January 05, 2013

I have always looked for a place for swimming near Sagada.  The reason is that, my son loves water.  He is just 4 years old, and I cannot bring him to Pongas or Bomod ok falls just yet.  He is a bit heavy to be carried when he gets tired.  He is quite big for a 4 year old boy :)    Then I came across this place named Mainit town 17° 8' 48.52" N  120° 57' 27.62" E north of Bontoc.  

So I told my wife that we go to Sagada, then do Mainit (Gestons Hotsprings).  It is quite far, but not so far, approximately 1.5 hours from Sagada.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/259596849

This is the tracklog above.  From Sagada, we got down to Bontoc, then went up again to Mainit town passing by the Bontoc museum.  The road from Bontoc to Mainit is small, one lane road (not paved).  This doable with a 4x2 pick up truck or van like nissan urvan.  The road will be difficult with a sedan, there are segments needing some vehicle ground clearance (we used a jimny with a 205 70 r15).

http://www.panoramio.com/user/4313883?comment_page=1&photo_page=1

link to my panoramio for GPS coordinates.

The place is not as cold as Sagada, maybe because it has lower altitude.  We went straight to Geston Hotsprings.  The place has swimming pools.  The water is warm (mixed cold and hot water from hot springs).  We just stayed for about an hour.  I paid 450 pesos entrance fee plus a small cottage for 3 of us.  Then we went back to Bontoc then Sagada.

road to Kiltepan

Kiltepan above the clouds

moonlight at Kiltepan

waiting for sunrise in Kiltepan

Bontoc as viewed along the road to Mainit town

road to Mainit town

Geston hotsprings

Geston hotsprings

road to Mainit town

waiting for food in Kusina Ysagada

yummy food at Kusina Ysagada

Kiltepan

Jimny in Kiltepan

In Sagada, we stayed at Misty lodge, 300 pesos per person per night.  Misty lodge is nice clean place.  We ate most of the time at Kusina Ysagada (it has better parking space and it serves tinolang manok which my son loves).  We really didn't do much while in Sagada, we just rested, ate, enjoyed the cold weather.  We went to Kiltepan sunrise twice to stand above the clouds.  We bought coffee, tea, etag, etc in Sagada southroad.  As always, we enjoyed our stay in Sagada.