Jul 19, 2017
Try new things everyday #62. Hike
seen from United States
seen from Lithuania
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
Try new things everyday #62. Hike
Warrior of Mt. Maculot
My favorite kind of palette Cuenca, Batangas Mount Maculot
Cuenca, Batangas The amazing view from the Rockies of Mount Maculot.
Feb Ender: Mt. Maculot Traverse 2/2
By around 12 NN, we reached the summit. We stayed for a while to enjoy the pleasure of resting and eating a few snacks. After all that preparation, we started to descend.
Descending was thought to be much easier but we were tired and our knees started to get weak so, we had a rough time. Good thing, Kuya Pepe carried my backpack. Of course, I was hesitant to ask him a favor but I would get injured if I kept carrying that heavy backpack of mine. Besides, Kuya Pepe quite insisted and told me that it was way lighter than the ones he already brought (his own, not from other hikers).
A little story about Kuya Pepe.
His real name is Christopher and he is a newbie when it comes to guiding hikers. He have climbed a lot of mountains already including Mt. Pulag, I think. He told us that he could hike Mt. Maculot for 30 minutes up to the summit and descend for 15-30 minutes. I don't know what kind of bones he had but it's impressive. I believed him because he's fit and his shoes were made for hiking. He said he took basic photography classes aside from training in Philippine Red Cross. He told us what and what not to eat in the mountain, the importance of helping one another and other sorts. We forgot to ask why the mountain was named "Maculot", though.
Complete cast!
The edible wild strawberry
As we descended, there were paths that required rappelling. This was taken at the first path which was less steep.
I learned rappelling from my P.E. class back in college. So, I found this activity fun and thrilling! After several years, I finally got to use what I learned from school! Yay!
While Sam and Elai were rappelling down, I waited at the top and asked Kuya Pepe to take a photo of me. Hehe.
Then, he took a photo of me while really doing the thing. Lol.
Feb Ender: Mt. Maculot Traverse 1/2
February 28, 2015
It started with a friend's invite.
One of my closest friends, Elai, invited me to go on a day hike with her and her friend, Sam. Thinking that it'd be my first day hike, I didn't hesitate to join.The date was already set before they invited me and Sam made the itinerary days before the hike.So, everything was set. All I had to do was follow everything.I spent the night before the hike at Elai's house, thinking that it'd be easier for me to travel with them than to meet them at the jump-off. That sleepover was almost considered as a side-trip. I didn’t foresee that Elai’s house was farther than I expected. Take note: I traveled during the evening 'til midnight. It was thrilling and fun, though.
I woke up with tired eyes and sleepyhead the next morning. Our itinerary stated that we should be on our way by 3 AM. At exactly that time, we just woke up! Basically, we're behind our schedule.From Cavite City, where Elai lives, we rode a bus going to Buendia. From there, we were supposed to ride a bus going to Lemery, Batangas but unfortunately, the first bus already took off a few minutes before we arrived.The bus staff offered us an alternative route, instructed that we could take the bus (that was going to leave anytime soon) going to Lipa via Tambo Exit, and we could ride the Jeepney going to Lemery.We didn't have any choice so we immediately hopped in.
From Tambo Exit, we took a jeepney going to Lemery and alighted at Cuenca where our jump-off was. We left Cavite City at 4 AM and arrived at the jump-off around 8 AM. We started hiking at 8 AM. Before going to the jump-off, you have to register and leave one ID from your group. Sam was the one who left her ID. Then, each would have to pay PHP 20 at the registration counter. A guide is required before ascending. Rates differ depending on the path you choose to take and the number of the members per group. In our case, we were three and we chose to traverse the mountain, and that cost us PHP 1000.
Our local guide was Kuya Pepe. There were two other hikers who went first. They thought they could do some “morning walk” up the mountain without a guide. Though they were locals and familiar with the path, the officials still required them to have a tour guide. So, that’s how they ended up joining our group. They were friendly and quick. I forgot their names, though.
Our team warming up!
I believe this is a dried-up river.
On the first “pit stop”, we saw this. She sells Buko Juice. You’ll be surprised to see more of this up the mountain.
Breather.
The view from one of the “pit stops”.
Climb pa more!
Courtesy of seventhousandstars. :)
His name was Jack. He’s the only dog I saw along the whole traverse. He’s so friendly and knowledgeable about modeling. :)
Proof! Haha. He looks at the camera!
The view from the campsite.
Courtesy of seventhousandstars. :)
The view before climbing up the famous Rockies!
Man is never satisfied. He will always find something better, will do something harder, will be someone more. Last Sunday, my fellow Strikers and I climbed another mountain, Mount Maculot.
First, the specifics:
MT. MACULOT
Cuenca, Batangas Major Jumpoff: Mountaineer’s Store, Brgy. 7 “Siete”, Cuenca
Exit point (traverse): Brgy 5 (to Grotto), Cuenca
LLA: 13°55 N; 121°2 E; 706 MASL (Rockies) / 930 MASL (summit) Days required / Hours to Rockies / summit : 1 day / 1-2 hr / 2-4 hr
Specs: Minor, Difficulty 3/9 (Rockies); 4/9 (Traverse) Trail class 1-3.
Features: Scenic views of Taal Lake, rock formations, forests
Posting date: August 9, 2007
Last updated: January 15, 2015
Information courtesy of PinoyMountaineer.com
(not in picture, Adrian and Camille)
It was another climb for the members of StrikingMNL. We met basically there and found that we enjoy outdoors. Last Sunday, February 15 our group met up at McDonald’s Eastwood and went to climb Mt. Maculot. We took Lipa exit from Star Tollway after SLEX and from there reached Cuenca Poblacion.
We started our trek, finding ourselves quite surprised in the first part because of the ascents. It was nice that there is a tent every after ascent so we have time to rest in between. From 5, our group became 12 (Don, Lily, Tin, Ren, Angel, Leeyhan, Emily, Erica, Amjay, Camille, Adrian and I) and most of us were beginners. It was surprising that the demands of the heights (with a guide) did not hinder the group to reach the camp site before going to the Rockies (706 MASL).
You have an option to do the Rockies and go back (that’s P400/5 pax per day) or Rockies and traverse to Grotto trail (P1,000/5 pax per day as of February 2015), and we decided to the latter because we’re hardcore (yeah right!). We reached Rockies and met some of those doing the day hike as well with friendly guides.
Reaching this part felt surreal as this is the 3rd mountain that I went just to see Taal Lake and the Taal volcano, and yet this is another angle that proved how small we are in a very big picture. You can see the edge of where you’re standing and you can only make a small gasp (well that’s what I did) because you’re afraid to fall off the cliff. But still you muster all your guts and brave it to the edge and you can actually see a clearer view of God’s creation.
Sometimes, it’s nice to be with a big group of people and still have time to be alone: communicate with oneself and your Creator. I was the sweeper again, this time it’s hard to keep up with some inside jokes nevertheless, this was a different view from Pico de Loro as the greens are more lush. After the Rockies, we went back to campsite to have our quick lunch.
After an hour, we took off for the unknown traverse to Grotto trail. According to our guide, we will reach the summit (930 MASL) there and then we continue our traverse to Grotto. It felt like you’re in Avatar walking in this traverse trail. Because it rained the night before, we had encountered mud and I kept on slipping, feeling so clumsy, to think I have to be one of those experienced.
We reached the summit and surprised we were surrounded by bugs! They kept on flying and landing on our clothes and faces that we have to leave. So we left after 10 minutes and continued, unbeknownst of what is waiting. Lily and Tin’s shoes gave in, good thing Ren and our guide, Danny had leukoplast tapes to hold the soles to the rest of the shoes. Don got a cut from trying not to slip going down…and it’s already 5:30pm.
We have to rappel twice of about 6-8 feet below and faced our fears. Oh yeah, despite the fear we managed to smile to mask our emotions.
(Amjay where is your picture?)
We reached the grotto already 6:45pm with only 4-5 lights from phones and flashlights, we realized we weren’t really ready about this part of the trail. But we managed to reach the grotto and got back safe.
We got back in Manila at around 10pm. Here is the breakdown of our expenses.
I guess if we have reached the grotto an earlier time, say 5pm we could have enjoyed the last part of the trail. After the exhaustion, slipping here and there, and a bit of rashes we got tired. But, we are proud of ourselves because it was unexpected. The workouts really paid off and the pain after each Crossfit WOD made each of us stronger and helped us endure the rest of the trek.
While the sun was already setting in, I thought of others saying, “You wander aimlessly, you look for adventure? I don’t think so, you’re just looking for trouble.” And I agree on the part, however the physical part would wander aimlessly, but when you come back, you’re a changed person and I can’t explain it to someone who haven’t tried wandering aimlessly (or even running for a very long distance for that matter). But to wonder in wander is a personal experience. Some of us don’t enjoy the silence that it is deafening but the silence is actually a communication from within, trying to figure things personally. And surprisingly, rather than a changed person usually we tend to be worse than our old selves: we spend more time wallowing to self pity, planning to get back to others. But it depends on us, we couldn’t depend on others to pick us from our ‘dirt’.
Till next mountain, to new heights, to new wonders, to better discoveries.
Of Wander and Wonder in Mt. Maculot Man is never satisfied. He will always find something better, will do something harder, will be someone more.