halsema highway - cordillera mountain range

six hours of stunningly beautiful mountain range. the most beautiful and the largest range in the country. the Cordillera of the Philippines.if you've been to Baguio, you have just seen a bit of the Cordillera mountain range. travel buddy Kit and i took noon time bus to Baguio and met Nadz after our meet with Lingkod Baguio. had coffee with Binx, Meann and ended up going home around 2:00am. up by 5:12am the next day to take one of the earliest trip to Sagada.we arrived at the Dangwa terminal of Baguio just in time for the second trip. the bus left 6:34am it passing by Upper Tomay in La Trinidad. we entered the Halsema Highway which begins at the outskirts of La Trinidad.this mountain highway connects two of Cordillera's province, which are the province of Benguet and the great Mountain Province. the 180kilometer-highway connects the two capital towns of these two provinces.our first stop was at the bus terminal of Atok. this was the longest stopover from the whole trip to Sagada. we were given 15minutes to take our breakfast and for some to go to the comfort rooms. the time was good enough.Halsema highway is also considered as the highest highway in the country with its highest point somewhere in Atok. the highest point is about 2,255meters above see level. that makes it higher than Mount Banahaw's peak.this highway was opened in 1930 as led by Engineer Euseibus Julius Halsema of whom this highway was named after. he was also Baguio city's mayor during that time.
the whole trip, i was awed by the beauty of the mountains. but through the fogs, the trail can be blurry and grayish. making this highway a dangerous trail during the rainy season.but from a person, who stayed for most of his life in a flat and plain town, the fogs over mountains definitely are a great view. this makes me love the Cordillera region so much.rice terraces and green paddies is a usual sight along this highway. sometimes you will pass over the side of it and sometimes it comes over the hills along the highway. farming is the most common way of life here and majority of the vegetables distributed in Manila today comes from the Cordilleras. this highway has greatly contributed to the ease of transporting these goods. but there were times when this region was hit by frost causing great damages on its crops.today, parts of the highway are still unpaved but are continuously being rehabilitated. rough roads are now very minimal in this highway. what used to be a torturous road is now a highway that can soon be compared to that of the Marcos highway.you will pass by boulders of huge mountain rocks carved to give way to the road's widened path. those rocks rises high giving great scenic views similar to the roads going to Kapangan.when the bus reached the intersection that separates the way to Bontoc and Sagada, the trip was now going uphill with a rough and steeper road. it signifies that we were now approaching the town of Sagada.despite the lack of sleep, i was awake the whole trip looking in awe how beautiful the Cordillera region is.i would like to dedicate this post to my travel friend Kit who is celebrating his birthday today. he and Nadz will be my guest photographer and writer for the Sagada series.

trip rate:
road trip: 5.0
road quality: 4.0
mountain view: 5.0