Two hours after seeing the beauty of the sunrise of Aurora and after being cuddled by the clouds on the mountain roads, we finally arrived at Landingan Viewpoint in the town of Nagtipunan, our first destination in Quirino.

To enter the viewpoint, one has to pay a minimal entrance fee of PHP 50.00 each.

Standing at 456 MASL, Landingan Viewpoint got its name from the airstrip that was historically used by missionaries who reach out to the natives of what was then part of Nueva Vizcaya. It is a flower garden atop a hill, though when we were there, most of the flowers have already been harvested. May mga inabutan pa rin naman kami.

It would not be a complete trip to Landingan Viewpoint if we won’t go up the peak. Para ano pa at lagi kami sa bundok? Before going up though, pictures!

With much flowers or not, the viewpoint was still able to offer a stunning view of the Quirino mountain range and the Cagayan River. The view at the top was an unrestricted 360 degrees! Simula pa lang ito ng aming gala sa Quirino pero busog na busog na agad ang mga mata namin sa kagandahan ng tanawin!

When standing at the peak of the viewpoint, one would see where the town of Nagtipunan got its name. Nagtipunan came from the term nagtipon, which roughly translates to came together or converged. Several branches of the Cagayan River converge in Nagtipunan as can be seen with its scenic landscapes, hence the name.

It is a mountain mantra that when being one with nature, one must leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but memories, and kill nothing but time. We definitely were able to leave our footprints, and if we could really kill time to make it stop while in the viewpoint, we would. What was left for the taking was memories, and what would be the best way to do so but to take photos? Of course, you should have seen that coming.

On our way down, nagkaroon ng kakaibang trip ‘yung kasama ko. More pictures for him, so pardon the Ran flooding.

We were already on our way down but we still cannot get over the beauty of Landingan Viewpoint. Landingan alone can take Quirino out of the off-the-beaten-path, and then again, the viewpoint is not the only place that Quirino has to offer.

We were already hungry when we reached the foot of the viewpoint. Nagtanong kami sa entrance kung saan may puwedeng kainan. We were told by some of the locals to drive further down the road and we will find a place where we may eat. Since we totally got no idea about the area, we just followed their instructions. Google Maps was not too helpful in that place either, as the cellphone signal was spotty and unreliable. It was quite a drive, so at some point, we were already asking ourselves if we were doing the right thing. We drove anyway.

Thankfully, we did. There was a gem tucked in the mountains.