About 25 km southeast of central Baguio along Kennon Road, a 40-foot-tall stone lion's head bursts out of a roadside mountain — the unofficial gateway to Baguio for everyone driving up from the lowlands. The sculpture was commissioned in 1972 by the local Lions Club International chapter and carved into the existing rock face over a year by sculptor Reynaldo da Jesus.
It is an obligatory stop on any drive up Kennon Road: drivers pull over in the small turnout opposite, families line up for photos, and vendors sell strawberry-and-ube ice cream. The view across the valley toward the steep hills of Itogon is one of the dramatic moments on the climb.
After typhoon Pepeng damaged Kennon Road in 2009, the only public route up was Marcos Highway for several years; both are now open, but the Lion's Head was a casualty of the closure and tourism in the area is recovering.