The North Face Verto 32(Summit Series) Product Review

MeetMeMeeSo Introducing The North Face Verto 32 , one of the items from the Summit Series. So i got this bag last March as a birthday gift. It was bought from the REI online shop. So far there are no stocks of this bag here in the Philippines. To the Ultralight Trekkers like me, this bag would be a perfect fit.

Product Specifications

Fabric   100D cargo chute nylon

Weight   1 lb 7 oz (644 g)

Volume  1953 in³ (32 liters)

Source   Imported 

 

The younger brother of this pack which is the Verto 26 is more famous because of its capability to be kept in a smaller pouch when not needed it is also on the Athlete's Pick in The North Face website. The reflector capability of the strings for compression are awesome. The only problem is the side compression straps because it doesn't stay/lock. And to make it last long like 3-5 years i make sure to bring max 15-20 kilos on what i bring cause the pack is made of chute nylon , i know its strong but just to make sure :)

 

here are some pics of me and my pack.

the reflector glows due to the flash of the camera.. sooo coool.. :D

Shnen, The Pack , and the beautiful sunrise in Oslob, Cebu

Till Next Time :)

 

All these pics are a teaser for my next post about Oslob, Cebu.

Saturday Sunday Funday @Osmeña Peak-Kawasan Falls

Its a great Saturday Sunday Funday Celebratation
  with new friends to share the experience with. 
 DAY I

Last April 28-29, 2012 me "Shnen" and the Ligid Lapok Gang went trekking to Osmeña Peak which is the Highest Peak in Cebu and is approximately 1042 meters ASL. Trivia: Do you know that the Osmena Peak is named after President Sergio Osmeña, Sr., because the place used to be his favorite horse-riding destination. hehe Now we know :)

So to get there we first rode a Mini-Bus to Brgy.Mantalongon, Dalaguete. We went to the terminal which is located at a Petron Station just a few walks from USJR-Main Campus near Freedom Park.

Me and Ate Dan(my new tagalog friend) while waiting for the bus to be full.

 The view i got from the bus that tells me we are nearing Brgy. Mantalongon.

 We arrived there at 9:30 am, the bus still waited for it to be full so we departed at 11:00am and arrived in the Mantalongon Market at 2:00pm.

Thats me with the Neon green arm warmers haha.. :D

We ate our lunch there, then started trekking to the  Mantalongon Barangay Hall to get registered or log.in / this is really important in case there are emergencies.

You see the little guy with the white cap. That is Kenneth our guide.

Then we started trekking to Osmena Peak.

just look at how luscious those greens are..haha

my fellow trekkers who look like ants with this view.

Water Break/Picture Taking Break haha

Me posing while waiting for the others hehe..

 After 2 and a half hours of trekking , we finally made it to the base camp where we instantly set up our camps before sunset.

almost sunset.

Me and my cousin Kuya Christian(the guy wearing blue) setting up our tent.

While we still got some time before sunset. We climbed up the peak and took some wonderful pictures.

Me and my lovely cousins, Ate Christine and Kuya Mark(the couple with same shirt and cap) and Kuya Christian. And my Tagalog friends Ate Showbiz(Yes, that's her real name) and Ate Dan.

A group picture except some weren't able to join because they were afraid of how high we were.

There were some unexpected happenings that happened that night which almost started a Search Party but things went well and nothing bad happened. Before bedtime me and some of the trekkers played this game with cards called Detective/Killer which made me remove my jacket and socks in the cold freezing night. Then when it was about 10pm, the stars were blocked out by the clouds which means it was fogging or it would rain so we went to SLEEP! ZzzZzZzZZZZzzz...

.Saturday Sunday Funday Celebration.

Day II

We woke up like 5am. Well actually i woke up like 3am in the morning because it was so damn cold. haha I slept in a tent with Ate Christine and Kuya Mark so i was in good hands in case i would get sick or something haha. We ate our breakfast then picture taking time again hehe..

Our Base Camp, this photo was taken from the Peak and Yes, there's a fog in that picture.

After packing up at around 8:00am we took group pictures first before starting the 7hour trek to Kawasan Falls in Badian.

The Whole Gang!

that Orange point is our Starting Point.

Then the TREK BEGINS!

Enjoying a Pit stop with Ate Dan and Ate Showbiz.

Pit Stop with them at the Coconut place.

 After 6-7 hours of Trekking i think,
We Finally Made It!

Just look at how blue the water is. This is the 1st waterfall by the way because the 2nd and 3rd waterfall is closed by the government to restore it back to Nature which is a really marvelous thing. :)

They are climbing up there through the stones to get to the Jacuzzi Part which is a really nice place to relax after that whole day of trekking. Of course we waited 10-15minutes before diving in so we wont get cramps.

 We took off from the 3rd Waterfall in Kawasan at around 6:00pm and it was already starting to get dark. We actually saw/experienced some mythical creatures there but i don't wanna talk about it, it gives me goosebumps.

We arrived at the waiting shed at around 7:00pm but the next bus arrives at 8:00pm so we waited for a while for the bus. We where actually planning on camping there in case we cant hop on a bus back to the city hahaha.

Look how tired i am.

 The Bus Finally arrived around 8:00pm and we arrived at the city at 11:15pm. When i sat at the Bus, i immediately went to sleep knowing it would take 3-4 hours before we arrived.

Me and the gang, at Chowking Banawa eating a well deserved delicious meal after 2 days in Nature :)

Well that Ends my 
SATURDAY SUNDAY FUNDAY CELEBRATION!
hope you enjoyed reading it or just watching the pictures. If you have a twitter/youtube/yahoo account please feel free to be a member and subscribe to my blog.

Sincerely, Shnen <3

Trekking through a River, Waterfall and Mountain from Guadalupe to RCPI Tower

All i can say about this trek is that

 "It's Nature Trekking in a Package".  

       During the trek you will pass through the Guadalupe river, and some waterfalls that i didn't    even know existed in the City of Cebu, and also the hair-raising, dangerous , tiring and very steep trail in the mountain of Busay, Lahug where you'll have half a meter trail of space and to your left is  the cliff. The goal of this trek is to reach the RCPI Towers which is based at the highest peak in Cebu City. The RCPI Towers are 4 towers placed there by a television channel. Here is the map to show how long/far we went through to get there.

So we started at 7.30am in the morning in the Church of Guadalupe. There we met our Guides Ate Charie and Kuya Mike and some other friends from Sykes. With me is my Cousins Kuya Christian , Ate Christine and her Husband Kuya Mark and the LIGID LAPOK GROUP which means "Roll On Mud Group".

This is our Trek from Guadalupe Church to a Chapel in Napo. This is just the warm-up but its still very tiring.

Then when we reached the Chapel in Napo our Guide Ate Charie (the woman in blue.) started the Getting to Know Each Other activity so we would all be united in Trekking as a group.

Then the  

RIVER TREKKING PART STARTS!

 

There is a place there where we can get free/clean/safe water from the river. Not actually in the river but from a tube that has water that came from the river..they call it the Water Source.

Then we reached where the  

WATERFALL TREKKING PART STARTS!

There are 5 waterfalls that we had to pass, to describe how waterfall trekking is its like stairs in which it gets higher so you have to climb to reach the 2nd waterfall then climb again to the 3rd and so on . During this time i felt like Tarzan while holding on to the roots and vines of the trees to keep me balanced.

This is the 3rd waterfall and us girls except my other cousin, she haven't arrived here yet.

        

This is the moment where i felt like Tarzan. This it at the side of the 3rd waterfall, 

we had to climb this high to get to the 4th waterfall.

 This is the 4th Waterfall where we stopped to have lunch and also rest for a while.

This is me jumping at the peak of the waterfall, i couldn't resist jumping there haha i love Adventures! and also i wasn't planning on taking a bath in the waterfall but some creature plant/insect made my back itch so i just jumped there to get it off.

 I'll post the video of me jumping from the peak of the waterfall soon.

Then here the

 MOUNTAIN TREKKING PART STARTS!
 I'm sorry but we didn't get any shots during the mountain trekking part so ill just post the pictures where we reached the peak or the RCPI towers!

 

Me and this dog. 

(Fun Fact: This dog came from a house a few feet away and it keeps following us especially when it hears sound of wrappers or  food.. haha)

     The Whole Gang! We Finally Made it!!

Me (Shnen) and this Astonishing 120 degree view of  Cebu!

 After That is the GOING HOME PART! :(

It was really tiring but it was all worth it. We arrived home at 6pm. To show you all of how tired i was here is a picture of me sleeping in the jeepney :P

zzzZZZZZZZZZZZZ..

When we arrived home, we bought some Pain Killer Tablets so that when we wake up the next we wont be really really sore. Then we ate some Lechon Manok or Grilled Chicked.

Well That Concludes my post about 

Trekking through a River, Waterfall and Mountain from Guadalupe to RCPI Tower.

I Hope you enjoyed it! Subscribe to my blog if you like it thanks :)

Hey ! So welcome to my blog :)

I'm Channen Grace Sarmiento but you can call me Shnen :) Well im 16 and im unusually not enrolled in college right now. So during this free time im doing some stuff, like adventure stuff, stupid stuff, and amazing stuff haha Im just here to share this to all of you .

My First Trekking Adventure To Mt.Babag.
(Well technically not the first cause i did some hiking trips in my girl scout days 
when i was young but this by far has been the coolest.)


So this is one of the coolest (i already said twice haha :D) and breath-taking things/hobby that I'm doing now. You see , my cousin (The tall guy wearing black shirt in the picture.)  asked me to come hiking with them. And i was like "Okay!" . Haha i didn't know mountaineering had a lot of you should know this/you should bring that things. Well i guess i learned a lot, now that i have a lot of experience. But this was my first one, a 2 days and 1 night trek to Mt. Babag located at Busay, Lahug. Its approximately 752mASL(Above Sea Level). It took us 4 hours to get there but it was fun even though we had some bloopers haha..

 On our pit stop for a water break hehe , we were getting tired ater a 2hour hike well 2 hours to go :)

 This is at night. We had a Teach Me How To Plank Party!

 This is Cebu 752mASL(Above Sea Level). We were waiting for the Sunrise.

 We were the first to set our camps at the Peak of Mt. Babag but as time passed a few were coming and made the place full but it was still fun. We jammed with other campers and felt the essence of mountaineering.

 Our Team. (No name yet, maybe after our Mt.Apo escapade next year if im allowed to attend. Well' see :P  )

                                             This is me in the morning after climbing Mt.Babag. 
 

Our Sunday Trek From Buhisan, Labangon to Tabunok, Talisay.

And this is me in on our trek to Buhisan Falls inside the Igotan Cave. 

We spent the whole day trekking to get to that  place.

 

 

 Me taking a shower inside the Cave's waterfall! It was so cool there haha..

                                                     Our Team After Taking our Shower.
                                                        Wow! Fresh na Fresh :D hahaha
  

Well actually there's a lot more, but these are all just a preview . I hope you follow me. 

Thanks guys.. so this is me Shnen and im sharing you my

.Year Of Exploring.

So please follow me on twitter @channenme and on facebook: Shnen Sarmiento.