~DQXTC

Maria and the Four Stupid Conquerors

2014-05-10T09:13:00.000-07:00

There are four stupid animal characters in this story and the setting is inside a thick rainforest that is guarded by a deity named Maria. One day Horse, Goat, Rooster and Hen ventured into the deep enchanted forest of Maria believing that somewhere at the summit of the forested mountain, they will find what they've been looking for.

The three farm animals assembled somewhere in Cubao and traveled long distance to reach the faraway land of Batangas where they met Rooster who joined them in a challenging endeavor. They rode a magical three wheeled chariot pulled by a pathetic human slave to reach the gateway to the enchanted forest. After a bumpy ride along the less traveled road that is surrounded by geothermal tubes, they met the cow - a gatekeeper who told them that they must leave their footprints in a logbook and pay a certain amount. After a short while, a phyton came and said "let me accompany you, the trail ahead is quite confusing". The phyton accompanied the adventurous farm animals and guided them in a trail called "Zeepit" but at a certain point, the phyton backed out. The phyton said "I can only guide you 'til here. The trail should be easy. Your way is straight forward starting from this point but I can no longer go ahead with you. It is going to be an uphill climb and unfortunately I am a snake - I have no legs".

The farm animals went on with their journey towards the summit of Maria's forest. The horse took the role of a pacer. The horse was fast and he believed if he set the pace, the group will make it to the summit at the right time. The rooster and the hen were the sweepers of the journey. They are partners and they have wings to help them move in case they need to.The goat was at the middle of the group. The goat was adjusting to the speed of the horse and slowed down to make sure it can still hear the two legged flightless birds at the back. Everything went fine at the first few hours of the journey. They made it to "King Rock" where they saw the vast land of Batangas and the neighboring landforms that are equally mystical. They safely climbed up the ropes too and took selfie pictures. The foursome animals were happy to see their own reflection in the camera phones they brought with them. "I am a good looking horse" one animal said. "I should have shaved my goatee" the goat uttered. The rooster said "my feather isn't great in this pic, let's take more selfies". "Let me take your picture" the hen insisted.

Time was ticking and the animals almost forgot that they had to keep moving before the guardian named Maria sensed their presence. Otherwise, the guardian will protect it's forest and do the necessary to fight the "conquerors". The stupid animals prepared before they crossed the dangerous terrain in between peaks. They ate their packed lunch and kept the trash with them to make sure they won't leave any signs of animal presence. What happened next is the exciting part.

At the midst of crossing the treacherous terrain, the goat found a bottle of blue Powerade on the roots of a tree that isn't opened yet. The goat thought it was his lucky day to find something to drink inside the traverse trail of the forest. It turned out it was just a bait purposely placed by Maria to catch whoever is leaving those kind of trash inside her forest. Maria the forest guardian was furious upon knowing that "conquerors" are the ones disrespecting her home so she commanded the plants to grow in teemingness and obscure the paths; she called in the forest leeches and led them to attack the intruders and suck their blood; she moved the ground to make the foot paths more difficult to pass across. Lastly, she controlled the sky and covered the summit with white clouds.

Knowing the guardian was already awake, the horse ran as fast as he could. The goat tried to catch up with the horse but at one point, it slipped and fell into the bushes full of thorns. The rooster and hen were far behind that the goat could no longer hear them. The path became deadlier and more puzzling but the animals didn't lose hope. They all made it to the summit of Maria's enchanted land. Sadly, none was seen from up there. The clouds were thick and to make it worse, the leeches were creeping inch by inch towards the farm animals so they decided to descend the mountain.

The horse set the pace again. The goat tried his best to keep abreast with the horse. Surely, it did not want to stumble again in a bush where no one could see him. They descended until they reached a flat ground where they decided to regroup. "Rooster and hen is already far from us, we should wait for them" the goat requested. So there, the horse and goat waited patiently until the hungry leeches attacked. The leeches fell from the treetops and it was pretty alarming they had to run again in the long straight forward trail towards the foot of the mountain. The descent was too long. It was a very boring long descent nevertheless, it was a good technique to mislead the leeches. The goat thought in order to escape the blood-sucking leeches, one has to keep moving. The leeches are probably sensing their body heat whenever they are resting. So the horse and the goat moved at a slow but consistent pace until they reached the so called Eagle's Arc. The presence of leeches weren't that much at that point. From the Eagle's Arc, they continued trudging until they reached "Tayabac point". There was another cow at that point who records the footprints of animals in a logbook. The cow redirected the two mammals to a "Mud garden" where they can find the supernatural fog floating above and inside a fenced danger zone. They were told that the fog, when inhaled, was believed to provide extraordinary energy so the two mammals were convinced they needed these.

They went ahead to mud garden and found the cloudy air above the mud spring. The goat said "this smells like yummy grass" and he inhaled all he can. The horse did the same and inhaled as much as he could possibly inhale. The feeling was euphoric. They kept inhaling until they got high. Again, it was another trap by Maria. The second cow was actually Maria's accomplice. Maria's intention was to break apart the farm animals so she could easily play trick on them. The goat and horse were out of their minds until...

An old rich-looking fat dog escorted by a young promiscuous-looking chihuahua got down from his truck and greeted the two farm animals "hey, what happened to both of you?" The horse and the goat were startled as if awakened from being hypnotized. Just in time, the sound of a single motorcycle was heard. Rooster and Hen were on it and the foursome farm animals were able to regroup.

The story ended with nothing achieved but pictures posted in their farmyard called Facebook.

Bolinao Sidetrip| Caving, Beach, Lighthouse and Rock Formations

2014-03-01T06:31:00.000-08:00

I believe today marks the beginning of summer season in the Philippines and I don't care if I'm wrong because you know how inconsistent the Philippine weather can be and you know there are places in this tropical country where rain still happens even during summer so let me just proclaim like a boss that today is really the start of summer. Having those statements, I'm sure everyone is already planning their outdoors, excursion, teambuildings and out of town beach trips. Why am I composing this blog post? I have several reasons. First, I want to share a story about how we did our side trip in Barangay Patar, Bolinao, Pangasinan and prove to people that we can actually go to the places we want to visit if we insist. Second, I want to express the feelings we had during the entire trip and describe how treacherous the waters of Bolinao is. Third, I want to contribute to this country's tourism by at least blogging about the beautiful caves, beaches and seascapes of Pangasinan.

Let me start with how we did it. Our main destination is Rock View Beach Resort in Barangay Patar, Bolinao, Pangasinan and this was actually a side trip coming from an officemate's wedding in Lingayen. I was on the same page with other five people who thought that a quick day trip is highly recommendable since we were already at Lingayen. Nobody among us knew Lingayen that much so we rode tricycles and asked them to bring us to the terminal where buses bound to Bolinao pick up passengers. The bus arrived and so we hopped in and patiently waited as the bus continuously picked up and unloaded passengers on our way to Bolinao. The sceneries along the way were like appetizers to my hungry eyes as I waited for the main dish which is the rock formation in Barangay Patar. But the preparation of the main dish had some delays. We were already at Alaminos when the passenger conductor told us that they won't proceed to Bolinao anymore and instructed us to wait at the side of the street for another bus.

We already lost so much time as we had delays at the very beginning of this trip. We were first timers in the place and literally figuring out where and when to ride public transportation. The next bus bound to Bolinao came afterwards and we no longer wanted to waste time by being "choosy" so we got on it right away. Along the way, I saw signboards of Bolinao Falls but I wasn't certain about these markers so I didn't think about getting off the bus at that point. When we reached the end of the bus route, then was the only time I figured out that the Bolinao Falls is along the way to Patar and will be out-of-way once we start touring along Patar Road. In other words, we missed the waterfalls and will cost us so much more money and time if go backwards.

The majority decision was to skip the falls and just proceed with the tricycle tour in Patar Road. The tour took us to our chosen stopovers in the order we wanted. These were Enchanted Cave, then Lighthouse, then Patar White Beach (where there are plenty of souvenir stores) and then we headed back to the same route to stay at the Rock View Beach resort - which I think is the most scenic spot in barangay Patar. It was my intention to have the Rock View Beach Resort as the last stopover because of its wonderful seascape, crowdless setting and awesome vantage point for the sunset.

The Enchanted Cave was something I didn't expect. I thought it was just a cave with stalactites and stalagmites inside it but when we got there, I was surprised to see that there is water inside it and taking a dip was irresistible. We went back to our bags outside the cave to change clothes and hurriedly frolic in the cold water of the cave. We took as much pictures as we can.

While still dripping in wet clothes, we proceeded to the Lighthouse. I'm not a fan of lighthouses but since we already miss Bolinao waterfalls and the price of tour fee is just the same with or without stopping over at the lighthouse, then why not visit the place and see whatever we can sightsee from there. At the viewing deck, I pointed to my companions where our main destination is - the Rock View beach resort.

Patar Beach is the next destination and like what I've read online, there is no entrance fee here. The sand is not purely white and the sun is not at its best when we were there. (weather weather lang talaga). I didn't see anyone swimming maybe because the waves are kinda rough. Beach-goers were either having their merienda, alcohol or karaoke sessions. Few daylight hours were left and I insisted that we must hurry and spend the rest of the day in the rock formations.

It was Sunday late afternoon when we arrived at the Rock View Beach Resort - the usual time when visitors are already leaving the place so it's like we almost owned the resort when we were there. We only paid for the cottage so we can have a place to secure our things. We were able to use the beach cabana for free. There's a hut on top of the rock formations which is no longer part of the resort but still, we had our Red Horse session there while viewing the sunset. Our time in/out of the resort was some time around 4PM and 10PM respectively. We stayed for roughly six hours only. We intended to leave at around 10PM so we can spend quality time at the resort, have a sumptuous dinner at the cabana, take power naps while we recharge our phones and camera and purposely make it back to the bus terminal before midnight (so we can sleep in the bus while we travel back to Manila as well). The caretaker of the place was very accomodating too. We asked her to prepare dinner for us and she did. The trike driver that we contracted to pick us up at 10PM raised his price, nevertheless, it was reasonable because it was getting late at night then. Take note that we were able to do these because it was December 1 then, off-peak season for beach-goers, and our workshift starts 8PM on the following day. You might not experience the same bliss if you travel to this place during summer (due to crowd, haggling is less likely and your workshift might not be the same as ours).

I'd like to add more pictures but my internet is not cooperating... More pics to follow na lang.

~DQXTC

Mt. Tapulao | Hiking in Palauig Zambales

2014-01-23T18:41:00.000-08:00

I'm such a bad writer. Aside from the grammar and the spelling mistakes that I always commit, I don't even know how to start this post about the third visit we did in Palauig Zambales. This post is about the third time we traveled to Dampay Salaza Resettlement Area to climb Mt. Tapulao which is believed to be the highest peak in Central Luzon region. We didn't summit the mountain. I was no longer interested and if I may call this climb "sightseeing" climb, I will surely do. Imagine we hiked 16 kilometers to bunker but when it comes to hiking two kilometers more to reach the summit - I felt lazy. I noticed there are many times in my past climbs when I felt lazy to walk shorter distances. This is probably because - I've been there before; I don't want any more pain in climbing and just want to relax and sightsee; or maybe I'm getting tired of the same old sceneries that I find similar in every mountain I hike. Whatever the real reason is, all I felt then was the feeling of peace and joy knowing that I'm in a place so far from the stress and drama of city living. We all deserve a break!

SaLamPakers and Amazing Friends went to Mt. Tapulao in Palauig Zambales

Mt. Tapulao in Palauig Zambales

So why do I call this sightseeing climb? Because this time around, the weather cooperated with our view-hungry eyes. The hike was worth our time and energy because the sun showed up and it cleared up the sky. We were granted with the view of the lowlands. Seeing ourselves standing at an elevation so high enough to have an encompassing view of the town below, it always gives a rewarding feeling. I remember even before sunrise came while dimtrekking the rocky trail of Mt. Tapulao, the moon slowly appeared right in front of us while we were at an ascending path. It was like we're heading to the moon. The feeling was surreal. It kinda reminded me of the same feeling when I first time saw a real moon-setting in Tablas Island. Going back to our hiking story, we were guided by a "superhuman" Aeta. He didn't felt thirsty and didn't felt hungry. I'm sure he's just shy. I remember as we got closer and closer to the bunkhouse, we saw more tents near the trail. We knew these were the participants of Adventurista Camping trip. We were certain that we'll see more familiar faces and that's one more thing that really excited us. More than just peakbagging, the companionship we build up in the mountains is certainly something more worth treasuring. Up there, I met again the same people I hiked with in Arayat, Pico De Loro, G2 and "Bagshit". The mountains definitely make our worlds smaller.

SaLamPakers and Amazing Friends went to Mt. Tapulao in Palauig Zambales

This was actually a "biglaan" climb. In Facebook, the original plan is to do a Nasugbu trilogy but you know how plans usually end up in social media - it often becomes "drawing". I remember I was in UP Diliman jogging with two of my officemates when I came across Marge and Romeo who were jogging as well in preparation for their 42K marathon. What happened then was a quick decision to join them in climbing Mt. Tapulao in the following week. I made my decision right on the street while still panting for air. I had no real mountain hike for the last seven months then so I thought I should prepare. I went to the nearest gym to do leg press, extensions, stationary bike and squats and I did those for three days. After the climb, I thought the preparation I did is effective. It somehow immuned my legs to pain and fatigue. So if you are like me who rarely climbs, I highly suggest go to gym and exercise your leg muscles.

Souvenir, at Mt. Tapulao

Romeo in Mt. Tapulao

~DQXTC

Buntot Palos or Hidden Falls | Waterfall Hiking in Panguil Laguna

2014-01-21T20:57:00.003-08:00

More than half a year since the last time I write so I thought I should come up with another post here in my Quixotic Hiker blog. As much as I want to deny that this is yet another hiking post, this hike I did in Panguil Laguna is actually an answer to my long hiking hiatus after failing to summit Mt. Apo five months prior. I told myself in an FB status "kapag hindi ako nakapag hike before my birthday kakalimutan ko na talaga ang hobby na ito". I got few responses from some of my contacts - I felt like I'm lacking the "push" from the people I expect to persuade me to pursue a hiking daytrip. Despite all the emoness and attention deficit, I pushed my desire to have a quick dayhike. I had no other choice but to do this hike because it was the last and free weekend I have before my birthday or else I'll have to stick to my word when I said I'll forget about hiking for good.

Deep inside of me, I don't want to give up hiking so I texted two of my high school mates who are willing to try hiking and I was able to convince them. In preparation for this, I did my research to find out how to do this daytrip, so I googled and stumbled upon the blog posts of several travel bloggers I highly admire. These were posts from Lakwatsera de primera, IvanLakwastero and PinoyMountaineer but the blog post that I thought was really enjoyable to read is the "Sanuk! Sanuk!" post from the TravellingDork.com. I copy-pasted the link of his Sanuk-sanuk post and showed to my highschool mates for them to read it and to have an idea about the trip they're getting into. My highschoolmate responded and said the waterfalls is beautiful! I believe this was one of the reasons why they were excited to join me in this hike.

Buntot Palos aka Hidden Falls in Pangui Laguna

In my opinion, Buntot Palos or Hidden Falls is indeed beautiful and the fact that it requires at least an hour of hiking to get there, I'm positive that those annoying vandals won't exert any energy to walk long distance and hike on mud just to ruin the beauty of the place. Although there's a water tube on the left side while facing the waterfall, the view is still very scenic. When standing at the catch basin of the waterfall, you'll see yourself surrounded by forest. During our time here, the weather was kinda gloomy so I never thought of swimming. I was contented with sightseeing and I made myself busy with stone stacking. Just to mention, there are parts of the waterfall's catch basin which are slippery and deep so be careful.

Buntot Palos aka Hidden Falls in Pangui Laguna

Locally this waterfall is called Hidden falls but netizens call it Buntot Palos (Eel's tail). In order to get here by commute, ride a jeepney to Tanay Market. I know there are jeepneys bound to Tanay market in Edsa-Shaw area but since we are residents of Marikina, we waited for a Tanay bound jeepney in "Junction Cainta" (it costed us ~ 40pesos). When we reached Tanay Market, we looked for the passenger terminal and hopped in the jeepney bound to Siniloan, Laguna (~ 42 pesos if I remember correctly). At the end of the jeepney route, we immediately contracted a tricycle and asked the driver to take us to Barangay Hall of Balian, Pangil Laguna. At the barangay hall, we registered our names and waited for the barangay tanod who will guide us to get to the Hidden Falls. We didn't pay anything at the barangay hall and when I asked for the guide fee - we were told that it's up to us on how much we can pay. Barangay hall is not the actual jump off to the waterfalls trail. We had to walk from the hall to get to an uphill paved street of a small community. Somewhere here is where we paid a small amount - I didn't know what for but since we were trespassing the territory of the community below the small mountain, a minor payment serves as an entrance ticket to the falls - my guess.

Ate Ligaya - Tanod

Buntot Palos aka Hidden Falls in Pangui Laguna

The trail is easy and it is rated as 1/9 in difficulty by PinoyMountaineer website. The appropriate footwear is any sturdy outdoor shoes. Of course you may choose to wear sandals but if you don't like the hassle of getting muddied on your way to your destination then I suggest wear shoes. The duration of the hike won't be that long. It should not take you two hours to get to the waterfalls. I cant remember any scenic view on our way to the hidden falls but the fact that we were walking in a forested ambiance, it was worth experiencing.

Notes:
1. There is a resort below the mountain where we took a bath after the hike. Payment is very minimal.
2. Guide/Tanod is compulsary.
3. There is water source.

~DQXTC

Hike-Jog to General Nakar's Tinipak Rock

2013-05-27T19:54:00.001-07:00

This could be one of the most unprepared adventures I did since the last two and a half years of my so-called nature’s-got-me-high syndrome. I had planned of going to Divisoria (because I’ve never been to Divisoria before) to buy cheap stuff but at the moment I stepped out of the house, my feelings changed. The sky was so clear and the volume of clouds was too inviting. I felt like the mountains are calling and I must go. I was not prepared to climb a mountain but I still wanted to get close to it. My interior monologue told me to keep going and stop if I must. Since I’ve been wanting to go back to Daraitan in Tanay, Rizal and I haven’t reached Tinipak Rock yet in General Nakar Quezon, I thought it was the perfect time to go back for a lot of reasons: It was Monday and I knew the place won’t be crowded; though the mountain can be hiked, the ambiance at the foot of it is already satisfying; I had no preparation so I thought I should go to places where my get-up can be a bit suitable.

Good thing I had my backpack and dri-fit shirt with me. The original plan is I will use my backpack instead of a market bag when ransacking stuff in Divisoria and my favorite black dri-fit is something that didn’t need ironing. But a backpack and a dri-fit shirt are not enough when going to boondocks. I was wearing jeans and gym shoes and I didn’t have any headwear to cover myself from the heat. I didn’t have packed lunch and extra-shirt too. But all those things won’t stop me from being pulled by nature. That morning, I found a segunda-mano store that was open as early as 8am near Junction Cainta. I quickly looked for a Tshirt, shorts and a cap. I’m not a junkie of ukay stuff so I’m not sure if all the items I bought are worth my 250 pesos.

I went to Tanay market to look for a ride that goes to Sampaloc. It was timely when I found the Sampaloc Tanay terminal. I was the last person to get on it. The carinderia helper told me to get on top of the jeepney but I preferred to cling on the rear of the jeep instead of doing topload. The jeep took a route that passes by Daranak Falls entrance signage and where a view of huge transmission lines can be seen along the way. There’s a sea of mountains all around and that made me forget about the pain I had to endure while clinging on the jeep. There’s a joy in my face whenever we came across other jeeps with a lot of people, bananas and charcoal on top of it. I was happy because these are some of the sights I don’t see everyday.

When I reached Daraitan River, it was already 11AM and I had to quickly hike-run the river trail because you know how it is in the afternoon – it rains. I still had the same feeling when I saw the white rocks of Daraitan river. I was amazed by its wonder.

Daraitan River, Tanay Rizal

I always carry my digital camera with me because I’ll never know when my nature’s-got-me-high syndrome will attack again. There’s just something about the greens and blues that gives me this euphoric feelings. Whenever I feel good about the sky, I always take a snapshot of it.

I walked further until I saw Tinipak’s welcome signage, a herd of goats and a wobbly makeshift bridge. I went to the other side of the river to scramble on huge white rocks before I made it closer to the bleeding rock walls of Tinipak. I didn’t cross the river anymore from that point. Even waist-deep water can really scare me so I just sat there and took few pictures of the scenery. Despite the nice weather, the sky was rumbling. I knew it will rain sooner so I got up from where I was bumming and headed back to Daraitan to cool down.

Welcome signage of Tinipak Rock

Tinipak Rock

On how to get there, ride Tanay-bound jeepney. The fare is 40 pesos from Junction Cainta. Get off at Tanay public market. There is another transportation terminal at the side of this market. Some vans goes to different destinations in Metro Manila and there are jeepneys bound to nearby barangays like Siniloan, Pililia etc. Look for the jeepney that is headed to Sampaloc. According to the market people I asked, look for the UTR**JODAI (forgot the exact Acronym) Sampaloc Tanay Terminal. The fare is just 26 pesos from Tanay market to Sampaloc. The jeepneys here are leaving at alas-puno schedule. You will pass by Daranak falls signage on your way to Sampaloc. When you reach Sampaloc, look for the Shell Gas station. There are habal-habal (single motorcycle) that can bring you to barangay Daraitan. The fare is 100 pesos one-way. You will pass by Sampaloc Inn and a couple of camps before you get to the corner in the road with a signage of Tinipak Rock. From here is a long rough road with a nice view of encompassing mountain ranges of Sierra Madre. After several minutes, you'll reach the Welcome Sign of Barangay Daraitan, you'll cross the wooden bridge and from here you may start you're trail run / river trek.

There are other activities that can be done in this place

1. Caving. You can go caving in Tinipak Cave. Suggested months are summer months. The water level inside the cave is expected to rise during the rainy season. I haven't tried this yet.

2. Mountain climbing. I was told by a mountain guide that they already cleared the trail to Mt. Daraitan (700+ masl). The summit can fit 6 tents according to the guide. There is also an option to traverse it. You may start the traverse from Barangay Daraitan Tanay Rizal and descend the mountain towards Tinipak Rock in General Nakar, Quezon. The guides estimated the ascent to be ~2-3 hours and the descent is estimated to be 2 hours.

3. River bumming. River bumming is basically an alternative to beach bumming. The rock formation in this river is also a destination in itself. Some compared these rock formations to those seen in Wawa River in Rodriguez Rizal but these rocks in Daraitan/General Nakar are way more beautiful.

Other notes:

1. If you need a local guide, you may contact Boyet 09273881260.

2. You may want to try Batangas Lomi here. Take note that this is in Rizal and not really in Batangas just like in Mt. Natib jump off point.

Timeline:

Don’t ask me about itinerary because I never planned doing this to begin with but certainly this can be done in a day. Considering I left home at around 7AM, I spent time searching for an ukay-ukay store, I was stuck in Monday traffic, I arrived in Daraitan at almost noon time – I still made it before the rain poured in the afternoon. I was back in the city at 4-4:30pm.

Calatagan | Burot Beach Camping

2013-05-05T08:48:00.000-07:00

I remember we went straight to the municipality of Calatagan in Batangas after a night shift work; drank beer inside the van while we were on our way to the undeveloped beach called Burot; spent time playing volleyball, tug o’ war, swimming and sunset viewing; and after a whole day of tiring beach experience, my body remembered then that I’d been fighting sleep deprivation for almost 24 hours already; I couldn’t handle the dizziness due to lack of sleep and feeling full after I delighted myself with barbecue dinner so I went inside my tent and had a good night snooze. I was half-asleep most of the night. Perhaps because I was sleeping in the outdoors while knowing there were drank people around who can make pranks on sleeping people – that’s how paranoid I was. But all in all, I had good night sleep. Oh I remember! The night temperature was hot so I was shirtless while sleeping (which eventually led to cough and colds) but I’m glad because my Hillman Ridge, the mountain tent I bought from Sandugo, can suit a beach setting. I let all the sea breeze came in through the screened windows of the tent to compensate the infuriating hot night air.

Going back to few hours earlier, I remember I took the role in setting up the tents. It was around noon time and setting up tents at this time was like punishment. I sweat all over while pitching four tents. I remember the only reason why we pitched the tents so early is because we wanted to immediately mark our beach space - all tarps were laid out, all tents were pitched, all vans were parked in a way we can cover a good area under the shades of trees – it’s as if the beach is our territory. But don’t think we’re selfish because we generously shared some of our means with a group of five campers who were lacking some light, fire and guy presence.

The whole idea was beach camping so we had to bring all the stuff we’ll need in making our stay comfortable. We brought coolers, fluorescent lights, grill, stove, cooking utensils. On our way we bought, charcoals, kerosene, ice, water and of course food, fruits and alcoholic beverages.

The sunset was one thing I was looking forward to. I know the cove is somehow facing the west so there’s a good chance of viewing a nice fiery sunset from here. By the way, Lubang island is visible and just across the beach and a mountain can be seen in the southwest direction. Looking at the map, it must be Mt. Calavite of Mindoro island.

I was already asleep when they made the bonfires. I missed this aside from a lot of intriguing things that happened during the night. You know what kind of talks happen when people get drunk so I can’t really tell exactly what happened. I was totally clueless the next day to be honest and I had to insist in asking just to have an idea. I insisted to go to the rocky edge of the beach to take pictures and view the coast in a different angle.

Directions

Going to Calatagan is easy. There are enough pointers along the roads of Batangas pointing to Nasugbu, Lian, Calatagan etc. The welcome arch of Calatagan will obviously tells you’re in the right direction. We passed by Tagaytay and Evercrest Golf resort (the same roads to Mt. Batulao and Talamitam). It’s a long sleepy ride before we reach Calatagan market where we bought some necessities. At the market, we asked the locals for directions to Burot beach. Narrow paved roads transitioned to a rough road. We passed by a cemetery. We reached a guarded gate. We didn’t pay yet because we are told there’s another gate. We entered the gated property and passed along the rough road bordered by thorny shrubs called Aroma then few second later we emerged to a rough road surrounded by Bakawans. Afterwards we reached the second guarded entrance where we paid 130 pesos each for overnight stay. When commuting, one can ride tricycles from/to Calatagan market to/from Burot beach. I guess you’ll have to get the contact number of the tricycle driver or arranged a time when they can fetch you on the next day.

A commenter on this post shared his contact number if you want a contracted trike driver to Burot beach. It surprised me to know that a trike driver is on blogger. Below is the information that may help you. I also added a link to his weblog.

CALL OR TEXT KUYA JOHNNY - 0999-474-9147

TRICYCLE FARE AS OF JANUARY 6, 2014

From calatagan public market to burot beach - 150 pesos per trip - good for 2 to 3 passenger and maximum of 250 per trip with 5 passenger

Weblog ni Kuya Johnny - Burot Beach Trike Driver

Parking

Vehicles can park up to the beach mismo. Just make sure the wheels won’t dig too deep on the sand.

Stores

There is a store in the beach but since we already bought a lot of our stuff in the market, I was not able to get firsthand information on how much their items are. Expect it to be pricey as usual.

Restroom

Don’t expect. In a crowded weekend, a lot of people lines up in front of these not-so-decent restrooms scattered in distant locations of the beach. There is flowing water and I was told by a caretaker that this water came from a source that is 1 kilometer away from the beach. If you walk around the place, you’ll find pipe water directly flowing from the source. It will be easier to wash up after bathing in the sea if you find this. Closed restroom should be allotted for those who desperately need to defecate. If you need a place to change clothes, I suggest go inside a tent, hide behind a tree or use a malong.

Safety

There’s a story going around that the beach is nearby a place haunted by aswangs. If you look up on the news online, it's hard to find writings or news that can attest to this but Batangueno people knows about it. I don’t know the truth to this, it sounds like a folk lore to me. What is not folk lore is the presence of sea urchins mostly at the rocky edges of the cove and the inch-size thorns from plants called Aroma that you may accidentally stepped on.

~DQXTC

Holy Week’s Port Hopping Experience

2013-03-25T02:59:00.003-07:00

Now is holy week and I’m sure a lot of people (who works following the Philippine holidays) had set their summer getaway plans already and some of course would do the typical penitence and church rites. They said Holy Week’s the time to feel remorseful with the sins we’ve done, think over the life we have, it’s the perfect time to reflect one’s spirituality too. But that’s not always the case. This year’s holy season, while me being part of a BPO, is going to be a regular work day for me. No beach plans, no long weekend, no anything. That’s sad I know. I’ll be stuck inside the office doing the same tedious things but thinking it over, at least I should be thankful because I still have my job and with that I can support some of the needs of our family. Well all I can do now is just blog and tell about the experience I had last year during Holy week. I called this as the Holy Week port-hopping experience.

In my very few experiences of long travel, last year’s holy week is probably my travel with the second most number of transfer-rides. We spent time in Sibuyan Island, Romblon to experience the thrill of climbing Mt. Guiting Guiting. Oftentimes travelers would say the journey to your destination is equally worthwhile as the time spent in the destination itself. I get too appreciate that statement then. The bumpy rides, restless seas, deafening sound of motors, all of these combined to form an adventure in itself apart from the wonders of the destination.

Together with a huge bunch of backpackers last year’s holy week, we had to get along with a big crowd of rushing passengers too. It was hellish as you can imagine. In ship ports, even in bus terminals, everyone was like in a rush to get on board. We had to do a lot of transfer rides to chase ships and make it back to Manila as soon as possible because you know, regular working day follows after Easter.

Here’s a quick look back at the port-hopping we did last holy week.

Port of Ambulong Magdiwang. After our successful summiting of Mt. Guiting-guiting, we lined up at Magdiwang Port in Sibuyan Island. It was Easter Sunday then. Destination was Romblon Island where we might chance on a straight-to-Batangas trip. At Magdiwang port, there are souvenir sellers – with of course the majestic Mt. Guiting guiting printed on it. I remember while we lined up to the entrance of Magdiwang port, some passengers were cheating just to get ahead of the line. This was something not new to me so I won’t bother. This picture is taken at 9:18AM and we got on board at 10:58AM.

We were seated at one side of the ship where the views of the islands were so visually stress relieving. Our legs were severely sore after the climb we did nevertheless, sightseeing while on the ship was right enough to compensate the physical pain. I had seen so much beauty in Sibuyan and I want to go back and explore more in the future. This picture is taken while we were on our sea way from Sibuyan Island to Romblon Island.

Port of Romblon. We were approaching the pier of Romblon at around 1PM. I saw a huge ship docked at the pier and I assumed this could be the ship where we hoped to get on board straight to Batangas. But it looked almost full. We waited at the Oplan Semana Santa tents with our “asa” faces while some leaders of the group (I guess) were trying to negotiate with the ship dispatcher. Our hopes of quickly getting back to Manila were shattered as safety was strictly observed by not allowing us to get on board. For me, it is better to be absent for office work instead of risking our lives in an overloaded ship. All in all, it’s a not-so-bad decision.

sottocopied from Sam Bernaldez

What happened next is we got on the same ship that brought us to this pier of Romblon. We were then headed to San Agustin Port of Tablas Island where we had to ride a jeepney to get to another port called Port of Poctoy. Of course, sightseeing is my most favorite thing to do in the outdoors so I could not help but take pictures of the landforms I see. This picture is taken at 1:56 PM of Easter Sunday April 8 2012 while being pampered by the gently waving sea between Romblon Island and Tablas Island.

San Agustin Port At 3:05PM in the afternoon, we docked at San Agustin Port Terminal in the island of Tablas. It was our third island that Easter Sunday and we’re chasing trips in another port called Port of Poctoy that is still two hours away.

To make it more exciting, I had to sit on top of a jeep while we traveled across the country setting of this island for two hours under the heat of the sun. It was painful sitting there but then again, sightseeing the naturally mountainous terrain of this province was worth the pain. It was my second time to ride on top of the jeep. I remember the first time was on this same island three days ago – that was Maundy Thursday at 3AM while watching a rare moon setting. I just remember the moon setting was so astounding that I could not believe a full moon can appear so near.

Port of Poctoy. Hunger struck us when we reached the Port of Poctoy. We haven’t had a good meal yet since brunch. So after getting our packs from the jeep, most of us were like piranhas which attacked the tempting exotic grilled street foods of the port. To be honest, it was funny watching a hungry person pig out on just anything that is readily available. So there I continued my own habit of people-watching while consuming my halo-halo.

We were unable to board a ship. I guess we’re too late. Perhaps then is a realization that traveling on a day like Easter must be arranged beforehand. Unfortunately, we had to spend overnight in the island of Tablas because the earliest trip would be on the following day. Looking at the brighter side of it, that experience gave us more time to bond with the people we were traveling with. We went to a populated beach at the side of the port to capture some pictures of blue and brown starfish and sunset silhouettes.

Afterwards, we went to an outdoor grandstand where they allowed us to pitch tents and had drinking socials. Gladly there’s flowing water in a public restroom nearby and they even turned on the spotlight to make it more comfortable for us. We felt like visitors. Even the frogs in the oval field were welcoming us.

It drizzled a little bit so we opted to stay in the spectator’s covered area where we can lie down on top of the wooden planks. I tried to sleep but the recent memories was so graphic that I barely had sleep, perhaps I’m still overwhelmed by the three days of waterfall hiking, rock climbing and night trekking we did or maybe I still could not believe I’ve done a lot of things that I’ve never done in my life before. Everything was just so memorable that I’m going to treasure every seconds of it.

Around 4:30AM, Monday when we had to start packing our things again so we can be at the ship port as early as possible. At around 7AM, we were able to secure ourselves with tickets but these tickets will not take us to Batangas. Hard as it may seem, the fastest way we can get to Manila was to ride the ferry to Mindoro’s Port of Roxas. We were so early at the port only to find out that the ferry will be leaving at around 10AM pa.

Traversing the sea from Tablas Island to Mindoro in a small ferry was not easy. The ferry was shaky all the way wherein one woman was already uttering prayers in a loud voice. Everyone could tell she’s frenzied by the condition of the sea. There was no storm. It so happened that the sea was just really rough and after hours of psyching myself that we’ll be alright, we made it to Mindoro at 1:45PM.

Port of Roxas. Imagine, we came from Sibuyan Island, had a quick stop at Romblon Island, spent overnight in Tablas and then we were in Mindoro. If only these port-hopping was foreseen, then we could have planned of having extra two days of vacation leave, prepared more budget and stayed in the nearby Ambulong or Carabao Island. We were so near to these other beautiful islands, why not go there and explore more – just my wishful thoughts.

It was blistering hot Monday afternoon. We got on a bus heading to port of Calapan City. We had no lunch yet so we snack on turon sold by a bus vendor. Shortly, the bus was already full and drove to Calapan City which took four hours of land travel across several towns of Oriental Mindoro. As the bus passed by the town of Bongabong, which is my mother’s hometown, all I could do was just reminiscing. It was 6:13PM when I entered the fully crowded Port of Calapan – my sixth ship port in just two days.

Port of Calapan. The Holy week had just finished and yet the transport terminals were still jam-packed with people - that was expected after us being stranded in Tablas. Why would we hope for a pleasant stay in the passenger terminal then? I could just imagine how difficult it would be to line up and wait so we just let the leaders of the backpacking group to negotiate with the port authority in whatever legal way they can to have us on board the fastest way.

At first I actually had no idea why they’d given us special treatment. With a very crowded ship port like that, I expected to get on board at around 2AM. But as early as 7:40PM, the authority let us sneak in few climbers at a time to avoid any hoo-ha with those who patiently waited at the terminal.

I saw in the faces of the port dispatchers how amused they were to know where we had been; and I guess they didn’t want to let us stay inside the passenger terminal any longer where our huge packs will just take more space; and for the *security of other passengers – you know how our big backpacks might bump on other people. All in all, I thought what happened then was just the authority’s “crowd control”.

Batangas Port. Travel by sea is always scarier than traveling on land for me but in the last crossing we did, between the ports of Calapan and Batangas, I didn’t mind about sinking. Perhaps after the many ports we’d been through, I think I got tired of over-thinking about possible tragedies at sea. The gentle sea breeze put us to sleep and we woke up at 11:12PM to get off the ship. We reached the port of Batangas – the seventh port in our two days of wanting to go back home. Finally, that was the end of our long port hopping experience. It was close to midnight yet I still had to ride a bus back to Quezon City. All I remember after the port hopping is how tired I was – I was asleep from Batangas to Quezon City.

Closing Thoughts

People might say holy week is the time when you think about your lives and your relationship with God, that this season is supposed to be about religion and stuff. But if you think about it and give consideration to people like us who spend all year round working in companies/corporations – holy week is a holiday that allows people to spend longer time with their families and friends and with whatever activity we choose to do during these times, it kind of defines who we are outside our regular office routines. In our case or maybe it’s just me, I did mountain climbing during the holy week and this is not as literal as I just climbed a mountain to bag another peak, rather it’s more of a spiritual development by listening to my inner thoughts, pursuing who I want to be and glorifying my God in my own way – it so happened that my way of glorifying God is to put myself in a place where I feel humbled by the vastness of His existence through nature. And think again – climbing a mountain that is respected for its difficulty is a painful endeavor that is actually more difficult than a simple fasting. At the end of it all, I can say it’s a one of a kind sacrifice and I thought it’s going to be one Holy week I’d never forget.

Retrospecting Survivor Philippines & My Random Thoughts about Survivor Caramoan: Fans vs. Favorites

2013-03-17T20:37:00.000-07:00

Just a brief background on what is Survivor all about (before I express my two cents on what happened to Brandon Hantz), Survivor is a brutal social and physical game that puts a certain number of people in a harsh but often stunning natural environment; exposes them to the threats of mother nature; they will have to survive in a literal sense by relying on the environment for food and water; there will be series of games called reward and immunity challenges that usually test their physical (strength, speed, endurance and balance) and cleverness at mind games - most games are in a form of a race and whoever loses an immunity challenge is vulnerable of leaving the game through a voting process called tribal council; this group of people (with a certain game plan) will cast their vote on who they want to leave the game of Survivor; one person gets voted out every episode until a final two or three people (from an original 16-20 hopeful) remains to fight over the title of Sole Survivor and the cash prize through a jury decision; what makes the game more interesting is the jury being formed by the last 7 or 9 people who were recently kicked out of the game. As Tom Westman, the winner of Survivor Palau said, the game of Survivor is a third physical, a third social and strategy and a third luck.

In this post I’ll be blabbering about Survivor in the Philippines and I’ll be sharing my thoughts on the two most recent seasons: Survivor Philippines and Survivor Caramoan Fans vs. Favorites. I’d like to remind those who are reading this that the following are just my opinion as a TV viewer. If you’re the type who feels like your opinions are always better then fine! I’m backing off.

The Proud Pinoys

While many Filipinos were proudly saying “it’s been shot in the Philippines, I’m proud to be Pinoy”, my reaction was different upon knowing that the 25^th season will be shot in the Philippines. I was never proud but I am glad that finally the Philippines will be featured on the American version of the reality show. Looking back when I first saw this TV show (third season-Africa), heaven knows I’d been always excited about the possibility of having a future season in the Philippines. Our country is in the same pacific region like those islands which are previously featured in past seasons so I knew there’s a chance that the Philippine setting will be considered.

(Insert opinion) For the proud Pinoys, kindly slow down a bit in spreading those “Proud to be Pinoy” shout outs and comments in networking sites. I know a lot of good news, recognitions and achievements that Philippines had in the recent years but to be proud every now and then just because the country Philippines is mentioned somewhere; or some half-pinoys joined a certain talent search here and there; or a movie like Bourne is filmed in Manila – I still could not understand why Filipinos would always say they’re proud. These expressions of Pinoy Pride everywhere is starting to peeve netizens of other nations. This ugly pride is verging on boastful talks about how much Pinoys feel greatly about things that aren’t big deals. Before you post something about pinoy pride, think first. Maybe you are just happy about hearing good and interesting news about the Philippines and maybe the word “proud” is used inappropriately (end opinion).

The Returning Players

The concept of returning players has always triggered the search for survivor spoilers online. To this date, I’m sure spoilers are just around. I used to search for survivor spoilers before but when I realized the excitement loss, I stopped doing it.

Well sometimes you can easily guess who the returning players are based on who gained popularity when they first played the game. When the new survivor location was revealed during the end of Survivor One World, my guesses for the returning players, (who were specifically identified as the ones who were pulled out of the game due to medical reasons), were all right. Obviously, Mike from Survivor Australia who had the most popular medical situation in Survivor is the easiest one to guess. Secondly, the fact that Jonathan Penner is not casted as one of the villains of the 20^th season, I thought probably another season was waiting for him and I was right. Lastly, I couldn’t think of another person who can match the age bracket of the first two so I came up with dark skinned Russel as my guess. All my guesses were right and it makes me feel like I knew a lot about this game.

The Winner of Survivor Philippines

I was rooting for either Denise or Malcolm. They were the ultimate underdogs; but they proved their worth in terms of camp life and physical challenges and so they made it to the final four. It’s obvious that if Denise sits with Mike and the former childstar (forgot her name) on the final tribal council, Denise will win. On the other hand, if Malcolm sits beside the two runner ups and Denise being on the jury, Malcolm might win too. Denise and Malcolm had the same struggle; and their efforts to make it to the final four are equally impressive. But of course in the end, Denise’s game plan prevailed that eventually led to her winning.

Survivor Caramoan | Yet Another Half-Survivor All Stars

As usual, whenever there’s a set of returning players I always make guesses. Knowing this current season is going to be another Fans vs. Favorites, I laid out all my guesses and I’m happy to know that at least six of my guesses are all correct. I knew Brenda, Philip, Cochran, Erik, Andrea and Malcolm are the most popular from their respective seasons and they have the biggest chances of going back. Sadly, my other guesses like Shambo and Brett from Survivor Samoa and Jane from Survivor Nicaragua did not make it. But there's a chance of another Heroes vs. villain. If Fans vs. Favorites had a second installment then why not have another Heroes vs. Villains.

Brandon Hantz goes Berserk

I have doubts about the truthfulness of Brandon’s outburst. I’m not sure if he’s naturally that way or he’s intentionally doing such things because he wanted a sure slot in a possible Hero vs. villains in the future. Indeed, the game can really bring out the worst in a person but what he did is too much. He was very immature in the way he handled his hopeless situation. From the words of a former castaway from the local version of Survivor in GMA7, Gigit Sulit described the show as “Survivor is one big mind-fuck! It was chess in a sense that you play several pieces strategically (the castaways) and think several moves in advance. It was also poker because you had to bluff and mislead the other castaways into your game plan. Altogether, it was a game designed to bring out the worst in you - the cheating, the lying, the deceit, the duplicity, etc. It was all about stepping on everyone else to get ahead - the quintessence of a Judas-game. I was impressed. What a truly fascinating game!”

All pictures taken from Yahoo Images

A Mt. Apo Nightmare

2013-03-10T18:58:00.001-07:00

They said dreams are somewhat projections of whatever is currently bugging you in real life. Usually it’s hard to recall the dreams we had; and experts say that we normally don’t even realize we are dreaming when we sleep; and we used to have a lot of subconscious psychic activities going on but we just don’t know about it. In a marvel-comic-book junkie’s point of view, this could be the alternate reality; or in the mind of an Inception fan, this could be the life you designed down there in the lower layers of your subconscious. Furthermore, there are rare instances that we can vividly remember the details of our dreams. I don’t know how or when it happens but certainly at some point we wake up from our dreams so perplexed by the unlikely mix of crazy vision.

I was asleep from 1 PM one Sunday afternoon, I woke up at 7 PM to have dinner (breakfast for a night shifter BPO slave) and went back to sleep. That’s when I had my dream afterwards. Here’s a short story about my dream, or should I say nightmare, about Mt. Apo.

I found myself on the same trail where I aborted my hike to summit of Apo. It was unlike my real life recent experience. The weather was so ideal it granted me the best view ever. I’ve never been to the summit of Mt. Apo that’s why even on my dream; the summit remained to be a mystery to me. My co-hiker’s altimeter showed we’re getting so much closer to the highest peak of the country. Shortly, we made it to the top where we found a bunch of people waiting at an outpost. I don’t know why there was an outpost up there but since it was my first time to be on the summit, perhaps it was there for a purpose that I’m yet to find out later.

Like any other major climb, summiting is the best part of all. We were gazing at the horizon of blue sky. The air was so cloudless that you can see the land of Mindanao from above. It was truly a dream climb (literally dreaming).We felt hungry, we walked around in search of good camping ground and then just like an illusion - we found Andok’s Fried Chicken at the other side of the outpost. That’s when we found out that we were actually at the back of an inn. There was a long line of people waiting for cable cars too! I was dumbfounded by the sight of all these things on top of Mt. Apo until my hunger reminded me that we’re supposed to have our lunch then. The chicken meal I chose was worth a hundred pesos that includes a slice of ripe Samal mango. I made my favorite toyo-chili-mansi condiment to my luscious meal to spice it up even more.

My subconscious transitioned to the next part – we were already inside the cable car and leaving the summit of the mountain. Below us were boulders. We get too excited by the scenery below, took as many pictures as possible and all of a sudden something went wrong. The safety mechanism of the cable car failed and we were then hanging on for dear life. I watched the last remaining screws and metal joints broke apart and then we fell…

At the same time, my dream collapsed from actual falling from bed. It was like Inception and falling from the cable car was the kick to get back on my level of awareness. It was 12:45 Monday morning. My body clock was probably waking me up; or maybe my mind is just looking for an outlet to express my annoyance and fear about the proposed stairway to Mt. Apo; perhaps I’m overwhelmed by the mixed, but mostly negative, reactions online about this stairway so I got my own taste of the possible horrific consequences through a nightmare.

It Isn’t Just About Biking

2013-03-04T17:27:00.000-08:00

My boredom was killing me and I know that it’s more than a month now since the last mega-hike we did in Mindanao. But I know too that I intentionally put myself on a climb hiatus because I need to focus on something more important – and that is to find a new job. I really want to align myself in either sales engineering or any management role. My mother keeps telling me that I’m too dark skinned already and with the looks that I have now, I can’t be trusted to take on any of those roles she said. How encouraging?!

So the plan now is deprive myself from any outdoor pursuits believing that would be the best action to do in regenerating my naturally good looks. (I can imagine my reader surprised and laughing at what I just said – this is my stupid belief). And of course, looks won’t be enough if I don’t study at home. As we all know, learning doesn’t stop from college graduation so I must review and pursue the so called continuous learning. I’m spending my weekends studying, sleeping or exercising and when my mind gets overloaded, I blog to relieve stress.

But I’m human and it should be normal that sometimes we cannot restrain ourselves with the things that we really like. I miss running and hiking under the heat of the sun, I just miss the nice blue sky and I miss the halo-halo in Mt. Batulao, I miss the fresh coconut juice in Mindoro and I was craving for mango and spicy shrimp paste lately.

I couldn’t handle this deprivation any longer so I got on my bike and pedaled as much as I want. It was cloudy day and I thought it was perfect time to avoid getting too burned by the sun. My weekend endeavor wasn’t just about biking but also about looking for the things I miss. I know somewhere there’s a mango-on-stick seller. He’s a mobile vendor on bicycle too and the challenge for me is to find him. Usually he can be found on the corners of elementary schools but it was weekend then so I didn’t expect to find him there. I biked around two barangays in search for this mangga’t alamang. It was really difficult to spot him. In this crazy stupid search for mannga’t alamang, I found a buko juice seller. I bought one cup to quench my dry throat and then moved on to find that mangga’t alamang. I’ve been living in Marikina for 27 years now and I realized I haven’t been to some of the streets here. I continued biking in the busy streets - I know that is where I can most likely spot him. I can already feel the sour taste at the side of my tongue that moment but instead, I found halo-halo for 25 pesos at one side of the street. Of course, I bought one and consumed it under the shade of a tree in one of the most quiet streets in Marikina.

My stupid quest didn’t end with halo-halo. Finally, I found the mango seller in a one of the back streets near the market and in front of a gated village. My appetite for that spicy shrimp paste on top of unripe mango can be easily settled by buying Barrio Fiesta bagoong in any grocery store and a kilo of mangga in a fruitstand but you know, sometimes the crazier way in getting the things you want is a lot more fun.

-not the actual mango-on-stick I had -

The Great Tropical Wilderness – Mt. Talomo Traverse to Mt. Apo

2013-01-28T20:05:00.000-08:00

“Guys.. Ayaw na nilang Umalis sa Trail, Si Sir Alex mag E-Camp na - Kevin”

The first day of our attempt to reach Mt. Apo thru the trails of Mt. Talomo was the hardest of all. It began with riding a small truck that brought us up in the mountain’s banana plantation. The uphill road was as rough as you can imagine and it reminded me of the 4x4 trucks that can drive up in the rocky road of Mt. Tapulao. I knew the tires can burst anytime due to the difficult terrain and I was right then. Being seated at the steel railing of the corner-most rear part of the truck, I saw the tire below me got flat. I thought the truck can tip over anytime and I couldn’t help but think of a Final-Destination-like scenario. It was painful to be sitting on that steel railing when the ride became more and more bumpy; anyway I sat there on purpose. In case the truck tipped over, I’ll be the first person who can jump out of it before it got me pinned. I guess the jump off to Mt. Talomo is as far as the trucks can go and you’ll begin the hike at a very high elevation already. Like the weather news forecasted, it’ll be partly cloudy with sun and some rain showers on our first two days. Knowing the weather won’t be easy on us on the next two days, I thought the first few minutes of our trek were the last time I could savor the warmth of the sunshine.

Later that day, we hiked deeper into the jungle of Mt. Talomo where as expected, the foot trails are mostly over and under fallen trees. I may seem exaggerating but to tell you honestly, the terrain of Mt. Talomo is indeed a tropical wilderness at its best condition. The trails are truly impenetrable. The mud started showing its resistance to us. Some wrong steps and you’ll submerge your feet into ankle-deep puddle of mud. The thorny plants were holding us back at times. Frequently, I am reminded of a newly sharpened Mongol pencil whenever we pass across a freshly uprooted tree because of the pencil-like smell that lingered in the atmosphere.

On the trail we trudged on, there is water pipe and this is where we had our first water refill. The water was so cold that it tempts you to stir some powdered tea. We were told about more sources of cold water if we moved on with our hike, so there we continued with hopes for a better thirst quencher. The hike continued not knowing that the sights of beautiful yellow, white and peach colored flowers are just luring us into an exhausting long trek across extremely disordered fallen tree trunks. To make the hike experience more difficult, most of the tree trunks barricading our paths are covered with moss. At times we had to cautiously balance like gymnasts on long trunks of trees - like that in the movie Avatar. At the middle of this remote jungle, I often found myself resting below the canopy of treetops while being fenced with mossy trees and branches; I sat on the cold watery moss - I felt like I want to sit there forever and just bask in the freshness of the forest. That’s how beautiful the wilderness of Talomo is.

The downside of a big hiking group is oftentimes, the hikers will get separated in far distance from one another during trekking. I can’t count the number of times I was alone in the trail of Talomo. Either the pacers were too fast or the sweepers were too slow. We had differences in pacing but what I’m sure of is that we hiked based on what is personally comfortable.

It was the first day of our long journey yet my trek pole had already given up on me. I slipped on some moss while my pole deeply punctured on the half solid ground. The next thing I know, I was pulling my bended pole out of the ground. I tried to straighten it out but I couldn’t perfectly bring it back. My pole and some medicine were my knee-support during this extreme traverse hike so I had no better choice but to carry the bended pole with me. I was able to utilize it on the next three days, though.

At the first stream of water is where we had our first lunch. Lunch while in the outdoor trails is what I preferably call one-of-a-kind “kain sa labas”. Still vivid in my memory when I was on top of a rock barefooted and eating my plastic-packed rice and pork chop with no spoon and fork. I was in a position where I can see all my co-hikers doing their own things. Some were taking photos. One was brushing his teeth, another one brought out his pen and notebook while the sweepers just arrived. It was the last water source before we reach Lumot campsite so I refilled my water container. Just when I was about to climb up where my backpack is, I slipped from few feet high. I thought the cascading waters over the slippery stones will flush me down further but I guess I still have a pocketful of luck. I immediately checked myself for possible wounds and cuts. Lucky me, only a bleeding elbow is what I got.

It was nearing 6PM in the afternoon when the mountain breeze began to get colder. Vapor came out of our mouths as we talked and waited for those who were lagging. We were still far from Lumot campsite and the better option is to push through with the hike. We regrouped and prayed for a safe night trek to Lumot campsite. What followed then was the most difficult night trek I’ve ever had.

It started drizzling and these got complemented by the naturally cold breeze in the mountaintops. We’d been hiking since morning and yet we haven’t reached the campsite so we were drop-dead tired and hungry. The night was already dark and cold – even the moonlight won’t help us in finding our way. I guessed the fog wanted to join the scene too when our visibility got blurred. There’s a relief from weariness every time we see the headlamps of the person next to us. If you think it was just night trekking with some rains and cold temperature, it wasn’t. At the same time, we had to negotiate with the seemingly impassable trail of disarrayed tree trunks. Most of us were saying the same thing about the surprisingly protruding piece of solid wood right in front of our faces on one particular part of the trail. Our toploads kept on bumping on overhead tree branches – those were instances that brought us down to our knees. I began to pity myself for God knows that was the first time I crawled on the trail just to get through it nevertheless, it was the epic challenge we looked for. Unfortunately, every twisting of body part I did resulted to the slow ripping of my rain poncho. I catnapped several times along the dark and wet trail hoping it would help regenerate some energy. Maybe it did but I stopped talking. That’s a hint of my exhaustion and a way of saving my depleting energy. I had no idea if we’re close to campsite or not. What ran into my mind is the fact that at campsite there is hot food, a tent to shelter us and definitely a more comfortable sleep – those thoughts motivated me to keep moving on.

The sight of a tarp and camp light was the biggest relief. I made it to the first campsite called Lumot camp. Half of the group was still behind me then. Shortly, they were calling for rescue. They didn’t want to climb further to campsite – probably they had no idea they were only 10 minutes away to comfort. Afterwards, they made it except for one who had fully decided to e-camp on the trail.

To sum up my first day: I endured a bumpy ride to jump-off; I slipped on the first water source and got a cut on my elbow; I had a bended trek pole; I overcame my most difficult night trek. It was just the beginning of our quest for great outdoors – and yet a lot of unanticipated things had happened – but at least it was as epic as I had imagined.

“Bakit ba kasi anlayu-layo ng Basinan campsite!? - Ivan”

The second leg of this traverse hike - started from Lumot Camp to Basinan Camp. At first I thought I was wrong with what I had read from Gideon’s story about the difficulty of this second leg. The initial hour was so much about indulging in the beautiful scenery of moss forest, Talomo summit and the sunrise with rays that hardly passes through the camp’s trees. The surrounding was like carpeted with soft greens. I felt like we’re out of this world. My thoughts kept telling me these are the sights I won’t ever see in the chaotic city of Metro Manila. After a quick breakfast and coffee at camp, we undid the pitched tents and proceeded to our wild and exciting on-foot trip.

We passed by the summit of Mt. Talomo to take nothing but pictures. There is water source at the summit campsite and it is a stagnant one with dried leaves floating on it. We couldn’t find any “clearing” of Mt. Apo from the summit of Mt. Talomo so we just went on with our trek. The trail is indeed beautiful and less disturbed.

We were at the ridge of the mountain somewhere between the lands that connect Apo and Talomo. If only there are no bushes on our left, it would’ve affected our spirits – we’re like traversing at the edges of a cliff. It was one hell of a crossing if we just imagine the absence of those bushes and grasses. The weather was at its finest despite Mindanao’s unfavorable climate. We went further to do some more ascents and some more descents before we got to the ladder segments of the trail.

The beautiful summit trail slowly shifted into a more and more difficult obstacle course. We climbed down some makeshift ladders; we went down a very steep slope where some of us had to slide down a leaning log like a fireman sliding down a pole or rock-climb to get through it; the brown leeches were meddling with our already difficult endeavor; the long logs that appeared like balance beams never left the scene; some landslides were evident as we passed through it; and the results left by the recent typhoon Pablo is truly unmistakable. However, we overcame all these difficulties.

Around 2PM when we regrouped and had our lunch; 3PM when we reached another part of the trail that required ropes – we spent a longer time negotiating this steep descent while other checked their feet for clinging leeches. It was time to clean some dirty shoes too and replace the consumed water. When time was checked, it was close to 4PM and we’re still far from Basinan campsite. Since my poncho was ripped apart, I thought about taking advantage of the rain-less situation. Also, I learned the advantages of maximizing daylight from past experiences so I resumed the trek with a pacing that allows “Take 30 (seconds to breathe)” instead of “Take 5 (minutes to rest)”.

We kept pushing on with our hike while there is still daylight– that’s when we realized the trail ahead of us is more unforgiving if we pass across it during the night. The paths are heavily barricaded with woods. We had more than two hours of “ascent-descent-cross-a-stream”then “ascent-descent-cross-a-stream” again – it was like a looping hell of experience. At around 6:30 or 7:00PM when it got really dark, we started doubting our location – the downhill slopes towards the streams are trails I had never imagined (I might think differently if there’s daylight).

Kevin was calling out our names. He was left alone in the dark. He was at the other side of the stream so we waited for him. While patiently waiting, I saw a humongous tree near us – I wished it was daytime then so I can fully witness its grandeur. Afterwards, we resumed trekking. Just when I thought it was already easier from the last stream we crossed, I stumbled over a tree trunk behind another tree trunk. Bloopers!

Finally! Someone approached us from the dark. He was our porter. We’re almost there in Basinan camp. As soon as we arrived at the campsite, I thought about pitching the tent, bringing out my wet sleeping bag to dry it out and eat dinner. I did all those and had a good night sleep. To sum up the second leg of this epic traverse hike: We summited Mt. Talomo; I took advantage of daylight; I developed my own “Take 30 (seconds to breathe)”.

“Since half-day trek lang today, okay lang ba maghintayan? Nakakapanic kasi maiwan sa trail – TL Jay”

I woke up to the hard pounding of raindrops over my tent. The water was starting to seep through the tent floor. I remembered the night before when our porter told us that the roaring of winds was an indication of good weather. I recalled the night sky was filled with stars but ironically upon waking up, our third day started with hard rains. What went wrong? I didn’t know. Accuweather stayed true to its forecast however.

Duct tape! I knew I brought one. I fixed my ripped poncho inside our tent using the duct tape I brought with me. Without the poncho, it would be really hard to endure the cold rainwater while running to/from the eating area. We had to undo the tents and pack our things under the rain too. There was no use in drying out my sleeping bag – it became heavier so I had to squeeze water out of it. We knew our third day will have the most relaxed trekking pace so we took our time fixing our things.

For some reason, I could not sense the excitement or maybe there’s no more thrill. After the first two days of perilous hiking experience, I guessed we’re all used to the challenge. We expected the same chaos of uprooted trees, same attacks of forest leeches, same old faces. Perhaps, we’re all fed up with the mosses that keep threatening us or perhaps we already learned how to slide down the trail in a graceful manner. No more slippery moss can scare us then.

I started seeing quicksand-like puddles. Am I near Venado, I asked myself. I totally had no idea if my internal monologues then are still based on sane logic. A part of me wanted to stay inside the forest – because I know it’s the prettiest forest I’d seen in my almost two years of unusual mountain addiction. But another part of me wanted to see the lake – because I know it kind of resembles an African atmosphere. Well then, itinerary prevailed.

13 minutes later, I heard the joyous hollers of those who were leading the group. I knew they made it to Lake Venado – the highest fresh body of water in the Philippines. Shortly, I had my first glimpse of the lake too. The lost excitement that I thought about earlier was then jumpstarted by the sight of this serene lake.

I mentioned many times ago that if I can’t bring myself to Africa, I’d like to at least go somewhere that has close resemblance to what I see in pictures of Africa. And so that’s it, Lake Venado is my short-time answer to my African-desires. I’ll just picture in my mind that somewhere at the other side of the lake are elephants, zebras and wildebeests that are freely roaming around the “meanders” of rainwater guttering down towards the lake.

We tried to stay quiet superstitiously hoping that would help clear out the thick fog that covers the grandness of Mt. Apo but sadly, the rooftop of the Philippines won’t show itself to us. Anyway, we still had our fourth day to utter more prayers for a clear view of Mt. Apo. To sum up my third day: it was a half-day hike from Basinan camp to Lake Venado; and my total count of leech bite was already 21.

“Nasaan si Joy? Kanina pa nawawala si Joy – All”

Our hopes for a better view of Mt. Apo crashed down as we woke up once again to the pounding of hard rain. Despite the rains and thick white air covering the grandfather of all summits, the group wanted to push through with, perhaps the same thing on mind that is – “hindi kami naglakad ng tatlong araw para hindi makapag summit”. I knew it was the moment of truth for all of us – either we summit or not. After a prayer, we pursued our attempt to reach the highest peak of the country.

Wearing only rain poncho, I was unaware that there are strong winds up in the summit of Mt. Apo. At Lake Venado level, there was no wind like that. I was tricked by the mountain. I thought I will be battling only the rains on my way up to summit but unluckily, the changes were abrupt. I was already at a high elevation right enough for the air to blur the lake below me when the rain became stronger and the winds started slamming my body. First, my poncho hood was ripped apart – I didn’t care, it’s just a hood. After another strong wind, the buttons of my poncho became unusable – I tried to hold it with my hands. I hid behind a rock but it wasn’t enough. My only protection from the rain was then completely destroyed afterwards. I was mad at myself for a moment. If only I had worn my extra windbreaker then I should not be this regretful. Now without any cover from rain, I thought aggressiveness will work by consistently ascending but I was wrong.

Lower right shows my ripped apart poncho; upper right shows the point where I decided to abort

My body was then exposed to cold rains and strong winds. My ego was telling me I can do it but my body was starting to numb. I sat down for a minute and made my final decision – I remembered that day is my youngest brother’s birthday and if I stubbornly push through and perish because of hypothermia, I’d make my brother celebrate his birthday yearly by remembering that it’s also my death day. Of course, I never wanted that besides, I already excused myself for not summiting due to several reasons: there’s no clearing; I already planned of coming back to Apo (upon knowing that we aren’t descending thru Boulders); I’m already satisfied with the view I found in Lake Venado –> psyching myself..

I was the first one back at camp. I ate the most delicious spicy sardine and noodle soup. I even chewed some chunks of chili from it. At the moment, I didn’t care how hot the chili is – whatever can make me feel hotter, I’d take it. I hid inside my tent, changed to drier clothes and napped while the courageous folks faced the Pulag-like temperature of Apo summit.

After the successful summiting of Mt. Apo in spite of the extreme weather, we regrouped, decamped and descended the mountain. Who would’ve thought someone will get separated from the group during our descent. Hours passed when we regrouped for lunch. Only then, we realized someone was missing from the group. It was another highlight of the day. Most* of us got worried but some were confident that she might had taken the other trail. She was all alone during the descent whistling for company but no one was responding. Fortunately, she was found at the end of her own trail before the whole group did most of the remaining river-crossing.

I’m not good at counting but definitely the river-crossing we did was numerous. There are shallow ones; some parts are waist-deep that we utilized ropes for safety; there are parts where he had to cross makeshift bridges too. Along the way, the sulfuric odor can be sensed. It was already dark when we reached a signage of Mt. Apo National park. We’re already at the roadside. It was the endpoint of our very long and tiring four days of trekking under the rains, over the woods, along the mud and moss, across the river and streams, down the slopes and within the limatik territory.

To sum up everything, it was EPIC

Mt. Cristobal Traverse Hike | A Déjà Vu, A Preclimb and A Sunset at Tayak Hill

2013-01-28T18:40:00.001-08:00

After traversing Mt. Cristobal reversely last year – where the entry point is in Rizal, Laguna and the exit point is Dolores, Quezon and doing the traverse hike again this year in an opposite way, I can now tell some comparison. I thought the traditional traverse route from Dolores to Rizal is more difficult because one has to carefully descend the steep and loose soil of Laguna-side of the mountain. There are several segments along the trail that could lead to a talked of “domino effect”. Unintentionally, it did happen to me. The soil was too loose that I could not help but slide freely and then I bowled into the next person in front of me. I was comparing this mountain to other nearby traverse trails like those in Mt. Arayat and Mt. Makiling. Only now I realize that Mt. Cristobal (Dolores-Rizal) is more difficult than Mt. Arayat (Magalang-Arayat) and Mt. Makiling (Sto.Tomas-Los Banos). I haven’t tried reversing the trails of the last two mountains I mentioned so please consider my thoughts as personal. Also, I don’t remember myself doing too much of swinging on tree branches to safely climb down Arayat and Makiling. I only did that in Mt. Cristobal.The day hike traverse in Mt. Cristobal can be done within daylight. We started the hike in Dolores, Quezon (there’s a tower on this side of the mountain) at roughly 8:10AM and reached Jeorge Estregan’s Tayak Nature Park welcome signage at 4:22PM at the other side (Tala, Rizal, Laguna).

View of Mt. Cristobal from Dolores Quezon

Deyzhaa ’voo at Devil’s Mountain

If I may share, I’d like to tell how I thought I had a déjà vu. Last year, Mt. Cristobal is the first hiking destination I had and again this year, it was my year-starter hike. Last time, we did the traverse on a Sunday, same with this year. I remember last time I was eager to join because I failed to wake up early for a plotted Saturday Maculot hike by Ms. Jovial Wanderer and Batang Lakwatsero. This year, again I woke up late for a plotted Saturday Parawagan solo hike-run and similarly, that made me more eager to climb Cristobal. Can we call that a déjà vu or I’m just thinking excessively? Anyway, traversing Mt. Cristobal is a planned training climb and a preclimb meeting as well. What made it more like a déjà vu to me is the same nasal wound I had then which I endured too during the first time I climbed up Mt. Cristobal. That’s so weird yet interesting. Good thing, I always have an anti-inflammatory medicine inside my small pill case.

Last year I’m with the awesome group of Ma’am Angela, who had their training climb for Apo, guided by the very agile Pat Aquino and his friends. Interestingly, this year, I’m part of a different group called Epic Climbers, (a group with “High Hopes”), which had their training climb for Mt. Apo too. Isn’t that awesome? Now, tell me that isn’t a déjà vu! I didn’t pick this mountain for a training climb.

The training climb was partly a preclimb meeting as well. Questions and answers that may have been overlooked in the Facebook Group page were raised and clarified. Learned tips are also shared among the attending members. After the climb, we were at the vicinity of the “paliguan” (two hollow-blocked restroom with pail and dipper) in Rizal, Laguna side of the mountain. We had more than an hour of waiting for the rented jeep so that gave us more time to talk about things like fit-to-climb medical certificates, side-trips, tent assignment, porter, transportation/transfer rides etc.

On how to get there by commute

We got on a bus heading to Lucena. There are buses along EDSA and Taft that goes to Lucena. We got off at San Pablo Medical - the fare is still 127 pesos from Taft. Our rented jeepney is waiting at the vicinity of San Pablo Medical, Jollibee, Chowking and 7Eleven. Upon seeing the driver and the rented jeep, I remembered he was the same person who brought us to Mt. Cristobal last year – cool! And I was seated at the same corner of the jeep – so it was really a Dejavu.

Contact Person: TBA

Jeep Rent: 2500 (contracted price for a traverse hike)

Guide: Angelo (500/day) for a group of 13.

Actual expenses (personal expenses)

Trail Description

At 8:43 AM, we were at what they call Montelibano. They said the registration should happen here. No one was there to administer the arrival of climbers. I thought that was the reason why we registered for 10 pesos right after we got off the contracted jeepney. We walked thru a non continuous cemented road to get here.

After a prayer, we proceeded to a Mt. Maculot-like trail that transitioned to a narrower and mossier surrounding. We reached the crater lake of Mt. Cristobal at 11:21 AM

The saddle part of the mountain is the best part so I insisted that we move forward and take our lunch there. I had 5 minutes of ascent to get there from the lake. It was 11:28 AM when we reached the saddle and after minutes or hour of lunch break, we went to the peak of the mountain.

At 12:31 PM, we were at the peak of the mountain. I’m lucky to chance upon this rare “clearing” in Mt. Cristobal. Up on this mountain, we saw Tayak Nature Park below, the nearby Mt. Kalisungan, and few of Laguna’s seven lakes

In just about 1:00PM, we decided to descend the mountain. From the words of a co-hiker, the trail is described as incredible. There are “bagings” that acted like ropes to help us rappel down the loose soil.

The trail becomes more challenging as we moved through fallen tree trunks.

I mentioned on my last blog post about Mt. Cristobal that the mountain trail is variously composed. After the several swinging on tree trunks, we reached the dense banana-trees-section of the forest at 3:12 PM. The rotting trunk of a banana tree is overly slippery so be extra cautious on this part of the forest.

There is one confusing part in the traverse route (Dolores-Rizal) of Mt. Cristobal – that is the “talahiban” part where numerous trails can be quite obscuring. Seen from the picture below is the confusing grassy part, the thickly forested grandness of the mountain, a patch of banana trees and few of us who got left behind and lost for few minutes. We were here at 3:36PM.

A view of Mt. Makiling is seen at the trail.

We continued the descent across an overgrowth of grasses and at times we were welcomed by a sight of brightly colored flowers along the trail. It was reminiscent of the sights I saw when I ascended Mt. Cristobal thru this path last year.

I knew we were close to the endpoint of the hike when I started seeing the straight rough road that will lead us to the “paliguan” (an area where pipe water is supplied). At 4:22PM, the welcome signage for Tayak Nature Park is seen.

Laguna Tayak Nature and Adventure Park

I was hesitant to climb up the small hill called Tayak – that’s what normally happens when I get tired, I become lazy. Imagine I was eager to traverse a mountain but when it comes to walking on few distances, I become that lazy. That’s the irony I noticed not just on me but also on other climbers (example, we won’t get off the bus at San Pablo Medical because we knew the rented jeep is waiting at Jollibee which is like 10-15 meters away – now how do you call that?)

And because everyone climbed up Tayak Hill, I was peer-pressured nevertheless I enjoyed the views seen at the top of the hill. The whole range of Mt. Malaraya including the very noteworthy and pointed Susong Dalaga (Maiden’s Breast) peak is beautifully laid out in a manner that its silhouette appeared like a huge barricade between provinces of Laguna and Batangas. There’s a huge white cross in Tayak hill that is more pleasantly-looking than the cross in Manabu Peak. Also, there’s a stationary bike on Tayak Hill where you can take pictures of yourself while quixotically pretending to be a biker.

Tayak Hill is more of a park, a viewing deck for tourist. For more adventure, hike the challenging trail of Mt. Cristobal.

***Notes

This is part of our training for the so-called Mt. Talomo-Apo Mega traverse climb.

This is my last climb to test the endurance of my right knee.

This is my second chance to attend a preclimb meeting with the rest of Apo climb participants.

Sporadic Biking of a Pathetic Mountain Climber

2013-01-10T19:08:00.000-08:00

I’ve been whining about my right knee failure for how many weeks now and yet I haven’t had any check up for it. Maybe because I’m afraid to hear the doctor’s advice or I just don’t want to accept the possibility of a temporary halt in climbing. I had to constantly check the condition of my knee so whenever possible, I did biking around the safe streets of Marikina. There are bike lanes around and I noticed the streets aren’t busy during midday unlike the rush hours of morning and afternoon. I did most of my biking during these hours which obviously is not advisable because of the sun’s noon time heat - it can drench you in sweat that easily. Anyway, the sweat is not what I cared about. I only wanted to prepare myself physically particularly the cardio-respiratory conditioning.

I’m not a hardcore biker. Maybe I’m a newbie just like the way we call those new in the field of mountain climbing. If you ask me the parts of a bicycle, I can answer the most basic parts like the wheels, the pedal, the chain, the brake and the seat. I don’t know how to judge a pricey brand from a lowly one. In short, I’m a pathetic noob. So if you ever come across me in the streets and see that I’m not wearing the “tight costume” and wearing a cap instead of a crash helmet, please excuse me.

So what’s the main reason why I’m biking? Actually, I just started recently because I need to prepare myself for something epic this month which is to climb two mountains in Mindanao. It’ll be my first mountain climbing activity in Mindanao and we are going to take on the more difficult route to Mt. Apo which is the traverse trail coming from another mountain – Mt. Talomo. Knowing this is not the typical newbie-level in mountain climbing, I am pressured to prepare myself physically and that is when the biking thing started.

In the streets of Marikina, I found a decent uphill road where I biked on it for like seven loops in a day. I counted the number of days I biked here – a pathetic six days of sporadic biking. I remember when I said I will try to bike daily in preparation for the actual climb, but then again, that is so ideal. I realized I can only bike when I still have the energy after a night shift work and when the bike is literally functioning. Recently some of its “bearings”, as they call it, malfunctioned and caused an annoying clicking sound every time I pedaled. With that, I stopped biking.

roads in Marikina have bike lanes such as this

I’m currently looking for help on how to fix this and as soon as possible, I’m going back to biking.

Metro Manila view from a distance

Briskwalking 9.65 Km. on Christmas Day

2012-12-25T18:12:00.003-08:00

Once again I’m the crazy person who’s done something weird on a Christmas day. I was at the office yesterday with no celebration of course, and did my daily job as a presales engineer. It was my first time to be away from home while mostly everyone was at the comfort of their homes waiting for Noche Buena. We were actually given the option to stay at home or render work on Christmas day but being the crazy one, I chose the latter. I wanted something different – that’s my only reason. And so there, I did the usual job: the production floor was unusually quiet; few people rendered work; some folks from our team spent one hour lunch break in a computer shop in Eastwood to play Counter strike (I didn’t join them of course because that’s not my interest). It was a boring day at the office for me so I just waited until my work shift ended. I was a little regretful because I thought Christmas day outside our home can be exciting. At least now I know it’s not.

Enough with the boredom! I redirected my attention into something better. It was Christmas day and I did not want to ruin my day. I thought I’ll just wait for the sunrise besides golden hour like that is something I always look forward to. After exactly six months of being part of a BPO company and being at the 19^thfloor of our building, I always knew I’m at the best vantage point to witness the sunrise every morning. The Christmas day sunrise was not the best but on a morning with clear sky, Mt. Banahaw, Cristobal and some of Sierra Madre mountains can be seen from the spot where I’m seated. It may not be the best sunrise I have seen since six months ago but yesterday I let the morning sun light engulfed myself. I sat in front of the window facing the whole panorama of high lands and low lands. It became a spiritual moment for me. The grandeur of the mountains at far distance is awesome that it reminded of me who I want to be. The whole scene kind of jumpstarted me and I’m guessing that could be the reason why I spontaneously wanted to test myself if I can walk the distance between our home and office.

Without proper attire, I briskly walked 9.65 kilometer from Eastwood to Marikina Heights. Using maps.google.com, I measured the distance between Eastwood and Rivebanks mall - it was 3.6 kilometer via FVR Road. From Riverbanks mall, there is a walkway beside the river that will lead you to Marikina-Bayan at a total of 2.55 kilometer. There are joggers, bikers, some who were having picnic, vegetable and flower gardeners, vagabonds and many kids in their common namamasko po get ups. From under the bridge in Bayan to General Ordonez in Marikina Heights via Sumulong Avenue and Katipunan street, the total is 3.5 kilometer. I could have done more than 10K walk if I didn’t ride tricycle to home.

Eastwood, Libis

From FVR Road

View of Eastwood Libis from Riverbanks walkway

I thought only carabao statues can be found beside the river, there's more!

Marikina River

Marikina Sports Center

***I planned to do this briskwalking idea as part of my training for the Talomo-Apo Mega traverse climb but never thought I'll do it on Christmas day

***December 29 after work, I briskwalked again from office in Eastwood, Libis to home to complete the 10Km distance.

The Challenging Terrain of Mt. Natib

2012-12-21T19:46:00.000-08:00

Gladly, we found another mountain trail that can be easily accessed from Metro Manila namely Mt. Natib wherein the peak is marked by a steel sign that indicates the elevation of 1253 meters above sea level. This is also the highest peak within Bataan Natural Park. The dense flora during assault can be compared to Mt. Arayat, Mt. Makiling and Mt. Cristobal, only it’s a shorter version. The forest leeches are aggressive; the wild berries are present; there are roping segments to test your rappel skills; there are steep and slippery rocky paths to climb but very brief; some landslide parts are very perceivable; the trail is very straightforward; the summit assault can be very misty even during a nice sunny day but can provide a good clearing during summer as told by our mountain guide. There is a trail that goes to a waterfall but one might ran out of daylight if the itinerary is for a day hike only.

On how to get there, the commute how-to is as easy as 1-2-3. First, we got on a bus bound to Orani Bataan after assembling at 3 to 4AM in Cubao. We reminded the passenger conductor to drop us at the highway where a smaller intersecting road goes up to Barangay Tala (on our right) and Orani Public Market (on our left). Fare is 177 pesos. Second, we contracted the tricycles on that side of the highway to bring us from/to jump-off which is the Lomi store. The fare is 200 pesos per tricycle (one way). We found the fare reasonable after we made the drivers waiting for us after our descent. Third, the tricycle drivers know the military outpost where one must register first before climbing the mountain. They guided us to get there on the military outpost. We didn't pay any registration fee here. Also, the military men were easy on us probably because some of us caressed the little puppies running around the outpost – that’s how we proved that we are harmless strangers.

Read further to see the actual timeline we had during our hike to Mt. Natib.

At 6:37 AM – We had our breakfast at the store which serves Batangas Lomi. This is where we get our mountain guide and tidy up after the climb.

At 7:33 AM – We were at the easy part of the trail, a viewing spot where a very faint Mt. Arayat can be seen.

At 7:51 AM – We reached the Pinagbutasan part of the trail. This is where we found the gate.

At 8:54 AM – We had a short 5 minutes rest at the trail.

At 09:25 AM – We were at the grassy part of the trail

At 09:48 AM – We were assaulting the dense uphill trail

At 10:36 AM – We reached the first rope segment

At 11:17 AM - We successfully summited the highest peak within Bataan Natural Park. We ate our lunch, had pictures. Waited for a possible clearing but we are never rewarded with any view

At 12:57 PM – We descended the mountain

At 1:23 PM – Back at the rope segment, continued the descent.

At 3:01 PM – Rested at a house that appears like a bunkhouse

At 3:48 PM – Back at the Pinagbutasan gate. Took some pictures

At 4:14 PM – We went to our secret viewpoint where we gazed at the blurry Metro Manila, looked back at the cloudy mountain and rested for 18 minutes

At 4:59 PM – We’re back at the jump off point. Had another Lomi dinner, tidy up and left the barangay via a contracted tricycle.

One Sunny Day in Mt. Arayat

2012-12-01T22:32:00.000-08:00

I had mentioned in my previous post that I only repeat climbs if there is anything different from the previous visit and so that’s the main reason why I went back to do a traverse climb in Mt. Arayat. During my previous climb in this mountain/volcano, the air over the mountain didn’t clear enough to satisfy my hopes. At last, on my second hike to this mountain, we are rewarded with a view of Central Luzon’s plain. What I saw from above the mountain explained the reason why Central Luzon is dubbed as the rice granary of the Philippines.

So what are the differences? We climbed up following a new trail that directly led us to the summit of North peak; skipping the traditional trail that passes by the fork that once led us to top of White Rock. Whatever the name of the new trail is, I didn't care. It is the ugliest trail I have seen. With all the trash, deforested mountain slope and the presence of steel posts, the experience didn't feel like we’re hiking in a forest. The sight was something not worth my time in taking pictures. It looked like they massacred the forest. Massacre! That’s the same word running in my head while climbing up that slope of the mountain (on Magalang side).

seen from North Peak of Mt. Arayat

seen from the ridge between North Peak and South Peak

seen from South Peak of Mt. Arayat

Another thing I did to make the second visit in Mt. Arayat different is to climb up the small peak called Pinnacle peak or Torre (name of peak learned from Lagataw.com) that can be found by following a short trail from the campsite of South Peak.

me at the top of Pinnacle peak of Mt. Arayat

This time around, the descent was very difficult for me because I had a bizarre pain inside my right knee. It felt like enduring a twisted ankle. I was dragging my right leg all throughout the descent. I knew the pain was not caused by biking from the previous day and not caused by hiking Pico De Loro from the previous week. What I knew is that the pain on my knee got intensified by hiking Arayat on that day and I can even hear clicking sound inside it while I’m typing this story.

On how to get there, first we rode a Victory Liner bus in Cubao and got off at Mabalacat bus terminal. From there, we are instructed to ride jeepney going to Marquee mall and then do transfer-rides but that was quite longer. Instead, we decided to hire a jeepney to take us to Magalang for 100 pesos per head. Follow road markers “Banal na Bundok” and from there comes the difficult part: that is to locate the pulis checkpoint for registration. The registration at the Magalang side of the mountain is hard to find because it is away from the road. One has to walk towards a short path from the road to find the pulis checkpoint. We didn't pay any fee at the registration.

At the Arayat side of the mountain, a forest ranger’s station marks the end of the hike. A long walk on the road follows from here then one has to find the “resort” where you can tidy up.

Tricycles are lined up outside the resort. For 70 pesos per motor, that took us to “bayan” where we can ride San Fernando bound jeepney. From SM San Fernando, we had to ride another jeepney that will take us to “intersection” where it is easier to catch buses heading back to Cubao/Manila.

Note to myself: This is part of my training for the coming Talomo-Apo Mega traverse climb in January. I hope my right knee won’t fail me. I need an immediate check up.

Pico De Loro and Marine Base Beach Resort

2012-11-24T02:07:00.002-08:00

Whenever I plan to climb a mountain, I always tell myself that the climb must be different from the previous. The first time I went to Pico De Loro, the hike was merely a day trip for a hopeful sightseer that’s me. I even brought a binocular hoping to see birds in the forest but none was seen. My second time in Pico De Loro was dimtrekking and then was my first time to climb up the rock monolith. On my third time to Pico De Loro, what made the difference is my attempt to quicken my hike to summit – trying to make my previous hike of 4 hours to a faster ascent of 2 hours and so we made it. Also, we had a sidetrip to a cove called Katungkulan Beach Resort inside a military school called Marine Base. I have never heard of this beach before in Cavite. All I knew then were Puerto Azul and Caylabne as the nearest possible side-trip. So there, I am thankful to be invited in this Pico De Loro – Marine Base weekend trip.

It all started with me being invited by my co-G2 climber, Marge, to join her gang in climbing Pico De Loro. They will be camping overnight up on the mountain of Mt. Palay-palay and she requested me to accompany Romeo, another co-G2 climber, in his ascent to Pico De Loro on the following day which is Sunday. Like I always tell my contacts, I am totally free to climb mountains on a Sunday day hike and so I expressed my interest knowing there’ll be a side trip after descent.

On how to get there, we assembled at McDonald’s below MRT EDSA station at 2AM of Sunday. We crossed the foot bridge to get to the other side of the road where Cavite-bound buses were loading passengers. The buses were not directly heading Naic or Ternate so we decided to just get off at SM Bacoor where we can wait for another passenger vehicle that can bring us to Naic. That time, there’s a jeepney waiting beside the road and so we got on it. After long minutes of jeep ride, we reached Naic. It was too early for me to recognize the place. Last time, I did commute to get there and I didn’t find the 7 Eleven store and the clock landmark and so I can tell the place was new to me. There was a bunch of tricycles at that place in Naic where a ride to the DENR outstation will cost us 120 pesos each so it was like 360 pesos per ride (one way) for the three of us. Later that day, we found out from a Caviteno climber that the fare was overpriced. Well then that’s a monkey business I should not be surprised of. Proud to be Pinoy right?

Arriving at the DENR outpost, we were welcomed by the sight of PicoTODA – a made up name for the long line of Tricycles waiting for commuting climbers at the vicinity of the DENR outpost. We logged our names, paid 20 pesos, browsed the almost-2-pages-back-to-back list of logged climbers that weekend, took a leak and then proceeded to the jump off. Afterwards, I was back at the same trail I dim-trekked more than a year ago, we were fast and reached the second base camp where we must pay another 20 pesos. I don’t know what the second 20 pesos fee is for. If it’s for the free use of the wooden tables, the public restroom and the supply of the potable drinking water, then I’m fine with the second registration fee. What is not fine is the emergence of the “7 Eleven” store at the summit of the mountain and the presence of dogs that disarray the well-kept trash of climbers. That weekend, as described by some folks from the climbing community, was a blockbuster. You’d see from the pictures I took the numerous tents and the countless people who went up the monolith to take photos.

at Pico De Loro, summit of Mt. Palay-palay

I believe this mountain is heavily trudged on. That should not be a surprise. Pico De Loro or Mt. Palay-palay is a budget-hike destination, it has relatively easy trail, very accessible either by private transportation or commute from the metro, there are no reported safety concerns like thievery, flashflood or landslide. Recently, a clean-up climb was held at this mountain and I’m glad because the difference is noticeable. During the first two hikes I did in Mt. Palay-palay, the trash were all around, from pieces of candy wrappers to PET bottles and even shoe sole can be found. I don’t want to be the know-it-all person to suggest what’s best for the mountain and the people who are earning from climbers who are frequenting this destination but what I can tell is my personal desire – and that is to close the mountain like how authorities closed Banahaw and Halcon. I was thinking maybe closing Mt. Palay-palay for several years will make Pico De Loro become a mystery for soon-to-be climbers and just like how the authorities want Banahaw to regenerate its nature, I like that to happen in Palay-palay too. I hope that isn’t a bad idea.

After the climb, we went further into the winding road amidst the forest of Cavite. That’s when I got to realize how thickly forested the landscape of Cavite is. I even spotted a monkey on the left side of the road that’s not even bothered by the passing vehicles. Then we reached the so-called Marine Base – a military school fenced by a thick forest and a beach cove. I was told the beach is open to the public; just tell the strict-looking security personnel that you are heading to the beach. There is an entrance fee, I’m sure; but because I’m lucky to be climbing with some of the alumni, I guess, we were able to enter for free. There is a store inside there; I think alcoholic drinks are allowed because I saw some bottles there; there are cottages and tables; there is karaoke; and what is more interesting for me is the view of Corregidor island and the blurry image of the Mariveles mountain range where I saw the rounded peak of Pantingan.

Blurry Pantingan Peak seen from the beach cove

View from the beach cove at Katungkulan Beach Resort, Marine Base

Notes to myself:

I consider this day hike as part of my training for the Mega-Traverse Talomo to Apo

Coron | Seascapes, Lakes, Landforms and other Things One Shouldn’t Miss

2012-11-11T02:09:00.000-08:00

Praise God for creating such a beautiful place. I couldn’t help but silently wow every time the surrounding large limestone walls loomed over the tiny boat that sailed us around the islands. I’ve been surrounded by stalactites, ash cliffs, grasslands, boulders, lakes, mountains and mossy forests before but to be in a place with so much limestone that make the seascape really wonderful, it was a totally new experience! Whenever I heard about Coron before, I always thought of the town itself with of course an island somewhere that has beaches and aquamarine water. That’s all I knew about it. I even doubt my own knowledge because whenever I came across some netizen’s posted album in the internet, they always post titles like Coron Adventure, Coron Island Hopping or Coron Palawan Day 1 and so on. I googled map for a number of times and found out that Coron is a small town within an island called Busuanga. Then I asked myself how some netizens can do Coron Island Hopping when Coron is just a town and not an island. I thought something is unclear with the information I’m getting but that was otherwise until we did our own escapade to Coron.

I was in Coron town last February and only then I had clear understanding of what is in Coron. I found an artsy painting that depicts the islands located nearby Coron and it shows that we were in a group of islands and Coron is just the popular entryway to all the fun activities and places waiting for us. The picture below was like an aggressive FYI to those who always disregard Philippine topography. It shows that we were in Calamianes Group of Islands. The four biggest islands are Busuanga Island, Coron Island, Culion Island and Calauit Island. There are smaller islands that are too many to mention also.

Looking at the livelier map, you’d see how much emphasis they did to name the biggest islands. The topmost island is Calauit and it is known for safekeeping some African animals like Giraffe and etc. Culion Island is known for its historical significance. Coron Island is the most beautiful and regarded as the point of interest for tourists because of the enchanting beauty it has. For some reason, Busuanga island is the one that excited me more because by looking at the map and during our transport from plane terminal to Coron town, I saw how much activities can be done here like motorbiking, cycling, possibly hiking because there is Mt. Tundalara. I’m unsure about ATV and river paddling here but I heard and read somewhere about it. Anyway there’s a long shore here to explore if touring around the island is widely known safe. The unusual thing I noticed is that Coron town is not within Coron Island. The picture shows some marine animals like sharks, green turtles and rays. You may think it’s an exaggeration of what can be seen underwater but it’s true that this place is rich in animals like these. If you are a keen observer, you might chance upon a green turtle underwater. I saw one while my companions were asleep during the long sea travel we had to Calumbuyan island 3 hours away from Coron.

Must-See

1. Sailing around is satisfying enough for a non swimmer like me. All the limestone formation looming over us are sights to behold. Everywhere you look, the islands are made of limestone walls as if decorated by patches of greens and despite the blue sky did not cooperate the aquamarine seawater is evident all throughout the experience.

Kalachuchi Beach

2. Kayangan Lake – one among many (probably several) lakes and lagoons of Coron island is said to be the cleanest body of freshwater in the country. Whoever made that statement, I’m not sure but what I’m certain about is the great enchantment Kayangan lake left on me.

At Kayangan Lake

3. Barracuda Lake – I was in awe when I saw how blue the water of this lake is. I climbed up the sharp toothed rocks of the island to capture the blue water from above. Seeing the bubbles of air coming from the divers below the water surface made the sight look like a huge pool of blue colored soda.

Stairs to Barracuda Lake

at Barracuda Lake, Coron Island, Calamian

4. Scare yourself by looking at how deep the waters of Twin Lagoons are. We were told not to bring our goggles because if we dropped it, even the most skilled swimmer may not be able to get it back.

at one of the Twin Lagoons, Coron Island

5. There are shipwrecks and coral gardens to sightsee underwater but I don’t have the skills to witness those. All I did was to peek at whatever is under there.

at one of Twin Lagoons in Coron Island

Try These!

If you plan to go to the same places I’ve been to in this part of Palawan, I suggest try the following. Well nothing really grand about these. In a place so pretty and relaxing that it may pamper you to sleep, experiencing the following is just enough to brighten one’s day, keep you going and looking for more.

1. Find this monkey in Banol Beach. It is a wild one in captivity. It will attack you when it get stressed otherwise, it knows when it’s being pictured and it will pose for you. I remember when I went really close to it and readied my camera, it stopped moving and just lied down looking at the lens.

2. It’s not difficult to find and catch a crab in the beaches of Coron. A Korean lady found this white crab in CYC beach and took pictures of it. I borrowed the crab from her, showed it to friends, took a snapshot of it and then I put it back to the water.

3. On your way to Kayangan Lake, there is a path that goes to a small cave where you can take a group picture inside. Also, just outside the mouth of this cave is a viewing deck where one can sit on top of a rock overlooking a beautiful seascape of limestone islands. These are some of the recognizable spots near Kayangan Lake.

4. Pig out on the freshest seafood. Coron is where I appreciated fish dipped in mayonnaise the most and had as much shrimp and squid as I want. Knowing you’re having a sumptuous meal like these in a tropical paradise, I could not ask for more.

5. Go on top of Tapyas Viewdeck. It will provide you, if not the best, a good vantage point of the islands of Calamian/Calamianes. Lucky you if you chance on a golden sunrise and sunset. At the top is a white cross that gets illuminated during night time.

View from Tapyas View Deck

6. Buy pasalubong and whatnots in Coron Public Market. Dried seafoods are the common pasalubong but if you go around the town, you’ll find some stores selling souvenir items, shirts, sugar/honey-coated cashew and nuts. In Francisco B. Reyes Airport, there are stores selling items like caps, shirts, mugs and rucksack with the common prints on it – I-Heart-Coron.

7. Celebrity Hunting! This is a big joke. You go to a faraway town to experience everything that can’t be perceived in the city but sometimes the most annoying things will follow you – Mr. Wowowee himself showed up in the airport.

What I Desire To Do in the Future

I plan to do trekking to Mt. Tundalara and reach the lighthouse/tower on its summit. I am hoping that it has better vantage point compared to what can be seen from Tapyas view deck.

I would like to try the waterfalls tour and do some mountain biking around and outside the town. The Kuweba Arts and Crafts pictured below offers these kinds of land adventures. Henna tattoo is offered too, why not try this.

If I want to explore more of Busuanga Island then a motorcycle ride can help me on doing that. I found a motorcycle for rent in Coron town. Angel Motorcycle rental in Coron Palawan has contact numbers: 09213593129 and 09296414398

The Calauit Wildlife Safari is another place I want to visit. If I can’t bring myself to Africa, then a place like Calauit probably has the vibe closest to how it feels to be in Africa.

I want to camp also. There are more beaches and islands to visit. If I could find the right people who are interested in camping in places like these, it will be another great outdoor experience for me. Shown below are Black Island, Ditaytayan Island, Malaroyroy Island, Malcapuya Island, South Cay, Simpakan Beach, Tambelen Beach and Magtatangaw Beach.

** Some photos sottocopied from MJ Diez, Leny Mendoza and Reuel Estioko meaning I didn’t ask for their permission. If they get to read this, I want to thank them for allowing me to have these photos in my blog.

Mt. Tapulao – Central Luzon’s Highest Peak

2012-10-22T16:57:00.000-07:00

Mt. Tapulao is regarded as the highest peak of the Zambales mountain range. Also, it is regarded as the highest peak of Central Luzon. Write ups stated this mountain is referred to as the Little Pulag or Poor Man’s Pulag because of the resemblance of the scenic trails that can be seen in climbing Mt. Pulag. Many climbers described that this mountain has a resemblance to Mt. Ugo as well. The elevation of Mt. Tapulao is more or less the same with Mt. Guiting Guiting in Sibuyan Island, Romblon which is considered to be one of the most challenging mountains to climb in the Philippines. The hiking trail of Mt. Tapulao is recorded to be 18 kilometers from the Eco-center of Sitio Dampay, Barangay Salaza in Palauig Zambales. There are kilometer markers throughout the trail which can be good indicators of how far you are if you’re climbing the mountain for the first time. The water stations are, of course, mountain spring water found at kilometers 5, 10 and 16. The first 10 kilometers of trail is a painful ascent through a trail of rocks with some parts muddy and slippery – that is where the trek poles become useful in maintaining your balance. Roughly 30 minutes after the second water source (10km), is where one can have the first glimpse of pine trees. What you can see from this point are sights to behold – a beautiful garden of yellow flowers, a park of pine trees, overlooking the splendor of forest below. Aside from that, there are piles of rocks hinting the once active mining activities and the bunker houses at kilometer 16 which used to shelter the mountaineers who will spend the night at the mountain.

Climbing Mt. Tapulao can either be an overnight 2 days climb or can be hiked in a day. The former requires climbers to be in their full packs, they usually spend the night at the bunker houses or they pitch tents around the vicinity of km 16. Better campsites are those near the water sources, at km 10 and km 16. There are also small flat grounds in far distances from one another inside the mossy forest of Mt. Tapulao near the summit suitable for couples who want to camp in isolation and spend quality time with each other. A day hike in this mountain is very possible too but should remind the hikers to keep up with the suggested itinerary which is to start very early in the morning before dawn and should be at the summit at noon time. Descent should be a fast-paced 5 hours before day light goes out. There are comments on a popular hiking website that mentioned about the traverse trail from Zambales to Tarlac but it appears none is well established yet. As of this year, a group called Team Rapids traversed Mt. Tapulao from side of Tarlac going to Zambales. Also, someone mentioned an exploratory traverse trail that follows a river where several waterfalls (more than seven) can be seen. There is no need to inform the eco-center in advance about your intention to climb but it is much better if you call the eco center officials because they can help you if you’re traveling by public transportation. (These are the numbers posted in the Eco-center: Eliza Badak – 09097247413 & Alfonzo Dalit – 09075694584). They can arrange a trike to wait for you at junction/crossing. A mountain guide is not required if you’re climbing with someone who has been on the mountain before. For a group composed of all first-timers, they are required to get a mountain guide/porter that will cost you 700 pesos.

The Bunkhouses in Mt. Tapulao

My day hike experience in this mountain is along with three other people. Two failed to summit this mountain the first time around and one is a first timer. I failed to summit this mountain too during my first time here due to many reasons I find heart-breaking to detail.

Our completed day hike was actually a risk because we knew the southwest monsoon was exactly hitting the Zambales region that time. We were right with what we expected. It was raining hard when we reached Dampay Salaza junction. We had to wait until the rain weakened. Even before the trek started my feet are soaked in wets socks already and I had no clue that this wetness will pain me so much after the next 24 hours. The mountain was too cloudy during our time here and we can’t help but compare it to a movie scene in Sleepy Hollow. The lightning-stricken trees are awesome as it appeared like an object from a horror film.

Silhouette in Mt. Tapulao

With all these cloudiness covering the mountain, coupled with beautiful flowers everywhere, it was like entering an enchanted place. The hike experience looked more enchanting as we found the entrance to the mossy forest to be a fallen tree covered with green mosses and surrounded with purple flowers. The mossy forest has well maintained trail with pink ribbons tied up on branches to guide you. While inside it, I had imagined it will lead us to some place more beautiful. Unfortunately, there was no clearing at the top of the mountain nevertheless; it is the feeling of being able to summit the mountain that overflowed among us. At the bunkhouses, we were rewarded with clearing at least for a short period of time.

Behind us is a fallen log that is also the entrance to the summit of Mt. Tapulao

Entrance to the mossy forest beyond km 16.

Inside the mossy forest of Mt. Tapulao, near the summit.

6 Reasons why we had a tremendously slow descent

First, Darkness. It is typical to slow down your hiking when in a rugged terrain. Even if it’s colder during a night trek and that temperature doesn’t drain your energy, it is still highly advisable to observe safety by cautiously watching your steps. Knowing that your headlight has a limited reach, you can’t just carelessly rush your pacing.

Second, the quality of the trail – rocks. It was hard to climb up and climb down because you know how a wrong step on a rock can cause you to sprain your ankle. Most climbers agree on one thing about their hike in Mt. Tapulao – that is the required patience in overcoming this long stretch of rocky obstacle.

Mt. Tapulao's rocky road

Third factor that slowed us down are the intermittent rains. No wonder because as per weather news from PAGASA prior to our climb, the tail of the southwest monsoon was exactly hitting the Zambales area. Throughout the hike, we had to alternately wear and undo our rain ponchos. The rains also made some parts of the trail slippery.

Fourth, I had to endure a pain I never had before in my life. That is the pain of a swollen sole from being soaked in wet socks for more than 24 hours. Just imagine the feet of a drowned dead body, that’s how my feet looked like the minute I removed my shoes. I can’t make my feet in contact with anything at first. It was very painful. The degree of swelling made my feet looked like a brain. It had deep cracks on it. That time I still have like 2 or 3 kilometers of trail to finish and obviously I could not speed up my pace. I was sitting on the trail when a villager passed me by. He noticed I was in pain. He looked around and picked a handful of leaves from a nearby bush and squeezed it to apply the green juice to my aching soles. What he applied on my feet are the grasses used by “kulots” as pain reliever. I can endure blisters but swollen soles are different. This should be a learning experience.

Fifth, our co-hiker forgot to cut her toenails. With that, the steep descent tortured her toes and slowed her down tremendously. It took us four hours of descent to reach the 10 km marker and we still have a long long way down to dimtrek the unforgiving rocky trail. It is very advisable to ensure you get back to jumpoff before dark because once it gets dark in the trail, the pacing is expected to get slower.

Sixth, there are elements up in the mountains that are capable of confusing you. The thick fog can blur the visibility for example. The darkness can trick your eyes and makes you think you’re getting lost. From a co-hiker’s perspective, there was something super than what naturally went on. Whatever was real, the sure thing I know is there is one straightforward trail during ascent and descent. Ghostly apparitions – these are some of the things we are warned about sa bus terminal pa lang but we were courageous enough. There are four sides of the story to explain why we had an 18 hour descent from this mountain and the only story I can tell is based on my perspective.

Timeline

Below is the actual timeline that no one should ever follow. This explains the unbelievable 28 hours of overly extended day hiking/dimtrekking we did. I know how embarrassing to have an 18hour descent from Mt. Tapulao, nevertheless I have plans of going back and I will ensure next time to descend before day light goes out. On the other hand, for a successful day hike, check out the day hike itinerary done by Christine and JayZ shared at JovialWanderer.com. A variation of that is shared by Dane and Agnes thru TrampingPhilippines.com.

Day 0

0900-0900 Boarded bus in Victory Liner Caloocan Terminal

0925-0925 Departure from Caloocan Terminal

Day 1

0130-0130 Arrival in Iba, Terminal

0217-0313 Arrival in Sitio Dampay junction, trike to registration

0313-0417 Arrival in Registration/Jump off, had breakfast/prepare

0417-0417 Start Trek

0417-0657 Trek to first water source, 5km marker

0657-0851 Trek to Second water source, 10 km marker

0851-1201 Trek to Bunker

1201-1240 Lunch/Photo ops

1241-1353 Trek to summit

1353-1408 Nothing to sightsee at summit

1408-1800 Trek back to 10km, second water source

1800-2400 Dimtrekking

Day 2

2400-0825 Dimtrekking+ecamp/nap+other stories

0825-0930 Back at Registration/bath

0930-1019 Trike to Iba

1019-1114 Lunch

1114-1128 Trike to Victory Liner Terminal

1128-~~~~ Travel back home

My advice for a Tapulao day hike

Shared itineraries shows the descent from the mountain can be done in more or less 5 hours. Ensure everyone can get by the suggested duration of descent. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait for one another. Keep in mind, when day light goes out, it’ll be more difficult to speed up the pace.

There are three water sources, @5km, @10km and at the bunker houses. You can then estimate the amount of water to bring considering the availability of the water sources and the season (summer/rainy). 2 liters for a day hike is enough during rainy months.

Pack lightly. You may leave the unnecessary stuff in the eco-center at the jump off point.

Pack enough trail food. Hunger can exacerbate the exhaustion from long treks. Have something to eat. (hoping that can extend the patience)\

Remember this mountain is more than merely testing one’s physical endurance; it will test one’s patience, determination and courage too.

When faced by something confusing or if you feel like you’re being tricked by something unseen (sorry but I have to consider this too based on experience), collect your thoughts as a group, make a decision based on what is logical, then move forward. When you see a fork in the trail, call the attention of the group, there should be no fork there. Tapulao has straightforward trails only.

If it’s raining, do not allow your feet to get wet all the time. Find time to dry it (dry your feet while resting at the bunkhouse for example).

Dampay-Salaza happened to be the same jump off point for Bagsit River for those who like riverside camping. If you happen to trek on the trail going to Bagsit river and ask a local for the direction going to Mt. Tapulao, they will tell you to go further and eventually you will get lost. Believe me. For the locals, it appeared both trails will lead to the same mountain. That is yet for most of us to find out. Probably a traverse trail is yet to be discovered there. A commenter in Pinoymountaineer.com “Frances” mentioned they followed a river sometime in year 2008.

How to get there

Ride a Victory Liner bus that will pass by Dampay Salaza - Iba, Zambales bound. The passenger conductor knows the drop off as Dampay Salaza. Not every conductor knows Mt. Tapulao and when I asked about ZAMECO, the conductor didn’t know. Tell the passenger conductor “Dampay Salaza”.

If you call the Eco-center numbers in advance, a prearranged trike should be waiting for you at the Dampay Salaza junction’s waiting shed. This trike will take you to the Eco-center, the registration area. If you didn’t call the Eco-center in advance and there is no trike in the waiting shed, you must walk the 8 kilometer rough road to Eco-center, anyhow that would be a walkathon warm up.

Water Stations

5km Water Station

At 5 km water station

10th kilometer water station

At 16th km. water station

Trail Description

rocky road of Mt. Tapulao

slippery muddy paths

steep ascent from the bunkhouses to the entrance of the mossy forest

mossy forest going to the summit

Landslide along the trail of Mt. Tapulao

Mt. Tapulao Trail Map

8.31km from Dampay junction to Eco-Center. 18 Km from Eco Center to Peak

Cheap Camera Accessories for Solo Traveling

2012-10-09T16:46:00.001-07:00

I often hear from my co-backpackers that the reason why they don’t like to bring camera is because they don’t want to be the person to take pictures all the time. Worse reason is there’ll be times when they don’t even have their own self in their own camera. At some point, no matter how high-tech your camera is you sometimes end up unsatisfied with the pictures of you taken by your friend because it got blurred or the settings didn’t happen as intended. Carrying a huge tripod is a hassle particularly if you are a fan of ultra light backpacking. And the most challenging of all is to have your solo picture when there is no one else around to help you but yourself on a solo trip. I found few solutions to these minor problems in traveling. One is an affordable monopod – that’s how they call it, that extends to a meter, I guess. Also, I’ve been using a very cheap mini-tripod that should be available at any lowly camera store. Well these things are not really meant to solve the challenges of taking picture when traveling in well-flocked destinations because you know how many random people in these places who you can ask favor to take your group picture or solo picture. I bought these things to help me with taking pictures of myself particularly when hiking. That may sound really selfish but let me explain further and show you why I find these things really helpful and fair enough for myself. You can’t be capturing the fun moments and taking photos of your friends all the time, we all deserve to be in the same picture too sometimes.

When we hiked the Delta 5 Trail going to Mt. Pinatubo, I was among the sweepers of the climb and we were separated in far but visible distances from each other. I found an interesting formation of rockslide and I thought it was a good spot to take a picture but no one is near to help me capture the scenery. My monopod came to the rescue. So there, I am now showing you the result.

When I was in Palawan and got bored in an island called Calumbuyan , I was able to take picture of myself without asking help from anyone besides everyone was either sleeping or doing their own thing.

I did a solo two-peaks day hike in Batangas and the challenge was to take a photo of myself - whole body with the lowlands seen as my background. The mini tripod I had with me helped me a lot.

When we hiked Mt. Tapulao, we were the only group left. The bunker caretaker was away too so no one else will take our group picture then. Good thing I brought the very packable mini tripod so no one among our group had to be the picture-taker.

At Manabu peak in Mt. Malarayat, I don’t need to bug any of the folks behind me just to capture the moment and have myself in the picture as well.

The mini tripod costs around 150 pesos. You can find these in a lot of camera shops and photo services store inside malls. Pardon the picture. It shows an overused, scratch-filled and rusting tripod

This one is the monopod that costs around 800 pesos if I remember it correctly. It extends to a meter I think. Price varies depending on its length. I found and bought this one in Bombproof in Robinsons mall. (I don’t know the names of many Robinsons Malls, nevertheless I am pertaining to the Robinsons mall nearest Meralco in Ortigas.

Cam Buddy is the brand name.

Recently, when I was window shopping for trek pole, I found a pole where you can attach a digital camera on its top end. Its price is more or less 2000 pesos. I’m not sure how that can top the Kovea pole that I already have when it comes down to durability but I’d still like to have that hybrid of pole and monopod in the future. I wish someone will buy me that pole soon. I forgot the brand. However I know I can find that one in Robinson’s Pioneer – Conquer Outdoor Shop.

*first photo taken by Arnel Palor during our MakTrav last week of January 2012

Mt. Malarayat Mountain Range – Traverse Day Hike from Mt. Manabu to Mt. Malipunyo

2012-09-24T22:34:00.000-07:00

Malarayat is a range of mountains located around the municipalities of Sto Tomas and Talisay Batangas and a trail goes to San Pablo Laguna as well that makes this mountain range technically in between two provinces. It is composed of several peaks, only few are known to hikers like Manabu Peak, Susong Dalaga (Maiden’s Breast) and Malepunyo peak. Local guides can name some other peaks but information like these must be identified by more reliable sources before we can fully disseminate such information. The traverse hike can be done in many ways like choosing your own entry and exit point. The itinerary can be varied depending on the number of peaks desired, also, if a side trip is pursued. The traverse hike may start by hiking to Manabu Peak via Grotto trail then descend the mountain towards the direction of Susong Dalaga, a maiden’s breast shaped mountain. As soon as you reach the open grassland, it hints that you are nearing the Biak-na-Bundok which is said to be carved up during the term of Ferdinand Marcos – this requires more research. From here, hike downwards to a water source where you may have your lunch break. More hours are ahead of you when you proceed to hike to the summit of the mountain range – Mt. Malepunyo/Malipunyo peak. There are numerous forking trails. Our local mountain guide told us that one trail goes to San Pablo, Laguna which may take seven hours if you desire San Pablo as exit point. There are two water sources but not as clean as those in Papaya River in Mt. Mariveles and Mt. Tapulao. Starting from 0630 to 1730, we were able to summit two peaks: Manabu and Malepunyo. If three peaks are desired, the itinerary has to change to give time for Susong Dalaga peak which is out-of-way when traversing from Manabu to Malepunyo. Definitely, a longer itinerary or lessening of rest time should be done to fit an itinerary such as that.

Hike to Manabu Peak via Grotto trail

at Manabu peak

at traverse trail from Manabu peak to Biak-na-bundok

grassland is a hint that you are approaching Biak-na-bundok

at Biak na bundok is the best viewing deck, several mountains can be seen from here: Mt. Maculot, Manabu peak, the peak of Mt. Makiling, Mt. Cristobal and Banahaw, Mt. Kalisungan, Mt. Tagapo and Sembrano. Thanks to Ivan Cultura for pinpointing each mountain.

Up close with a Susong Dalaga; Mt. Maculot at the back

14 Traverse Day Hikers from top left clockwise: Jay, Donita, Bogart, Dawn, Matet, Vincent, Ron, Kelvin, Raymond, Mar Shi, Hazel, Ivan, Joy, Roy

Group picture at the summit of Mt. Malipunyo

View of Mt. Kalisungan seen from Mt. Malipunyo summit

Timeline

Below is the approximated timeline. Like I always tell people, I lose track of time and money when I'm tired.

0330-0430 Assembly at Jam Bus Terminal

0430-0533 Bus Travel

0533-0557 idle times

0557-0614 Tricycle ride to jump off

0614-0634 Register

0634-0634 Start trek

0634-0727 Trek to Station 8 (ascent to Manabu via Grotto)

0727-0827 Arrival at Manabu Peak

0827-0844 Sightseeing

0844-0844 Proceed to Biak-na-bundok

0844-1035 Trek time to Biak-na-bundok

1035-1049 Sightseeing / Photo Ops

1049-1114 Trek to water source

1114-1156 Lunch at water source

1156-1224 Trek to Guide’s Tree & House (Not tree house)

1224-1240 idle times

1240-1447 Trek to Malepunyo summit

1447-1531 Rest at summit of Malepunyo

1531-1730 approximated descent time

1730-1939 approximated bath time

1939-2030 approximated jeep travel to Lipa

2030-2100 approximated Mang Inasal dinner time

2100-2340 approximated Bus ride to Cubao

2340-2400 Cubao to Home

Expenses

Approximated breakdown of expenses. This is open for correction.

124 Bus to Sto Tomas

20 Trike to Jumpoff

100 Guide service per participant (1200 actual Guide service)

15 Ligo fee

43 Jeep to Lipa (per participant)

124 Mang Inasal

135 Bus to Cubao

25 Reg fee

691 Personal Expense (Taxi, packed sandwich etc.)

Beacheneering Mt. Daguldol & Laiya

2012-09-14T21:21:00.000-07:00

Climbing Mt. Daguldol generally starts with a beach-walk along the coast of LaiyaBeach in San Juan Batangas. Online write ups suggest that one has to register in Barangay Hall of Hugom just few walks away from the resort of La Luz but I suggest one must go directly to Sitio Biga where a woman administers the registration of climbers and local mountain guides can be hired for 350 pesos. From the foot of the mountain, one can reach the summit in two hours and can descend from there in one hour (depends on your pacing). You may opt to side-trip to Naambon Falls by following a branching trail that goes downwards few minutes away from the jump off point or just go directly to the beautiful beach of Laiya where one can explore the rocky shore of La Luz Beach resort or enjoy the sand by beach-walking in front of several resorts like Palm Beach resort, Blue Coral, Virgin Beach resort etc. The seashore is a long stretch of very light brown sands and it may take you three hours or more to walk the whole stretch of Laiya beach. Sightseeing is not as grand as one might expect but the experience of hiking around a seascape as beautiful as this is much different compared to other hiking destinations in Batangas.

Here’s how I did my solo hike to summit of Mt. Daguldol. It all started with a beach getaway planned by my officemates. At first, I wasn’t interested about it because swimming and snorkeling are not my favorite activities in the outdoors until I found out thru browsing the internet that at the end part of Laiya is a barangay named Hugom which is also documented to be the jump off point in climbing the low elevated mountain. Considered as a minor climb destination, I thought I could just run up and down this mountain while my officemates do their snorkeling. So there, our hired van brought us to Laiya and we stayed at a cheap resort named Moonlight Beach resort. At around 8000 pesos, the three air-conditioned rooms accommodated more or less 17 people. It included cottage where groups can do their drinking and karaoke session, a fridge, kitchen and grill. We checked-in in the afternoon and checked out before 1 PM on the following day. Given this time restraints, I knew I had to rush my so-called solo beacheneering.

Mt. Daguldol seen from Laiya

First day, I did my solo beach walk going to the direction of La Luz beach resort. There are crowded and music-filled parts of the beach like in front of Blue Coral and La Luz while some parts are peaceful and quiet particularly those in front of the private properties and expensive resorts. At the back of the beaches are the towering land forms of Mt. Daguldol. Believe it or not, walking on the beach is harder than climbing the mountain. Every footstep on the sand digs deep and that makes it difficult to move faster. Every step I did was like trudging on ankle-deep mud.

Laiya, San Juan Batangas

I spent like two hours walking along this beach. At the rocks of the La Luz beach resort I had a short talk with a soya drink seller who informed me that no one except customers is allowed to walk in front of the expensive resorts. I wonder why – I was just walking and not swimming. The sunset was missing and I believe that is because we’re on the east side of Batangas. Good thing the blue sky showed up despite being cloudy. The sky always has something to do with the way I feel about outdoors. A good weather on an outdoor weekend always puts a big smile in my heart.

Laiya, San Juan Batangas

On the following day, I woke up like 5AM and had a quick breakfast. Knowing that no one wanted to join me in this quick hike, I knew every thing will happen the way I planned it – which is to hike as quickly as possible. I went to the street and waited for a tricycle. For 30 pesos, I took the ride to Barangay Hugom. The barangay hall was still closed and I couldn’t wait any longer so I decided to go ahead on my own. I passed by inside La Luz resort; walked on the coastal trail going to Palm Beachand Naambon resort; asked the campers on the beach where to get a local mountain guide but the one I asked didn’t know. She told me they had to abort their hike due to rain the night before. I went inside the sitio; I didn't fine anyone to ask so I chanced upon a foot path that seems like a mountain trail. I went through it and I went upward and upward until I thought I found a landslide that blocked the trail. I didn’t want to abort the hike so I pursued climbing the landslide and found out that it isn’t a landslide.

There’s an ongoing destruction on top of the landslide I thought! Thank God! I finally found a local whom I asked about Mt. Daguldol. He directed me to a house where I can register my name and get a guide. It was already 7:20 AM when I actually started trekking Mt. Daguldol. I asked my guide to set the pace and make it as fast as possible because I need to get back before 10AM.

Jump off point in climbing Mt. Daguldol

At first, I didn’t find anything that grabbed my attention except the many bottles of mineral water and alcoholic beverages in the resting stations. My paranoia tells me some climbers will ask why I didn’t pick the trashes instead of talking and blogging about it. I’d say I didn’t collect the trashes simply because why would I suffer my own time and itinerary just because some irresponsible people are leaving their trashes on the mountain. I plead to the self-righteous readers to understand that I climbed up Mt. Daguldolbecause I’m not a beach bum and please don’t expect me to do a solo clean up climb.

Halfway on the trail, Michael, my mountain guide (pronounced as May-kol) borrowed my pole. We encountered an aggressive small snake that was about to attack. Luckily, I was doing solo-but-guided hike. He saw the small black snake exactly on the foot trail. He killed it using my trekking pole before I knew it. I asked him why. He told me there are unaggressive snakes which you can just shoo away but when a snake is about to attack on you, you must kill it then. That’s the sad part about climbing. Sometimes your aim to successfully reach the summit of a mountain may lead to killing a wild animal. This is just an example of the impact a climber can cause to a mountain. Think about it, I was climbing solo and my guide had to kill a snake. What more if you’re climbing together with a massive number of participants? How much impact can that cause? I plead to you not to just think about it but please do something about it. I hope by blogging I can tell people that the mountaineering community is not happy about high impact climbing and they do not condone it even if you make it look like a good-deed climb like tree planting and clean up climbs. Massive climbing will indeed leave an equally massive impact.

They said karma is a bitch and that just happened right after a snake got killed. I had three cramps on my left leg and one cramp on my right. It was painful. Not everybody believes in karma but I do. Once a negative deed is thrown out into the universe, it will return at you in the same negative way. Despite the pain I had in my legs, I continued my desire to reach the summit and I successfully did after two hours.

The Quixotic Hiker at the campsite of Mt. Daguldol

First, I saw the swine-spine campsite. It was like a grazing land. After more walking in the summit, I was rewarded with a more beautiful view – a sea of mountains. I was told to go up further to witness the view of the sea from above and then I did. The campsites are really huge and I remember how my guide described to me how crowded it became the week before (due to long weekend). I was running up and down. I sit at one rock and had myself pictured. My inner monologues were telling me – Laiya & Daguldol that were once part of my ambitious adventures can now be stated the other way around – these are now part of my adventurous ambitions that were brought to an end.

I descended the mountain without stopping (I only had a minute of rest after I got my fourth and final leg cramp) and reached the jump off point in roughly one hour.

When I asked my guide about the fastest way I can go back to our resort, he said ride a boat and without hesitation I said yes please give me a boat ride. While consuming my halo-halo refreshment, he was already looking for a boatman. After 10 minutes of eating halo-halo, I went to the beach to wash my muddied leg and shoes with seawater. Then, I got in the boat and then headed back to Moonlight Beach Resort. Another not-so-solo adventure has been completed. Shown below is a picture of La Luz Beach taken while sailing back to our resort.

La Luz Beach Resort

My Timeline – Sept 2

Since we headed to Laiya via rented van, I cannot tell the instructions on how to go to Mt. Daguldolvia public transportation. I’d rather redirect you to a co-blogger who hiked here in Mt. Daguldol and had his first climb. Please find his post in www.ivanlakwatsero.com

Below is my own hike timeline (Sept 1 – not included)

0500 – 0530 – Woke up, had breakfast at Moonlight Beach resort

0530 – 0600 – Trike to Brgy. Hugom, sadly waited for no one.

0600 – 0645 – Trek to Palm Beachresort, Sitio Biga

0645 – 0720 – Lost

0720 – 0920 – Register at Sitio Biga, trek to summit

0920 – 0920 – Reach summit of Mt. Daguldol, quick sightseeing

0920 – 1025 – Descent

1025 – 1035 – Halo-halo break

1035 – 1050 – Boat ride to Moonlight Beach resort

1050 – 1130 – Tidy up

1130 – 1200 – Lunch

1200 - 1200 – Checked out

1200 - 1400 – Proceed to San PabloLaguna

1400 –1420 – Visited a church

1420 – 1520 – Ross & Grace Restaurant

Expenses

30 – Tricycle ride to Barangay Hugom from Moonlight Beach Resort

35 – Registration fee at Sitio Biga

350 – Mountain Guide fee

40 – Two fresh buko for me and my guide

30 – Two halo-halo for me and my guide

300 – Boat ride from Sitio Biga to Moonlight Beach resort

Little crab found in the beach of Laiya

A Do-It-Yourself Trail Snack

2012-09-11T18:27:00.001-07:00

Here’s another variation of my do-it-yourself trail food. Last time I made a mix of carbohydrates, mallows, peanuts and raisins. This time, I made it more look delightful. It is as simple as mixing cashew nuts (120 grams), raisins (80 grams), Goya chocolate candies (30+ pesos) and Skittles.

This trail food I made is supposed to aid my anticipated hunger in climbing the highest peak of Central Luzon but unexpected events happened that led me to just keep it and consume this probably on my next solo hike or maybe on my upcoming Malarayat two-peaks day hike.

Just to add, in the absence of rice when having an extended day hike, I believe a pack of sandwich is enough to replace the usual rice meal we have on a typical lunch. On a day hike, it is suggested to pack as light as possible and the option to bring portable stove and other heavy cooking stuff are crossed out. What we normally do on a hike like this is look for the nearest store that sells rice. But then again in an extended day hike, most of the time stores are still closed or there's none in faraway “sitios” during the wee hours of the morning. I suggest pack a sandwich at home and fill it with something that will make your tummy feel heavy and satisfied.

The truth is I don’t know how to cook but I’m good at preparing food that can be done in as simple as frying, boiling and mixing. That explains why I’d rather prepare a sandwich for myself than cook. Picture below is a tuna sandwich I made for myself when I did river trekking more than a year ago. Mixing canned tuna flakes with mayonnaise and spread it to a thick slice of wheat bread, believe me those are enough to replace a lunch meal. I had sandwiches like these in my past hike and I didn’t get hungry like a monster and it can make your packing really easy. Just imagine how a sandwich gets squeezed inside your small pack – don’t worry about it. It will be digested the same way anyway. A ham and cheese sandwich is another food I enjoy while having breaks on a long hike.

..and once again Leave-No-Trace. A reusable zip lock can help you not worry about the can, the sachet and the plastic that most self righteous mountaineers complain about. Use something that can be reused. Otherwise, pick up your own trash and dispose it properly.

--DeeQuixotic

Traversing the Dormant Volcano - Mt. Arayat

2012-08-19T03:16:00.000-07:00

A prominent landform situated at the plains of Central Luzon is Mt. Arayat– a dormant volcano measured to be around 1030+ masl according to Pinoymountaineer.com. Another reliable source of information is Lagataw.com where the altitude is recorded as 3385 fasl. Other than these measures, important reminder that one has to know about this mountain is the requirement to register at the low-lying barangays about one’s intent in climbing. It should be an SOP by the way. The authorities below the mountain will radio your presence to the military men who are guarding a tower stationed at the summit of the volcano. Questionable information about this hiking destination is the presence of NPA (New People’s Army), an activist nation of the Communist Party of the Philippines feared to be a terrorist organization that is believed to be formed to overthrow the government. Even the locals I know who reside around the foot of the mountain attest to the presence of this NPA. Another thing that makes the whole volcano hiking interesting is the local legend about Sinukuan, a supernatural being considered to be the guarding force of the mountain/volcano.

During the hike we did last Aug 5 (a day before the unusually extreme monsoon that flooded Luzon), I was able to compare the Magalang side of the mountain to Mt. Cristobal Traverse and the Arayat side is very reminiscent of Mt. Makiling’s Laguna side. Despite we were hiking the traverse trail of Arayat with someone who’s been there already, we still got lost at the ridge (between Sinukuan Peak and South Peak) where the ribbon guides slowly began to be out of sight. Like a climax of a story, at this part of the ridge is when we scrambled to find the ribbon trail guides, did backtracking while a heavy downpour made the whole scene more exciting. Tip: when looking for ribbon guides in the rocky part of the traverse trail, don’t always look at eye-level. Look up because the next ribbon guide might be above your head.

Rodel and Vivian in Mt. Arayat

I wanted to hike this volcano since last year purely because of what I call my hiking addiction. I had mentioned about how the legend of Sinukuan allured me then and I even thought about visiting my aunt’s home at Pampanga too - but I forgot to ask her exact home address. True enough, planning is not my forte. I keep losing a lot of my planned errands and not able to do it at all – but sometimes I get to redirect myself to doing some thing I myself don’t even expect. Prior to the climb, the weather forecast was quite nerve-inducing. The weatherman broadcasted the extended rainshowers until Sunday and with that I knew it’ll be a hell of a climb if we pursue the traverse hike. But all were set so I just had to go with the flow anyways I was 1/3 of the original people who planned this day hiking. I could not back out again after backing out from the rappelling I set in the previous weekend.

the Quixotic at traverse trail in Mt. Arayat

Here’s the story, we were early to reach San Fernando Pampanga. The bus didn’t ply the route passing in front of SM so we had ourselves picked up by our rented jeepney at Paskuhan village, drove to a place called “intersection” where we bought our packed fastfood meal. After minutes of land travel, we then reached Magalang, Pampanga where we must register our names before trekking. The PNP checkpoint, which is hardly visible from the side of the street, is said to be the registration area but mysteriously no one was around in the said checkpoint. What we did next is look for tanod or kagawad who must get our names and radio us to the man caretaking the tower at the summit. After all that, we then started our trek.

Arnel Palor in Mt. Arayat Magalang trail

the White Rock in Mt. Arayat forest park

There was nothing splendid at the beginning. The ambiance was reminiscent of my past hikes. I said to my co-hikers, the hike was like Cristobal traverse. The only things remarkable are the huge trees with roots creeping over at the scattered boulders. There are markers on your way up so it should be easy in terms of direction. If you’re not guided then it’s possible to miss a trail going to a viewing deck called the White Rock. During this climb, I didn’t care about sightseeing. I was not interested because the usual pretty clouds and energizing blue sky were missing so I just brought out my green apples and started munching.

sceneries found inside Mt. Arayat

After like 30 minutes of hanging out above the White Rock, we continued our ascent to summit. What happened next was a mosquito nightmare. I pulled up my long socks to cover my open skin but it was useless. The mosquito stinger or proboscis (I don’t know the correct word) can get through the cotton socks and dri-fits and I got bitten for countless times. I was wearing black and from what I had observed in hiking Manalmon a year ago, I’ve seen mosquitoes are attracted to color black. I looked at myself and found my whole body covered in black dri-fits, black shoes, socks and arm cover and half-black bag so I was like “what the heck” with a very worried face. There were like ten mosquitoes on my right leg, ten on my left, a huge number of mosquitoes circling my whole body and some were already feeding on my shoulders and arms. Wearing dri-fits was an epic failure because the mosquito stingers can get through it. I thought if I run fast I can get rid of these blood suckers but turned out I just gave them a free ride to wherever I go. I was crazily slapping all parts of my body but the mosquitoes with striped legs seemed immortal. They don’t die quick. One slap then you’ll see them fall on the ground but seconds later you’ll see it moving again as if a zombie that wakes up to feed on you again. I ran as fast as I could until I reached the tower at the summit. When I reached the open area under the sun, I removed my black shirt, arm cover and folded my socks and exposed myself under the heat of the sun. (Insert commercial) I put some anti-mosquito lotion called Off-lotion and that eased my tremendous “I hate mosquito” feelings. Four days have passed and I’m still scratching the bites I got. I was advised to apply Caladryl lotion for the insect bite. I never thought about it because I used to believe I’m like carabao-skinned (balat kalabaw) with immunity to anything. Now, these are all part of my first aid kit. These are bulky and if I want to pack lightly, I should bring them in sachet or buy the smallest bottle of it.

View from summit of Mt. Arayat - Photo by Arnel Palor

Moving on with our Arayat story, there was no clearing so then again I never minded sightseeing. We had lunch at the summit and shortly just before we went ahead to traverse route, rain fell down. I kept telling myself that it’s okay. The muddier we looked, the more extreme it appears besides the experience is what I looked for and not the views. When the descent from Sinukuan peak was described steep, it was indeed steep. We had to climb down like a monkey by holding on to all the branches and roots. The only confusing part in here is when we reached the rocky part of the ridge trail where I called it the climax of our story earlier. Another exciting part is when we ascended to south peak (the Arayat side peak). At this part of the trail is where I agreed that ArayaTrav is more difficult than Mt. Makiling Traverse (MakTrav). We had to scramble on four limbs to get to the top of South peak and upon reaching the South peak it was again reminiscent of the welcoming view I had from reverse-traversing the Devil’s mountain – just grasses. (This is where I now truly understand that climbing difficulty is the reason why you can’t find pictures of Arayat and other traverse trail in Google. Think about it, when your four limbs are in action, how can you take pictures?) After few meters of walk, we reached the campsite of South peak. There is a trail that goes further into another viewing deck. I didn’t expect clearing from rain clouds so I thought I’d rather have my trail food break instead of peeking at what they call the Pinnacle peak.

Romeo on the traverse trail of Mt. Arayat

The descent to Arayat side is comparable to many South Luzon Mountainsand I couldn’t find anything remarkable. We set the pace at a speedy manner to reach the ranger station before dusk and we did just in time. There was no one in the ranger station until a shirtless greedy looking man that seemed to appear from nowhere approached us. Knowing that we were at the money-hungry side of the mountain, the longer we talked with the local villager might lead to talks about fee and all that or it’s just my paranoia (but paranoia works sometimes). We couldn’t wait for the others lagging on the trail so I thought it’s better if few of us start tidying up at the “resort”. We then walked on a seemingly ghost town part of the barangay towards the populated resort that doesn’t really look like a resort. A kid guided us to the resort but she told us there is no water there. Tip: Don’t be confused because when they said there’s no water in the resort, they mean there is no pool water in the resort. Be clear and tell them that you are looking for just pipe water to clean yourselves up.

After the whole Arayat traverse dayhike, the monsoon rain kept falling. I found out in the news that San Fernandowas flooded in a way that has never happened before. I saw my aunt’s home flooded too (thru Facebook pictures).

View from Mt. Arayat ridge

Timeline

A reliable itinerary, breakdown of expenses and things to remember are well documented on Lagataw authored by Adonis Lloren. Below is our own timeline. Pardon for not being exact at some things here – I usually lose track of time whenever I feel exhausted by long treks or distracted by anything annoying – in this trek, the mosquitoes are the most distracting life form that bugged me for most part of the day.

Aug 5 2012

0200-0300 Assembly at Victory Liner Cubao

0300-0600 Approximated time from Cubao-San Fernando-Magalang

0600-0630 Register at Magalang

0630 Approximated Start of Trek

0630-0900 Trekking to White Rock

0900-0930 Time spent at White Rock

0930-1045 Resume trekking to Sinukuan Peak

1045-1145 Approximated time at Sinukuan Peak

1330-1350 Ridge’s unnamed viewing deck (tell me if I’m wrong)

1350-1450 Resume trekking to South Peak

1450-1510 Approximated time spent at South Peak

1510 Start of descent to San Juan, Baño

1800 Around this time when we reached the ranger station

1800-2100 Tidy up at the “resort”, travel to Poblacion then to SM

2100 Approximated time of arrival in SM San Fernando

2100-2340 Dinner at Chowking, long wait, and bus ride to Cubao

2340-2400 Cubao-Home

2400-0030 Hot Lomi at home

Breakdown of Total Damage

Bus fare to San Fernando Pampanga from Cubao- Php 107.00

Prearranged Jeep Rent/person (San Fernandoto Magalang – Php 100.00

Registration Fee – Php 0.00

Guide Fee – Php 0.00

Use of piped mountain water at “resort in Baño – Php 10.00

Tricycle ride to Poblacion – Php 20.00

Jeep to SM San Fernando – Php 25.00

Jeep to intersection – Php 8.00 (maybe 10)

Bus to Cubao – Php 102.00

Total Expense = Php 362.00

Total Personal Expenses – Php 1308.00

* Including packed lunch, trail food, water, taxi fare, dinner

Snail found in Mt. Arayat

A Postponed Ultralight Day Hiking

2012-08-19T02:37:00.003-07:00

One week ago, I was frequently glancing at the looming form of Mt. Makilingfrom SM Calamba’s parking lot. If only I was hiking Mt. Makilingthat day, I’d definitely say that it’s a weather-perfect hike day. The clouds were cotton like – might not be ideal for a clearing that every sightseer desires but the fine combination of sun and sky is truly perfect for a rainy and monsoon-filled month of August. On that particular week too, some parts of Laguna are still flooded due to the monsoon exacerbated by the slow-moving typhoon Gener, nevertheless I’m talking about the mountain and the nice weather and I want to stop whining about floods and all the misfortune it brought to the country.

Karrimor for Ultralight backpacking

Knowing that Ivan of Ivanlakwatsero.com is planning to guide a group of hikers on the same month and same mountain, I was anticipating and I readied myself by packing my bag the lightest possible way. I expressed my interest in joining but suddenly became hesitant when I found out the hikers are comprised of more than ten people. The reason why I packed my bag the ultralightweight way is to break the speed I had in my previous Makiling Traverse. You know how hiking in more numbers can slow down a group so I thought about the sense of me doing ultralight backpacking if I can’t hike as fast as I want. (Insert opinion from here) I know many self-righteous climbers will say it doesn’t matter how fast you are or how heavy your packs are, what matters is how concerned you are for environmental impact. I smirk to that especially when they claim to be against mass climbing yet I see them tagged in photos of 80+ climbers. These people are the most laughable self righteous people I know and I can’t help but relate them similarly to the holy-dog-saint-horse song by Yano. (end opinion from here) Instead of joining the Makiling traverse, I thought about continuing my plotted two mountains day hike in Mt. Malipunyo and Mt. Maculot. I know the next two days are Philippine holidays so these mountains will probably be swamped with outdoor junkies. I was really looking forward to meeting fellow hikers on the trails.

Now moving on with my postponement story this morning, my small bag was packed and I was ready to do the two mountains day hike I planned long ago. I was standing there outside our door and I hated to wake my parents up to say goodbye (like a song). They kept telling me the night before that there is an LPA again. Being the stubborn son, I insisted to leave our house and went for a hike. I was already tricycle distance away from home when I realized my purse is missing. I silently said no way! I went back to home (luckily, I still have coins for a trike fare back to home), found my purse and then the drizzles went on. Then I thought about how I can continue when I don’t have a rain poncho or even umbrella and I don’t want to bring one because my plan is to hike with as few items as possible. I know I can hike with rainwater all over my body when I’m inside a forest but I can’t imagine myself soaking wet while I’m still in the city. So then again, I became hesitant to continue besides my very superstitious mother was already awake and she was feeding my mind about extrasensory signs about when and when not to continue a trip. She was telling me that the reason why I left my money at home is because it’s a sign that something really bad is going to happen in the mountain so I should stay home and postpone this trip. Look at me now, just blogging.

~DQXTC

Maria and the Four Stupid Conquerors

Bolinao Sidetrip| Caving, Beach, Lighthouse and Rock Formations

Mt. Tapulao | Hiking in Palauig Zambales

Buntot Palos or Hidden Falls | Waterfall Hiking in Panguil Laguna

Hike-Jog to General Nakar's Tinipak Rock

Calatagan | Burot Beach Camping

CALL OR TEXT KUYA JOHNNY - 0999-474-9147

*TRICYCLE FARE AS OF JANUARY 6, 2014*

Holy Week’s Port Hopping Experience

Retrospecting Survivor Philippines & My Random Thoughts about Survivor Caramoan: Fans vs. Favorites

A Mt. Apo Nightmare

It Isn’t Just About Biking

The Great Tropical Wilderness – Mt. Talomo Traverse to Mt. Apo

Mt. Cristobal Traverse Hike | A Déjà Vu, A Preclimb and A Sunset at Tayak Hill

Sporadic Biking of a Pathetic Mountain Climber

Briskwalking 9.65 Km. on Christmas Day

The Challenging Terrain of Mt. Natib

One Sunny Day in Mt. Arayat

Pico De Loro and Marine Base Beach Resort

Coron | Seascapes, Lakes, Landforms and other Things One Shouldn’t Miss

Mt. Tapulao – Central Luzon’s Highest Peak

Cheap Camera Accessories for Solo Traveling

Mt. Malarayat Mountain Range – Traverse Day Hike from Mt. Manabu to Mt. Malipunyo

Beacheneering Mt. Daguldol & Laiya

A Do-It-Yourself Trail Snack

Traversing the Dormant Volcano - Mt. Arayat

A Postponed Ultralight Day Hiking

TRICYCLE FARE AS OF JANUARY 6, 2014