Mt. Pinatubo

For quite some time, we have been hoping to climb up Mt. Pinatubo, a well-known volcano over here in the Philippines. Last Saturday we finally had that exciting experience as we hiked up this volcano with several other Texas Instrument families. It was fun experiencing Mt. Pinatubo together.:-)

This volcano has been dormant since its catastrophic eruption in June 1991, which was the second largest terrestrial eruption of the 20th century. Many of the surrounding areas (including Angeles City) were damaged or destroyed from the impact of the eruption and ash.

So in order to avoid the midday heat while hiking Mt. Pinatubo, we started our trip bright and early in the morning—or should we say dark and early!:-) We left our house at 4:30am so we could arrive at the Mt. Pinatubo jeep transportation around 6:30a.m.

Once we arrived at the jeep pick-up, our group split up into four jeeps that drove us the rest of the way to the volcano. We road in the bouncy, bumpy jeeps for about an hour before we reached the hiking trail.:-) As we drove to the base of Mt. Pinatubo, we passed through open fields of ash (lahars), small streams, and up winding hills. It was all very exciting, since we had never experienced anything similar to this before!


Also as we rode around the base of Mt. Pinatubo, we passed isolated groups of Aetas (native Filipinos) driving small caribou-pulled carts or gathered around their little huts. These Aetas people (similar to our Native Americans) cultivate the land, sometimes sell farm produce in town, and live in the mountainous areas of the Philippines, such as Mt. Pinatubo.


Once we finally reached the hiking trail, we readied ourselves for the hike and began climbing around 8:00am. Although the Filipinos and trail guides can hike Mt. Pinatubo in 45 minutes, it took us about 1 hour and 20 minutes to reach the summit. But the long hike was worth it with so many interesting and scenic views! The hike itself was not too difficult (but our muscles are still a little sore!), since there was only slight inclines here and there as well as several rocks and small streams to cross.

Although we were anticipating a typical day in the Philippines (hot & humid), it was actually very pleasant from the cool morning hours into the afternoon as the warm sunlight beamed down upon us.:-) The cool breeze gave us momentum as we hiked into the noonday sun.


The summit was so serene and the crater lake held greenish, fluorescent glow. After warming up from our hike up the volcano, most of us immediately took off our shoes and waded in the cool water, while others went swimming. Our family did not pack swimsuits, but Dad could not resist a dip in the crater lake, and so he chose to go swimming (clothes and all!).


After eating our lunch, wading and swimming in the water, and resting beside the crater lake, we snapped a few more last-minute pictures before making our way back down Mt. Pinatubo. By the time we all loaded back up into the jeeps, we were tired—in a good way of course!

The jeep ride back was memorable, as we all “aged” several years.;-) Driving through all of the dry lahar plains, our hair, skin, clothes, and eyelashes became white from the dusty ash. We had fun laughing at each other and drawing on our arms and legs. Memories! (the white dust does not show up very clearly in this picture).

As soon as we arrived home, we jumped into our pool to cool off. The water was so refreshing after our long day. After rising very early in the morning and hiking for several hours, we all appreciated our comfortable beds as we dozed off into a sound sleep that night!:-)

Mt. Pinatubo was magnificent, and we are sure that the volcano’s eruption was a terrifyingly, powerful sight to behold. Yet, even still our God is mightier! It was an awesome blessing to view God’s majestic and magnificent creation. We serve an amazing Creator.:-)