The unwelcoming dark, silent, rough road greeted me inhospitably. In an instant, it threateningly challenged my passion and my courage to begin. Mt. Makiling did not seem to be very inviting. It was strange though that I did not even have qualms about climbing. For a first time climber, I love the very idea of communing with one giant piece of nature which will present me a grand showcase of her riches. Yes, my climbing buddy was a securing presence; he certainly made me feel protected even amidst the vast darkness of the beginning trail. But, more than anything else, it was the unexplainable resoluteness and bizarre confidence in me that actually drove me. That dawn of March 29, I was to put my lame, lazy, skinny frame to a great ordeal. The entrance trail, though
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