Cordillera Great Traverse Trail

Cordillera Great Traverse (CGT) is a hard, multi-day long-distance hiking trail network in Northern Luzon that threads through the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) from Apayao to Baguio City, linking major trails and peaks across the range.

Route scale is on the order of 444 km, and the trekking has been run as an extended push—one notable expedition completed the full length in 17 days, connecting a chain of high mountain destinations.

Key mountains and destinations along the CGT corridor include Mount Pulag (2,922 MASL), Mount Amuyao, Mount Ugo, Mount Napulauan, and Mount Purgatory, tying together multiple provincial jump-offs into a single thru-travel concept.

Expect sustained mountain terrain: dense mountain forests, steep ridges, and frequent river crossings. The route also passes through indigenous communities, so expect uneven access and a stronger need for local coordination than on more standardized single-trail systems.

The commonly described low-to-high profile includes large total elevation change: one 2015 expedition reported 5,891 m of ascent and 5,196 m of descent, with a maximum point around 1,845 MASL at the Mountain Province frontier.

Planning-wise, the trail has been positioned as the longest trail in the Philippines, with an endpoint at Camp John Hay, Baguio City. Use that as the anchor for logistics, since the trail’s purpose is to connect existing challenging routes rather than follow one continuous ridge line.

More information: Official website, The Cordillera Great Traverse - Schadow1 Expeditions, August 2015 : Schadow1 Expeditions