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| The most popular rock formation inside Sagada's Sumaguing Cave is what they call the "King's Curtain". |
It was already getting dark when I visited Sumaguing (or Sumaging) Cave in
Sagada. I asked my friend if it was still okay to go inside the cave and he
answered me yes. It was because it doesn’t matter whether you go inside the
cave by morning or by dusk. I said to him that it would be dangerous to visit
the cave because it should have been darker by now. But he said that it is
always dark inside the cave no matter what time you visit it. Okay I said.
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| Sagada rock formation inside Sumaguing Cave |
No light comes inside the cave that’s why you cannot get inside it without
the lamp or the headlight. It is also required for all tourists to hire a guide
in getting and exploring the cave because basing it on my experience, the cave
really offers “spelunking” adventure. When we say spelunking, you have to get
off your slippers, walk on foot, grab a stone near you so you can clamp your
body, enter a body-size hole, dip your body to a freezing depression, and brave
a sloping slippery limestone and act like you want to back out already. Haha.
But that was really fun. Sumaguing Cave is my ultimate spelunking destination.
I was lucky that my friend Christian has a younger brother who was already
accredited by the town’s tourism department to act as a tourist guide inside
the cave. And thank God, my exploration inside the cave was entirely free. If
you want to know the regular tourist fee, you have to hire a guide for P600
good for 5 people for the Sumaguing Cave tour. But it would be more expensive
to do the Cave Connection (where you need to go inside Lumiang Cave and walk
out alive in Sumaguing Cave) because it was P400 per person maximum of two pax
per guide. The former requires two hours of your vacation time while the latter
needs four hours of your time inside the Earth. Whoa. You think it’s already
the most adventurous? Nope. You might not have heard of the Crystal Cave
spelunking adventure where you have to spend eight hours inside the cave!
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| Entrance to Sumaguing Cave |
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| Caving rules |
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| These stalactites will welcome you upon entering the mouth of the "Big Cave" |
I am not sure if there was an entrance fee. To get inside the cave, you
have to enter a gate where inscriptions were painted on the two columns with a
downstairs leading to the mouth of the big cave. And it was really a big cave.
Sumaguing Cave is very dangerous to people who do not want to follow the rules.
Leave nothing but footprints and things like that, you have to follow them.
At first it was easy to get inside the cave. I thought it would be like
that the whole tour but I was wrong. It was like an easy-average-difficult
adventure. Easy because you’ll just have to walk by foot with slippers on. The
next thing you know, you have to grab the nearest protruding stones so you can
balance your body out of the slippery stones. Even if you want to tell yourself
“I will never get hold of the muddy stones”, my dear, you cannot escape it.
Prepare for it. Or you’ll bump your head if you wish not to do it.
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| Light penetrating through the cave hole inside Sumaguing Cave in Sagada |
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| This is the man's p@#!$ rock formation inside Sumaguing Cave haha |
Along the trail you will witness several rock formations. I saw a pig pen.
And maybe there were Angry Birds too? I don’t know. Imagination is the limit.
But imagination is limitless. So if you visit Sumaguing Cave with your friends
and a friend told you he saw a [insert cartoon character here] but you never
saw it. So be it. It would have just happened that your friend has a better
imagination than you have. Hmmm or just a hallucination?
When we reached several points where limestone appears so smooth (imagine
limestone rocks with continuous water flowing on it) and they were sloping, it
was like, “Ah, okay, can we just leave and go back to the entrance….my mother
needs me badly!!!” Haha. This time, I have to leave my slippers. This is also
the time when your camera will be suffering tremendous bumps and if you are
unlucky, you might submerge it underwater. Voila. No memories afterwards haha.
Fortunately, my camera has survived this wild spelunking adventure too. I love
you, SX150.
The main attraction inside Sumaguing Cave was the King’s Curtain (all the
other rock formations were x-rated like a man’s p&#!$ or a woman’s v@%^$@,
whoa, whoever made it like that hehehe). There was also a “dinosaur’s
footprint” inside the cave. And don’t ask me how come the dinosaur got inside
the cave.
To reach the King’s Curtain, you have two choices, (1) the trail with a
rope leading to the attractions, or (2) jump over it, do the more adventurous
spelunking trail and come out to the trail with a rope that leads you to the
King’s Curtain. And since I was brave enough to fulfill it, I chose number two.
Oh well, the Pinoy Explorer.
Trail two was entirely more exciting than the first one. No ropes. No
slippers. No camera. What the--? No camera. Or my camera will suffer all-out
underwater adventure. Take note, SX150 is not an underwater camera. If you want
to feel safe with your camera, I suggest the underwater digital cameras for
this particular adventure.
The trail was bone-bending and spinal-cord-breaking adventure. I have to
minimize my body (was that even possible?) like Jake the Dog of Adventure Time.
If not, I have to do the best thing that I can to survive the small holes I
have to enter. There was also this pool, above chest level, and the water is oh
so freezing. Unfortunately, it was “high tide” when we visited the trail so we
decided to back out. Not my idea, but it would have been a death-defying stunt
if we did it so.
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| Spelunking adventure! |
The King’s Curtain was just so majestic. I can’t believe they put a
curtain inside the cave when the cave doesn’t have any window at all. Haha. The
King’s Curtain was a handmade craft by the Almighty. I mean look at those rock
formations, they were designed. They were crafted. Do not leave Sumaguing Cave
without the photos of the King’s Curtain.
There were still rock formations down below the King’s Curtain. I have
checked it at once, but decided not to go on to the deeper parts because I was
honestly afraid of what’s beyond it, knowing it was already evening. The hole
also leads to the Lumiang Cave which is several meters away from Sumaguing.
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| The King's Curtain |
After it, we left Sumaguing Cave and arrived at the entrance at already
around 7 PM. It was already dark. I enjoyed my spelunking. It was a lifetime
adventure. It was a memory that at once, I survived my fear of darkness beyond
it, and literally explore what’s down the earth.
Nothing Beats Plain Nature Adventure: Sagada Travel Series (Parts 14-19):
Part 16: Trail Down to Bokong Falls in Sagada
Part 17: Amazing Sagada Rock Formations
Part 18: Kapay-aw Rice Terraces in Sagada
Part 19: Spelunking Like Never Before Inside Sagada's Sumaguing Cave
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Another Sagada mystery unveiled, thanks for all your info.
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