Mt. Pinatubo Trekking Tarlac Pampanga Philippines

“Pinatubo” means “made grown” in Tagalog and the local dialect of the area, the "Sambal" and an indigenous group of hunter-gatherer people called "AETA". On June 15, 1991, Mt. Pinatubo erupted. The eruption lasted for 9 hours and caused several earthquakes which resulted in the collapsed of summit. To add to the horrendous suffering of the people of Central Luzon, the area was hit by a typhoon passing close to the volcano which triggered massive lahar – a lethal mudflow that is composed of pyroclastic materials and water that flowed through the river valleys of the mountain. Today, Mt. Pinatubo’s serene cyan-colored crater lake, canyons made of pyroclastic materials, and the growing tropical rain forest canopy covering part of its slopes are a mute testament to its recent explosive past. There are many things that I want to share about this awesome journey and I will start with the most important. First off, this trek is not recommended for children under the age of 13 or 14 years, pregnant women or for the physically challenged. It is quite strenuous as you are walking and climbing up to 5 miles through water, rock and forest & the 4X4 ride was extremely bumpy as we went through holes, grooves and uncontrolled terrain for 30 minutes each way. We found it to be an enjoyable challenge however we were pretty worn out by the end of the return back to jump off point.