Salacasac Santa Rosa Pine Forest Wood and Barn
It’s only been at least a month since I went to Imugan Nueva Vizcaya to do a documentation on Forest Carbon Measurement for Trading, I found myself back in Imugan with a few friends. We stayed this time on a dorm near a river frequented by foresters and also closer to the impressive cascades and falls of Imugan can be found. On our second day in Santa Fe, we venture 10km further to Salacsac, where a pine forest can be found.
Passing by Upland Calamansi Farm
The last time, I had to take a tricycle here but now we were lucky to be able to get a jeep since there’s a lot of us for a tryke to handle. Our jump off for our hike to Salacsac is the wide ridge Barangay of Malico 10km from Imugan. Our jeep traversed a narrow road of numerous twist and turns. It elevates on the side of the mountain. The views would render you breathless, not with the views of the Caraballo Mountain range but also the thought that on a wrong turn, the jeep can easily fall off the cliffs.
Salacasac pine forest open trail hike and views
It took around 30-45 minutes for us to reach Malico. From there on we had to hike to head to Sta Rosa town about 2-3km long since a jeep or a tricycle would have trouble navigating the roads there. The rain had rendered the soil soft and muddy and also a few landslides making it nearly impassable. Our jeep would wait for us there until we come back.
Abandoned Sta Rosa Elementary School
The weather was alternating between sunny and cloudy. The cool weather at the elevation of more than 1000 meters above sea level was soothing during our hike. From the dipterocarp forest we slowly elevated passing by calamansi farms then entering the vicinity of a pine forest. I was amazed by the quality of the pine trees. They were so perfect in form from that they look a lot like Christmas trees. I could easily decorate them up and put a star at the top.
Salacasac Pine Forest Shooting the Sun
The hike was fairly moderate passing by a few slopes here and there then wide open trails offering panoramas of Caraballo Mountains. It’s been years since I’ve hiked a place as scenic as this. Shortly we reached the place they call Sta Roasa where an abandoned school can be found. It took us about 30-45 minutes of hike to reach the place.
Pine Forest under the mist
Sta Rosa Elementary school is no longer used since there are no longer little kids to study. The population in the area is so small that most of them are now studying on other schools for higher grades. At the back of the school is a pine forest reserve which is one of the lots the Kalahan foundation also measures for Carbon Trading.
Dried Pine Cones and Leaves on the ground
It’s a healthy cluster of towering pine trees seldomly passed by or descended by clouds. At 1300 meters as my GPS reads, it has a chilling atmosphere. When blanketed by fog the graduating blend of the trees renders and eerie atmosphere straight out of a horror flick. But on a clear day the peaks offer views or surrounding regions like Pangasinan, Lingayen, Benguet, Itogon and Dupax. You’ll be lucky if you spot a wild deer or the resident eagle who is said to be living in the area.
Beside the pine tree
We brought with us our packed lunch and decided to just have lunch under the trees. We laid our lunch sets on the ground where the dried leaves of the pine trees seemed to have permanently settled covering the soil. Dried up pine cones also randomly dotted the area. Our lunch of adobong manok (chicken) and blanched kangkong (river spinach) was simple but the ambiance of dining outdoors close to nature along with good comrades made it more special.
The waiting jeep at Malico Ridge
We enjoyed taking images on how much our cameras can capture but sadly had to pull ourselves and go back to our waiting jeep. The hike back to Malico Ridge was faster with the now familiar trail. We passed by a few locals on our way back and kids wholeheartedly laughing when I almost slipped on a few rocks just after I said “Hi”. The thick fog began to consume what moments ago were rows of rows of pine trees on ridges and through. We were grateful for the clearing we had earlier as if nature gave us a chance to take a glimpse of its natural beauty even in a snippet of time.
Ang ganda ganda ng kuha mo. I like the one with just the pine and the mist. Parang Baguio ano, tsaka Tagaytay. Wow.
My type of place to retire. I should visit this place. having a great weather like that is indeed best for trekking.
Erick is a good photographer model for this post. hahaha…
Hi, i heard there’s a place in sta. fe na madami pang fire flies… we want to check it out.
nice shots, as always
Ron
Fliptravels.com
Very impressive!
Pic # 1 is such a very very brilliant shot Ferdz…
Seems like a good place to stop and drink coffee!! Ehehehe
one of the best lunch na naexperienced ko. nice place with friends.
dom: ako talaga model nila dyan. haha!
This is one very good find of a place, amigo. Thanks for leading us into it. As soon as we went to the lowlands, na-miss ko agad yung lamig ng Imugan at Salacsac forest.
Favorite ko yung first shot. Parang wala dito sa ‘Pinas. Hmmm, si Erick ang favorite model nating lahat
ganda ng lugar.. been dreaming of going places like this.. great job!!!
How did I miss all these natural beauties when I was roaming the province decades ago. Maybe they were not there yet or I was spending too much time in the night spots in Santiago then LOL. I hope I can go back there again.
Thanks Photo Cache! It does remind me of Baguio during its pristine years.
Haha. Yep Dom, angat yung red shirt nya kaya fave model tuloy sya.
Hi Ron! When we were there, there were indeed a number of fireflies in the area.
Thanks Lavern.
It would a a great place Mr Whattaworld for a coffee or a hot choco.
Haha. Kakaiba talaga Erick!
I already missed the place Og that I didn’t mind going back even if it’s just at least a month when I last went there.
Thanks Jess!
Hahaha! Probably BertN! I heard there are places on the road not found within a map which are fave stops for truckers
definitely one of the best places i have been to this year. it felt like i was on top of the world (literally-speaking). the lunch was great too because of the great company and of course, a willing model. thanks for the invite.
[...] Nueva Vizcaya: Hiking to the Pine Forest of Salacsac [...]
very nice ferdz! there has yet to be an established hiking destination in the caraballo mountain range and based on your account salacsac may be a good candidate. any nearby peaks or mountains that can be climbed?
cheers, gid
beautiful shots again, parang Baguio lang
Thank you so much for your upload our place….
Malico is cooler than Baguio
Actually there a lot of place in malico you will be admired
more explore our place….
Actually salacsac was my birthplace,if im not mistaken 100 meters away from that scool was the house of my grand Parents.
verry memorable for me.It reminds me how my lolo and lola cares for me by feeding me liberty and alaska condence milk provides by my father.my mother was not able to breastfeed because she almost died while giving to me my birth so they have to separate me to him for her safety.
Well anyway thanks alot for the pictures verry nice.someday after my retirement i want to have a litle kubo on that place.
salacsac pass was one of the historical WW2 memory acording to our eldiest.
is the dorm in imugan open to the public? is there a way to contact them? would like to visit imugan and salacsac
dahil dito pag uwi ko sa probinsya namin pupuntahan ko yan kaygandang tanawin