorry sir’s you have to wait until noon as bombing exercises are going on up the O’Donnell River”. After a little bit of pissing about and it was only eight o’clock this scribe toddled on back down to the barangay hall to find out the score only to get the blank indifferent stare treatment. Back to the check point where a few of the Miri group had decided to wait until noon and get nearer the crater using one of the redundant four by four jeeps that were just hanging around waiting for someone who did not have time for a very long all day hike, like for instance starting at noon. Everyone else was going to do one of our old trails around the Patling / Bueno area. So back to the hall to get our money returned. No problem with that but lo and behold even as I am in mid-toddle back to the check point the exercise is ended and we can go and the money is passed on again to one of the barangay guys who like a flash of lightening had overtaken me on my second return. Anyway, the lost hour made a big difference to a couple of our hashers who had to turn around before they made the crater. A shame. If you have done this trek more than once it gets a little bit boring but it is always spectacular when you get to the lake. There was one major blight on the landscape or scar would be a better word. A Korean company has bulldozed a road up towards the crater that gives a thirty-minute walk from end of road to lakeside and where it comes into the O’Donnell River the side of the hill has been totally stripped of all vegetation. When the rainy season starts all this loose earth will probably get washed across the river and dam it up. On a lighter note Gerrit “Crazy German” living up to his name ran all the way back to our vehicles to prove that it is not only mad dogs and Englishmen that go out in the ‘blazing’ sun on this the hottest month of the Philippine year.