The Sumaguing Cave in Sagada, Mountain Province is my first cave experience, and that was way back in 2007. Since then, I’ve been to a few others, and no matter how you try not to, you cannot help but make comparisons. Fortunately, the time that we explored Sumaguing Cave was a period where only a few people knew about it. Between then and now, of course, the place practically blew up and practically hundreds of visitors drive up to Sagada every weekend. That was certainly one of the shocks I received when I set foot in the place anew.
I think I had a very good start on cave appreciation. And I am thankful that I got to visit Sumaguing Cave before things went, well, nuts.
(Personally, my favorite cave experience would still be the Capisaan Cave in Nueva Vizcaya, although this particular cave experience this time around came as a close second,)
On this visit to Sagada, we decided to do the “Cave Connection“, which entails entry through the Lumiang Burial Caves and traversing the Sagada cave system to make your exit at Sumaguing Cave.
Of course, you have the option of sticking to just Sumaguing Cave, which is the popular choice for most visitors, especially those who aren’t up to being inside the cave and spelunking for around 5 hours.
We set off at 9:30 on a rainy morning.
Visitors have to make a one-time registration at the Visitors’ Center/Tourism Center, and they can use the ticket to enter any attraction in town. I think that’s pretty convenient, and also budget-friendly, because you’ll have to pay the environmental fee only once. The latest info I have was that one person has to pay Php35.00 (USD 0.70).
Then we proceeded to the trailhead to the entrance of the Lumiang Burial Cave.
FYI, the Lumiang-Sumaguing Cave Connection is the advanced route. Many enthusiasts described Lumiang Cave as a place to emulate (or try to) Lara Croft in her tomb-raiding adventures.
I didn’t know that at the time. For me, it was enough to know that
(a) it is going to be rough and difficult;
(b) it will take several hours of practically being in an enclosed space;
(c) and I did not mind it one bit. In fact, I was looking forward to it.
If you ask me, I can go to Sagada anytime and do NOTHING ELSE but explore the cave. Yep.
Our twelve-strong group met up with the 3 guides that will take us into and out of the cave system. You can get your guides at the Tourism Center to ensure that you get the legit accredited ones. Their rates may vary, but I suggest you inquire at the Tourism Center about the going rate, in case you’re afraid you might get ripped off. I haven’t heard much news about that happening, though, since the whole thing is regulated by the government.
In our case, it so happens that one of our companions has a relative who also happens to be a guide, and hooked us up with him.
The maw (yeah, I like to call it a maw, because it looked like the mouth of a gigantic animal) of the Lumiang Burial Cave is wider than I thought. If you see in the photo below, we were the only ones there. This was on a Friday, by the way, so we were able to avoid the weekend crowd.
Also, not a lot of people are willing to do the Connection. While inside the cave, there were only two small groups that caught up to us, and we had to let them go ahead, because there were quite a lot of people in our group, and we did not want to hold them up.
We entered Lumiang at 9:45.
The Lumiang Burial Cave is just as the name indicates. On the sides of the cave you will find wooden coffins hung on the sides or nailed onto the rocks. Some were “inserted” into the crevices and niches, as well.
In the past, the ancestors of this place used to bury their dead here. Although “bury” might not be the best word to use.
This practice is still upheld to this day, so you will notice that many of the coffins are relatively new, only a few years. Which means that despite modernization, some people still adhere to the old ways.
I’m not sure what is wrong with me, but some of my companions said they had goosebumps when we slowly entered the cave, as if they were being watched.
And the sensation stayed with them even after an hour or so, especially when we had to stop at a particularly dark spot in the cave.
Well, of course, someone’s watching. I am not particularly superstitious, but I do not doubt that the spirits of those that guard this place, although not necessarily that of the ones in the coffins, are hanging around. That’s a given.
I suppose I just took comfort in the fact that I went there with no ill intentions, and I also trust they have no ill intentions toward me. As long as I behave.
For me, the most difficult part of the Connection would be the first hour, or the first one-third of the way, because it was a continuous descent down huge boulders and rocks in the dark, with only your torch (if you have one) and that of the guides’ as your illumination,
It was one tight fit after another, with steep drops interspersed closely together. I have to say this is hell for anyone who is claustrophobic.
And the tragic part? Even if you want to turn back, that would mean scaling up those rocks, and the very idea is more torturous, so your only choice is to just push forward.
I gotta give props to my companions. More than half of them have never done this before. I somehow felt like I coerced them into this, and in a way, that was the case for some of them, haha! (SorryNotSorry.)
But they were such troopers and still went for it.
To say that it doesn’t have perils would be wrong because one wrong move, you can break a limb or, worse, your neck. That’s why you have to listen to what the guides tell you, no matter how limber you are, or how much of an expert you are at caving.
Footwear and outfit can have an impact on how you go about the experience. Wear comfortable clothes, one that you can move around in easily, but still keep you warm. Because it could get cold at some parts and, as one is bound to expect, you’d encounter water.
And I gotta say water in caves aren’t exactly the warmest there is.
Also, going hands-free is the best option. This is quite the dilemma if you’re the type that wants to document everything and bring your huge-ass camera with its multitude of lenses perfect for dark environments.
Yeah, good luck with that.
You could opt to have just one camera, hand it over to the guide, and they’ll take the shots for you. Remember, though, that their priority is to keep you safe, not to take your photos.
But hey, if you want to risk damaging your camera or, on the flipside, hurting yourself because you don’t want a damaged camera, be my guest.
Being in a big group means having to wait for the others before you can move forward, which I was totally fine with, because it meant we could get some rest in between. Our pace was a relaxed one, and we still made it out in just a few minutes under five hours and a half. (I heard others took close to 7 hours, and there were just three of them.)
The key here is to relax, follow the pace that the guides have set, because they will know it when they see it: how you will fare inside the cave. For some reason, they can “read” whether you can go fast or you’d have to go slow. Our guides were able to spot the weaker ones in our group and focused on them.
I also have to give major props to the guides for their assistance, and what people have to understand is that they are not just there to show you the way. They’re practically going to walk and crawl you through it. Show you where to put your feet and hands. Tell you where to step so you won’t break your neck.
Often, they’d even turn into stools that you can step on when you have to do some clambering up and down. They may look thin and lanky, but they are actually lean and mean. I always felt sorry whenever I had to stop on one of their thighs in order to go down a high drop.
One thing I noticed when inside caves is that you lose track of time. You’d be going about, doing your thing, trying to stay injury-free, and you’d forget the passage of time. We barely even felt that lunchtime has gone and past already.
It was the same when we did the Capisaan Cave exploration. It was only when we stepped out into the open that I realized that majority of the day has gone by.
We reached Sumaguing Cave at 1:00 PM.
You will immediately know when you have reached Sumaguing Cave: there are more people.
This is where we got to hear the sounds of many people chattering, laughing, shrieking and yelping. They are those that chose to go to Sumaguing Cave and not the connection.
Sumaguing Cave contains the most photographed parts of the caves. Here you will find many of the rock formations that seemed to have developed urban legends of their own. It was like an endless tier, where you can choose to go down and down until you get to the lowest part and go back up because there is nowhere else to go.
Incidentally, this is also where you’d get soaked, because water is literally flowing everywhere, on the walls, the rocks… it’s such a pretty sight.
You gotta be careful though because it gets even more slippery, and there might be holes where you thought there were merely puddles. 🙂
When we decided to start the climb to the exit, I was thinking, “ah, yes, this was the Sumaguing in my memories. Damp, wet, cold, slippery, and smells a lot like bat sh*t.”
This time, human traffic was included. The stream of people coming down to check out the inside of Sumaguing was seemingly endless, and maybe they were just uninformed before coming here… (*ok, rant begins*) but WHY? You’re coming to Sagada, you’re going into a cave, WHY would you wear those fashion sneakers? Those beribboned slippers with flimsy straps?
Why go into a cave, wear a tank top and thin leggings, with a knitted scarf around your neck, and complain OUT LOUD that it is cold??
I don’t want to be THAT person who acts like I know it all because I’ve done it at least once, because goodness knows I still get my sh*t wrong sometimes. No, make that often, but why? Even if you didn’t do your research, shouldn’t even a smidgen of common sense have prevailed?
(*rant over* Sorry ’bout that.)
That was me being a bit concerned about your safety, that’s all. Keep in mind that the moment you and your guides agree to go into the cave together, you become their responsibility. However, you, too, have to do your part. Cooperate. Just because you pay them does not mean you can act up all you want, and that is the sad reality oft experienced by many guides and tour organizers.
Or, let’s look at it this way. It’s also your way of respecting the other people who are on the same boat. Keeping yourself safe means you will also keep them safe. It’s a domino effect, so if you are careless, imagine how that could impact other people inside the cave, strangers or not.
It was 2:40 when we surfaced.
Cold, wet, dirty and now starting to feel hungry, we were finally able to end our cave connection adventure.
The first order of business was not even to go back to our lodgings to get changed. No, it was to walk up the road to where our ride was parked, go to the center of town, and find a place to eat. Because it was only when we got out that we realized we missed lunch and were already hungry, haha!
Worth it?
Abso-freaking-lutely.
If you can, if you have the heart for it, if you have the stamina for it, go on a Cave Connection adventure. You won’t regret it.
If not, Sumaguing still remains to be such a pretty cave, sans the crowd. So schedule your visit strategically, and start early to avoid the crowd. Good luck, and have fun!
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