My first time in Sagada! It was an amazing experience. I did some stuff that i never thought i would do in this lifetime! We stayed inside the cave for 6 1/2 hours! entered at 10am went out at 4:30pm! So we had to take our buffet lunch inside the cave! My Crazy Uncle took us to a cave connection From Lumiang Burial Grounds to Sumaging Caves not the regular first timer caving route. We Trekked,Crawled,Rappelled down,Wall Climbed, Belayed down through small holes and big holes.It was freezing all the way our breathe was smoking when we exhaled. We had ropes and wore pants,shoes, helmets! i hit my head 19 times! i never realized how important it was. But our guide Fabian was wearing a hat, a small back pack, a basketball jersey and he was carrying the lantern! he told me "This is my playground =)" We saw different Rock formations and Cave Formations from really small rooms to as one's as big as a coliseum! There was an underground river and a lot of bats! =)
A little Info on Caves:
Underneath Sagada is a network of limestone caves and subterranean streams. These caves were created by water eroding whole limestone mountains over a period spanning thousands of years. Some caves are dry, as if the underground rivers that have created them disappeared. However, these caves are dry simply because the water has found another channel by seeping through the mountain and emptying through numerous small watery caves.
SUMAGING, aptly nicknamed as the Big Cave, was created by water erosion. Guides equipped with lanterns and ropes are necessary companions for exploring this cave as well as other big caves found in Southern Sagada. Visitors never fail to be awed by Sumaging's sheer size, fascinating chambers and rock formations, some of which are dubbed as the "King's Curtain", "Rice Granary", "Cauliflower", "Dancing Hall", etc...; all for their larger than life resemblances of the real things. A part of Sumaging known as "The Tunnel" consists of a series of tiny passages requiring limbo-like movements.
During pre-Christian Sagada, these caves served as burial grounds for the locals. With the dead poised in the fetal position encased in a coffin carved out of enormous pine tree trunks, Sagada Igorots of yore may have though these caves to provide the final touch in resembling the environment of a mother's womb... a suitable final resting place.
After the Wild Caving Trip, On the next day we did a 3hour hike around Echo Valley to see the hanging coffins. Fabian (Our guide) showed us where his grandfather's coffin was hanging.
When I Go back to Sagada I definitely want to do that trip again!! =)