Braving Sumaguing Cave

I’d seen pictures and read accounts of experiences at the Sumaguing Cave in Sagada. After a severe muscle cramp made walking torture at the Batad Rice Terraces and made itself felt the day before when we went up and down a hillside to view the hanging coffins, I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to go to Sumaguing Cave.

But I was the “promotor (promoter)”, a label my husband and sister-in-law had given me for getting them to walk kilometers up and down mountain trails to and from the Batad Rice Terraces. I was invincible. I had grit, adventure and spirit – which was slowly sinking at the thought of maneuvering over rocks in the dark, getting wet and rappelling up and down inside the cave.

Sumaguing Cave is known as the big cave
because it has the biggest chamber among
some 60 caves in Sagada.

And so we went to this “normal” caving expedition, as opposed to the Lumiang-Sumaguing cave connection, which was described as more difficult.

The first part was tame enough. We went into the gaping mouth of the cave, down steps that soon disappeared into rocks. We found ourselves scrambling for footholds and handholds, which was unpleasant because we were touching bat shit. 

Our trusty guide Inos and his Petromax lamp.

Inos, our guide, was holding a Petromax lamp to light our way so despite his advice that no one hold on to anyone, I found myself helping my 11-year-old daughter before she learned how to slide and slither over rocks to get from point to point.

 We started enjoying the experience when we were asked to remove our slippers and came upon ice-cold pools of water. 

It was a chance to cleanse our hands of the bat shit and then, it was just refreshing to move in water, especially when we started seeing all the rock formations. It was fun.

It was also hard. At one point, we had to go down a narrow vertical drop by pushing against the rock walls with our hands and feet. My daughter was overcome with fear. I could not blame her. So was I, but the mother in me took over and with A LOT of help from Inos, we got her past that point.

Then there was that dreaded rappelling. I am no spring chicken and could lose a lot of weight, but I managed.

But walking in cold pools of water in the darkness, rounding a particularly difficult curve to gaze upon a rock formation and holding my daughter’s hand after struggling over one more rock – they all form a memory that is hard to duplicate in the hustle and bustle of our more progressive life, where we are rarely alone with and dependent on family to get through the adventure that Sumaguing cave poses.

Return trips are just tiring especially when it’s all uphill. Pretty soon, we reunited with the bat shit and smell. We lumbered up the steps into the sunlight and looked back at the gaping mouth of the “big cave.” We had survived Sumaguing. We were great. And hungry. It was time for food, lots and lots of food.