🇵🇭 ILOCOS SUR » (2010) Tagudin-Cervantes-Sabangan Road: A First-Time Account

I was the architect of this escape, but it was a decision out of thin air.

» This road is the reason why I became a travel blogger in 2010.

» The original adventure-high would always be the sweetest and the baseline—the enduring gold standard of my story telling and travel blogging.

🇵🇭 ILOCOS SUR

It took me 15 years to write a dedicated post about this road. I have written several stories that involve this road, but it's only after 15 years that I got the wisdom to put my experiences into words for an article dedicated to this road.

The old followers and readers of this blog would probably have known that this road, the Tagudin-Cervantes-Sabangan Road, started it all. It launched my travel blogging journey and my online persona as a travel blogger.

 ►  Backstory: It all started here

Swipe/drag to left or right to view more vertical photos. Tap or click the photos to enlarge.

Gawd! That was 15 years ago. I was careless, spontaneous, and hopeless romantic. Since then, this travel blog served as my personal diary—injecting personal life angles in my travel anecdotes and blogs. Diaries are meant to be personal, right?

This road is the reason why I became a travel blogger. Although I have been posting travel photos since 2006 through Friendster (the Pinoy Millennials' mainstream online platform back then), I wasn't considered a travel blogger. The details on how I became a travel blogger would be narrated on my next blog.



When I posted about my photos and stories about this road in a certain Facebook group in 2010, it became viral. That was my first viral post.

Social media aside, it was not about the shares and online visibility. The nostalgia I have with this road is rooted in a genuine experience that hit me hard and different. It deep dove into my soul that such experience would become a part of who I am now. It's the most cliché description, but it's also the most accurate—the truth.

To guide you in this story, I added an index map of our stopovers along this road in 2010. See below.



This road influenced the purpose and reason why I am still traveling up to this day. I'm still looking for that adventure-high feeling of being on the road. That dopamine reward I had when I was 22 years young has never been duplicated by any of my travels after this.

The original adventure-high would always be the sweetest and the baseline—the enduring gold standard of my story telling and travel blogging. 15 years after, I still couldn't duplicate that feeling of adventure-triggered pleasure—one major reminder that the first time is the sweetest spot—and on why I keep traveling until now among other reasons in search for growth, meanings, and another sweet spot.

This road was part of our Vigan-Cervantes ride with my brother who was 20 years young then. I was the architect of this escape, but it was a decision out of thin air. Well, that's for another story—part of this series of rekindling my 2010 travel stories.

 ►  1 Bitalag Junction, Tagudin

With my 6-month-old Honda Beat scooter, I wasn't certain if the gasoline tank could bring us to ▼CERVANTES

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. Back then, there was no gasoline station along this stretch from the gasoline station in Tagudin to the first gasoline station in Cervantes. With the ascending road, the small tank of my Honda Beat could not supply the whole journey to Cervantes población. For this reason, I bought a purified water so that I could use its emptied bottle to store our reserve gasoline.

We entered the west end of this road via Bitalag junction in ▼TAGUDIN

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with the ▼MACARTHUR HIGHWAY

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As far as I remember, we did not stop in Tagudin aside from our gasoline refill stop. After a few minutes, we were already entering ▼SUYO

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.

That was also the first time I entered the town of Suyo.

 ►  2 Suyo Welcome Marker

SUYO » Like an innocent child, reaching Suyo in 2010 was already a big achievement for me.

As we entered Suyo, we saw the 2010-ish welcome markers of Suyo. It's our first road stop in Suyo. Suyo had a welcome marker at that time that is similar to some towns in Ilocos Sur. It's a green metalic signboard which was an initiative of the late Governor DV Savellano.

Baringcucurong is the first barangay in Suyo after Tagudin via the Tagudin-Cervantes-Sabangan Road.

🇵🇭 SUYO » Apologies for the hideous color processing applied in this photo.

On the other side of the road stood another welcome marker of the town. From this point, you would see that the hills and mountains around are gradually rising as you go eastward.

This section is the road-based perspective of this story. For a story based on the perspective of being a town (of Suyo), read this: ▼ Fallen in Love with Suyo Mountain Town of Ilocos Sur

🇵🇭 SUYO » Fallen in Love with Suyo Mountain Town of Ilocos Sur

Although I and my brother didn't plan to visit Suyo, it suddenly became an interesting place the first time we entered the town. I said, "Suyo is awesome!"

 ►  3 Somewhere in Baringcucurong

🇵🇭 SUYO » I spotted a random body of water from afar.

We continued our journey along this road. My brother and I were on high spirits. We reached a place called Baringcucurong where we had our second stop along this road. The road has started ascending, and we paused for a break at a certain part of this road located within a forested area.

From where we stopped, we could hear a loud sound of gushing water. I thought it was a waterfall. I zoomed my digicam and found a moving body of water. We definitely could hear the loud sound of gushing water coming from that distant area. Well, 2 years after, I revisited this area; and I hiked my way to that body of water.

🇵🇭 SUYO » I also spotted that mountain with exposed soil.

From the source of the water sound, I saw a mountain with exposed soil. I didn't know if it was due to landslide or a result of human activity.

We continued our journey until we crossed a virtual zone that I considered outside the safe zone. The place was so unfamiliar which prompted me to make a decision. The adventurous young in me still wanted to continue, although half of me was so unsure and nervous.

 ►  4 Chico River

🇵🇭 SUYO » At a certain part along the road is a viewpoint near the Chico River.

We've ascended the road until I saw a curve with the view of a certain river called ▼ CHICO RIVER

🇵🇭 SUYO » This is the First River I Blogged

I considered this an off-beat journey (per my 2010 perspective) using a scooter; and together with my brother, we explored the untold and less known places (again, 2010 perspective)..

That was a great viewpoint. I couldn't help but to stop and document the beauty that I saw. There's a good point along the road to take photos of the river. We left this viewpoint satisfied of the view of the river and the mountains.

 ►  Somewhere in Suyo

🇵🇭 SUYO » The mountainview backdrop was worth a photo stop.

This story happened 15 years ago, so I couldn't remember the exact location of this spot on the map.

As we continued to ascend to a higher elevation, we saw a spot that had a good view of the mountains. I saw a mountain that shaped like a perfect cone like Mayon. We had to stop for a while to document the view. In 2010, I was impressed of the road quality of the Tagudin-Cervantes-Sabangan Road when we made it this far.

 ►  5 Urzadan Bridge

🇵🇭 SUYO » This bridge has a monolith background.

Another stop was the Urzadan bridge. The view of the gigantic monolith that served as backdrop of the bridge was worth documenting when I encountered that view for the first time. Below the bridge is a river with sources from Sigay town. Its stream meets the Chico River in Brgy Kimpusa.

Read more: ▼ The Bridge that Meets the Gigantic Mountain Rock

🇵🇭 SUYO » The Bridge that Meets the Gigantic Mountain Rock

The gigantic rock was a grand welcome for us—showing a symbolic projection that the town would remain strong amidst both the natural and man-made threats that may come.

 ►  6 Suyo Mountain Resort

🇵🇭 SUYO » Suyo Mountain Resort seemed to be the only resort along the Tagudin-Cervantes-Sabangan Road in 2010.

Suyo Mountain Resort in Man-atong: We continued to ascend until we reached the Suyo Mountain Resort in Man-atong. We did not enter the resort because there seemed to be an ongoing event inside. We only took photos of the wall signage.

This resort is the only resort I've seen along the Tagudin-Cervantes-Sabangan Road in 2010.

 ►  7 Bessang Pass Viewpoint

🇵🇭 SUYO » One of the best viewpoints of the Tagudin-Cervantes-Sabangan Road

There's a part of the road that provides a good vantage point of the Bessang pass with the snaking road on mountain slopes. It's a good viewpoint because it's on a higher elevation juxtaposed to give a perspective of the snaking road from afar.

 ►  8 Cervantes Welcome Marker

🇵🇭 CERVANTES » This one is a scenic welcome marker located at Bessang Pass.

This welcome marker is visible along the road. Pine trees surrounded this area in 2010. The location of the marker also provides another great vantage point of Bessang Pass Natural Park. It's one of those welcome markers with the best view in my opinion.

 ►  9 Bessang Pass Monument

🇵🇭 CERVANTES » This is the Bessang Pass Monument, a historical marker and memorial.

This segment is the highest elevation of this road. In 2010, pine trees dominated the mountain vegetation around this area. At 12 noon, the place remained foggy and cold. Bessang Pass Natural Monument is one of the five listed "Natural monuments of the Philippines" under the umbrella category of "protected landscape of the Philippines as of this posting.

We saw a historical marker situated inside an enclosed park. Behind the park is a cliff. However, a foggy backdrop covered the cliff view during our visit.

 ►  10 Nakayang Viewdeck

🇵🇭 CERVANTES » The Nakayang Viewdeck provides a view of the descending road and the Cervantes valley.

Nakayang view deck: We didn't know that a view deck existed along this road until we witnessed it ourselves. It's located at a point along the road that provides a view of the valley of Cervantes (poblacion) and the descending road after the highest point in Bessang Pass.

 ►  11 Cervantes Valley

🇵🇭 CERVANTES » This is the Bessang Pass Monument, a historical marker and memorial.

We reached the lowlands after descending from the Bessang Pass. I had my first glimpse of a flat rice field for the first time since we passed through the ricefileds of Bitalag in Tagudin. This was taken in the valley of Cervantes where the Abra River flows through, specifically in Brgy Rosario before Poblacion.

 ►  12 Cervantes Crossing

🇵🇭 CERVANTES » This crossing has made Cervantes the crossroad for trade.

Cervantes Crossing: Finally, our last stop for this 2010 ride was the Cervantes Crossing. This is a strategic crossing. This crossing is a melting pot of trade. It's an access link to Benguet, Abra (via Quirino), and Mountain Province.

▬ END OF STORY ▬

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UPDATE HISTORY FOR THIS BLOG POST

2025-July-03:
• List number 6-12 added. Full article completed.

2025-June-30:
• This post was published.