Sunrise at Kiltepan Viewpoint – Sagada Series 3

After the trek at Banga-an Rice Terraces and Bomod-ok Falls on day 1, our day 2 started early with a sunrise at the Kiltepan Viewpoint.

Even with body aches from the previous day’s adventures, we tried to wake up by 4:30am and left the inn by 5am in pursuit of the sunrise.

It was a 30 minute jeepney ride with a rocky latter half. This was because of the unpaved road up the hill. We stopped at a certain point and hiked for about 10 mins more.

It was freezing cold at a high altitude and 5:30 in the morning. I had two jackets on and a small flashlight in hand.

The sky’s darkness slowly turned into light and we knew we had to hurry up in time for the sunrise. We did in a minute or so, got each of our own strategic spots and watched the horizon as the dawn breaks from the Kiltepan Viewpoint plateau.

There was an earlier group of travellers which came ahead of us. I think they got the prime spot. Nonetheless, ours was almost as good.

We were way above the Banga-an Rice Terraces overlooking the trail where we trekked the day before.

Wow, we can almost see the whole other side of Sagada from the Kiltepan viewpoint. Indeed it was majestic and fascinating as the view from this side of the Mt. Province slowly revealed itself to us as the sun crawls up the sky.

We were above the clouds, or are those just thick fogs? I’m not really sure, I should have asked the local guide. 🙂 The light blue sky was slowly being overtaken by streak of yellow and orange rays from the rising sun.

As the first peek of sun revealed itself, a golden yellow blanket dramatically covered the green mountains. Forest trees came to life as birds start to chirp their morning songs.

Almost necessarily, we took a lot of photos capturing the sunrise of Kiltepan.

In a while, we trekked back where our jeepney was waiting for us.

We saw another group having a picnic breakfast on the viewpoint grounds tagged with their bread and personal thermos for a fresh sip of morning coffee. And here we are, trekking down eager to go back because we’re now hungry. 🙂

I realized that it was a nice idea for the succeeding trips to Sagada. Having a simple breakfast with friends on the mountain surrounded by trees and nature under the basking of a new morning sun.

I even read just recently about a blog post where they had a yoga session on the same Kiltepan grounds. Wow, that must be some experience huh.

We didn’t really learn any of Sagada‘s history or cultural facts about the sunrise in Kiltepan viewpoint. It was not something to be read or analyzed, it was to be felt and to be experienced. An awe-inspiring one, from a Power that raised the sun with His hand.