Part 2 of the Libotero Baler Roadtrip series
DAY 1.
From Cabanatuan City, there are two routes to Baler, Aurora. One is via Bongabon, Nueva Ecija and the other one is via Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija. We decided to take the latter first, and we’ll pass by the other route on our way back to Manila…
10:09am: At the height of El Nino in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija
10:35am: We passed by a stream en route to Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija
Now who said that El Nino was that bad?
10:41am: Start of the uphill climb to Pantabangan
Amazing mountain views
Still green despite the El Nino
By 10:50am, we passed by the Pantabangan Dam.
Although there seems to be no signs of the El Nino phenomenon on the above photo, a huge part of the dam has actually dried up during our visit.
On the upper half portion of the photo, it can clearly be seen that the dam has indeed lost a lot of water due to extreme heat
The Road Less Travelled, literally
For most of the roadtrip, we were the only vehicle on the road. Now, that sounds exciting but it equally scary as well, especially that cellphone network coverage was very low beyond Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija.
Aside from that, traversing through the Pantabangan-Aurora highway was challenging as there was a lot of roadwork being done. Only 25% of the highway was fully paved. Majority was still being done while the rest was of dirt.
Crossing borders. Leaving Nueva Ecija and saying hello to Alfonso Castañeda, Nueva Vizcaya
Amazing greens! The mighty Sierra Madre Mountain Range which hosts the country’s only surviving forest…
(…to be continued)
From Smarla:
looking forward to more pictures! good thing sierra madre still looks lusciously green
From eserbenie:
i’m very impressed with those photos, i would like to visit the pantabangan
too…
thanks a lot
From Sinjin:
Thank you!