The onset of the Habagat season was upon us. What this would mean for surfers is the dreaded flat season where the once raging waves of Dahican would turn into a placid lake; perfect for those looking to go snorkeling and enjoying the beach without getting mauled by the waves.
Me and my friends were enjoying the last few swells of the season and since the tide was more shallow than usual, we could only surf during the high tide. This meant we had the whole afternoon or early morning vacant to do things other than surfing.
I’d be the least person who would ever suggest to try trekking up a land mass but since the rest of the group was eager to try the Sleeping Dinosaur trail, I had no choice. I could go and try my best not to fall or miss out on taking beautiful photos with my crew.
Originally, we planned to do a sunset trek but we were all so tired from surfing the whole morning, we failed to wake up and leave by 4:00pm and it was too late to go. The whole group decided to have a sunrise trek instead since half of us were to go home the following day.
As a morning person, it was my sole duty to wake up everybody each day as long as the high tide was early in the morning. Millennials can be known to be quite challenging to force out of bed. It was necessary that I had around 30 minutes’ allowance for my friends come to grips with reality – snooze time is over.
Readying the coffee at 4:00am which was the established daily routine, I walked around Surf Village Hostel waking up the local groms (young surfers) who were going to accompany us to the Sleeping Dinosaur.
Whenever I’m in Dahican or anywhere near the beach, I love riding with the wind in my hair. Since we wouldn’t fit in the Charisse’s sedan, I opted to ride the motorcycle with Mark, one of the local boys who lived in Dahican.
Riding the motorcycle was always special, more so this time because we got to see the sun rise and paint the sky pretty pastel colors. After a while it dawned on us that riding the motorcycle up to Sleeping Dinosaur was a bad idea.
The Sleeping Dino was located in the hilly Brgy. Badas, more than 5 kilometers from Mati City proper where you had to brave steep concrete roads with the occasional huge buses and trucks. Not exactly the picture I had in mind when I decided to ride the motorcycle.
Boom, also a Mati local who drove the motorcycle, was thankfully skilled enough to get Mark and I safely to the jump off point of the Sleeping Dinosaur trail in Brgy. Badas. Mama, if you’re reading this I am completely fine and have learned my lesson: no motorcycle rides up to Brgy. Badas anymore.
The Sleeping Dinosaur is a natural attraction and already an icon of Mati City in Davao Oriental. Part of the major tourism development areas of Davao Oriental, the Sleeping Dino has a total land area of about approximately 579 hectares.
An emerging trekking destination hyped up by social media, it was almost natural for us millennials to want to see with our own eyes what Sleeping Dinosaur was really like. We opted not to bring anything to eat because we didn’t want the hassle of throwing anything around. Also, we wanted to avoid unnecessary littering in the area.
The jump-off point in Brgy. Badas was the curve on the road with the bulalo carinderias which serves delicious and piping hot halang-halang and bulalo dishes that cost around PHP 45 and up. All of us made a mental note to have breakfast here after the trek.
At the start of the trail, there was a PHP 5 entrance fee collected by the local private owners of the area. They were very friendly and smiling, almost made me wonder if they were betting among themselves if we would actually finish the whole trail.
We didn’t finish the whole trail because after an hour of covering only around ¼ of the trail, we could see the rain from Pujada Bay slowly making its way to us. Being inexperienced trekkers and mermaids, we decided to just take as many photos of the scenic views that resemble a little of Lake Holon and Mt. Pulag (because of the scrawny grasses on the trail).
The Surf Villlage Hostel groms were agile little athletes running the length of the whole trail and back again and again because they got a little bored waiting for us to finish taking photos of every beautiful sight we laid our eyes on.
The Sleeping Dinosaur trail is so beautiful and raw. I wished it would stay like that. I rarely saw trash around although I noticed the trail was intentionally burned, probably because a fun run recently happened here during the Summerfrolic season.
Half-heartedly turning our backs from the trail we had yet to complete, I told my friends that we should get fit enough to finish the trail next time. I was curious to see what was at the end of the Sleeping Dinosaur. Who knows? We could wake up with our noise if we finally finish the trail.
