Mt. Fato Mt. Kupapey, Maligcong rice terraces May 20-21, 2017

Mt.Fato (est. 1438MASL) and Mt. Kupapey (est. 1647 MASL) Location Maligcong, Bontoc, Mountain Province Difficulty: 3/9 (Trail can be likened to Mt.Gulugod Baboy, only covered with Pine forest) Trail Class: 1-2 Though Mt.Fato’s trail is not yet well established.Rock scrambling is required to get to some spots on the summit. What are the highlights of the trip? 1. Sea of Clouds at Mt.Kupapey Summit.And if ever there is no presence of sea of clouds, hikers will be treated to an overlooking view of the Maligcong rice terraces. So it’s a win-win situation regardless of the cloud condition. 2. The Maligcong Rice Terraces. One could take a detour to take the trail on the descent to pass by the rice paddies. So if the view of the terraces from the summit is obstructed by the sea of clouds, hikers can still have an overlooking view by taking a detour from the backtrail. Just ask the guide to take you there. The terraces are also visible on the summit of Mt.Fato, though not as near if viewed from the summit of Mt.Kupapey. 3.Rock formations at the summit of Mt.Fato. The highest point of Mt.Fato is actually a big rock (picture below). The hiker must rock scramble to get to the top of this rock. 4. Guide Dogs. Dogs actually come with you during the hike. They are either dogs of the guide or dogs of the homestay. They stop during intersections or is someone is lagging, and wait for the hikers then show them the right way. Both of our hikes had a dog join us. Kunig (the most famous in Maligcong) joined us on Mt.Fato and Kangaroo joined us on Mt.Kupapey. there are two other groups aside from us on Mt.Kupapey, and they had guide dogs as well.