Lovely day to all adventurers out there!

About three weeks ago, I announced in my Steemit blog the first ever Step Out Xayd outdoor event. The Step Out Xayd 1.0 blog series received a significant amount of support from you guys and for that, I am most grateful for. Danke!

A couple of people did sign up for the event but unfortunately, on the day before the event, rain poured over Cebu City. This was when a lot of the participants cancelled their registration to the event, leaving us to a small number of hikers the next day.

Huge thanks to @carlitojoshua for helping me promote the event to the Cebu Steemit Community and for still trusting our instincts of pushing through with the hike last June 3, 2018.

Here are some shots taken from the hike in chronological order and in hopes that you would get a glimpse of this outdoor adventure.

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Budlaan River-Sirao Dayhike Traverse

The trail starts out on the barangay trails of Baugo in Brgy. Budlaan. After passing a few houses, the path slopes downward into the Budlaan River.

The river trekking lasts for about an hour depending on pace.

Balancing on rocks is a tough task especially that some of them are soft or loose.

However, you will be treated to scenic river views, rock formations, and waterfalls.

The trail briefly goes up. In some parts, you will have to scramble up to eighty degrees of inclined wall.

...and then there will be more waterfalls.

After the last waterfall, the trail goes up again through bamboo trees and out into grasslands.

If you're lucky, you'll chance upon this small hut with the family selling fresh coconuts, a refreshing delight after a long walk.

We start walking through grassy fields again. This time it was an open trail so enduring the heat was a struggle. Not long after, we reached the basketball court of a small community, part of Brgy. Sirao, where we had our lunch and refilled our water bottles.

We're back to open trails again after lunch and this time that sun was higher up. The trail also starts to gain elevation. After one of our first assaults, we stop at this nice viewing deck of a former orchard and enjoyed the view of city before us.

This is the long, gruelling, but final hike up the summit of Sirao Peak. There was no stopping these nine enthusiastic hikers from summitting, not even the hot sun nor the steep assault.

After basking in the great view of mountains to the right and cities to the bottom left, we of course took our mandatory group photo.

Our team
Standing (L to R): Errol, Rodney, Carl, Kai, and Liandro
Sitting (L to R): Marquem, Xayd, Kisha
Guy behind the lens (not in the photo of course) and trail sweeper: Ray

We wish we could stay on the peak for the rest of the day but the sun was starting to burn. We started our descent.

Only a few minutes down, we rested at a small cozy spot for brandy and chats before making our final descent to Ayala Heights in Brgy. Sirao.

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Photos were contributed by @carlitojoshua and Kishamae Delechos.

Thank you very much to this small but strong team for making Step Out Xayd 1.0 an awesome success. Thank you also to the Steemit bloggers who supported my previous blogs.

If you liked this adventure story, stick around because I will be announcing Step Out Xayd 2.0 real soon.

Cheers,
Xayd