The Backpack Adventures

Located at Barangay Malinao, Gabaldon in the province of Nueva Ecija, Mt. Sawi is a fairly new but totally must-try hiking destination of the province.  Mt. Sawi Mt. Sawi Details: Height: 594 MASL Trailhead: Stone 8 Resort, Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija Climb Time: 2-3 hours to the peak Originally called Mt. Sawing Balete , taken from the story of one person's tragic suicide at the balete tree near the peak, the name was shortened to Mt. Sawi to be "in" with the growing popularity of the " hugot " lines introduced by the numerous Filipino romantic comedy (RomCom) films. Others, including me, believe that it was shortened to disassociate the mountain from ghost stories and suicides. Ironically, the word sawi still means "die" in Filipino... so thank goodness to those RomCom films for giving the tragic word a new meaning.  Mt. Sawi as seen from the highway Mt. Sawi jump-off point We started our hike with 10 members... ... however, t

Located in the municipality of Gabaldon in Nueva Ecija, Stone 8 Resort is one of the most popular cold spring resorts in the municipality.  Stone 8 Resort Stone 8 Resort History Stone 8 Resort started out several years ago when its owner Nestor Geronimo decided to come back to his hometown and invest his time, money, and energy to help boost his town's tourism. Since then, the resort has been frequented not only by the people of Gabaldon but also even those that come from Metro Manila. Stone 8 Resort - Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija One of the many slides in the public area The slide in the private area I spy a dinosaur... Witness the final moments of these kids Regarding the name of the resort, Stone 8 Resort got its name from "Kapitan" Nestor who was once a barangay captain of Barangay 88 Zone 8 Caloocan City. As for the "stone" part of its name, it came from... well, the place is very "stony". Meaning, there are plenty of rocks i