My First Hike: Mt. Maculot and the "Rockies" of Cuenca, Batangas

It's time for some Throwback Thursday (Blog Edition)!

My love for mountain hiking started back in 2009 when I was invited by a college friend to have an overnight on top of a mountain. He has done hiking before and he wanted to encourage others, along with my other college friends, to try out this adventure. Overnight on top of a mountain sounds fun so everybody accepted the invitation... or should I say, the challenge? Paul (the one who invited us) chose Mt Maculot of Cuenca, Batangas. Reasons are: 1) It is considered an average in terms of its height in which it is ideal for newbies like us. 2) He's also familiar with the place because he'd already been to Mt Maculot.

PS: Please ignore our outfits in the following photos. They are inappropriate for hiking and we regret wearing them. #lol 

Cuenca, Batangas - Blurring out those campaign ads (Photo from Edward Calugtong)

How to get there:

From Buendia/Gil Puyat, take a bus going to Lemery. Usual bus rate is 147 pesos. Inform your conductor that you'll go at Mt Maculot and drop you off at Cuenca, Batangas. From there, you can hire a tricycle that will bring you to the jump off point of Mt Maculot. Fare is 20 pesos per pax. But before going to the jump off, ask your driver to stop you at the Registration Area which is near the Barangay Hall of Cuenca. Registration fee is 10 pesos per pax. Log everybody in the logbook. This is our first lesson about hiking. Never miss out to register because that will be used for emergency purposes.

Sign that we are heading to the right direction =] (Photo from Edward Calugtong)

After the registration, we headed at the jump-off point to gear up and start the hike. We started the hike with a prayer followed by a stretching. That's our second and third lessons. Always ask for guidance from our creator and prepare your body with this extreme adventure. These two are very important. We should never fail to ask assistance to God as this kind of sport comes with lots of danger. Also, stretch out to increase your range of motion, which means your limbs and joints can move further before an injury occurs.

Yup, this is our official outfits for Mt Maculot hike. #throwbackThursday  (Photo from Edward Calugtong)

I can still remember my excitement that day on this first hiking adventure of mine. I really don't know what to expect up there and I thought this was just a plain activity. Well, everybody is excited and oozing with energy on the first quarter as we went up to the peak of Mt Maculot. Everybody is chatting, laughing, joking and even singing. But those were minimized as we gone through the second and third quarter. Trails are getting stiffer and harder. We started to feel our weight and the weight of our things that we carry. Lesson number four: Only bring what you need. Do not bring unnecessary things. Just keep it light.  There are also some parts of the trail that requires you to grasp on soil, grass and branches in order to continue. Never hesitate to put your hands on this things. This is not the place for people who has an "attitude". One must have a strong legs and feet to surpass the obstacles. That makes us realize that this activity should be taken with precautions.

Start of our trek

Trail are getting difficult...

Everybody was tired and sweating hard. The sun sets to its highest position. Getting thirsty is inevitable. Fifth lesson: Have enough water supply. This is a vital thing that mountaineers should bring on every hike. Thank God, there are stalls in different parts of Mt Maculot that sells "buko" juice and other cold beverages. Yup, its cold but they're a bit pricey too. We bought drinks on most of the stalls we passed by. Having cold drinks in this tiring activity is priceless! You'll come to appreciate them. It is also a way to conserve our packed water. So instead of drinking them, we reserved it and will be used while our stay on top and going down the next day.

 Store in the middle of the trail | That's my friend, Julius (Photo from Edward Calugtong)

What I also noticed is that as we encounter other mountaineers, they always greet fellow mountaineers even they're are strangers. "Magandang umaga/tanghali/gabi sir/ma'am" (good morning/afternoon/evening sir/ma'am) and/or "ingat po" (take care) are the most commonly used greetings. That is lesson number six: greet fellow mountaineers.

Emac, Eteng and Julius finding doing their own ways

After 2 hours of trekking. The group finally reached the top! Our hard work paid off and what I felt upon reaching the top was un-explainable (but I know it's in a good way). The view on top of Mt Maculot is superb.

Heaven and Earth

Sunset at Mt Maculot

After a quick tour on top, we started to pitch our tent. The camp site of Mt. Maculot is quite big and can a accommodate large group of mountaineers. Then we started to cook and prepare our dinner. It was a great dinner even though only canned goods and noodles were served in the table ground. We talked about our experiences and thoughts as we went up to this mountain while eating. Energy is getting high again. The dinner was followed by socials. Lesson number seven: Have fun. Though hiking is an extreme activity, mountaineers should also enjoy and have fun!

EdPau pitching the tent

Socials that night - Pinoy Henyo and 1,2,3 pass (Photo from Edward Calugtong)

After the socials that night, all went to rest. And that was my first sleep on top of a mountain. Beat that!

The Rockies

Day 2 of our Mt Maculot Hike

The following morning, everybody woke up early to prepare and eat breakfast. This time we will be heading to a so-called place, Rockies. Rockies is a piece of Mt Maculot that offers its visitors an amazing view. Just refer on the photos below to see what I mean. It is just a 30 minutes or less of trekking from the camp site of Mt. Maculot. Extreme caution should be observed since the wind blows hard on this part of the mountain and the space on top of Rockies is a bit narrow.

Off our way to Rockies

We are young, wild and free... also extreme!

Edward and Paula - moments of love. Yiiiihiii

This shot is much better when taken zoom out...

Am I right? :]

After almost an hour of stay and photo op at Rockies, the group decided to descend back to our camp site and start trekking down. Lesson number eight arise here: Take Nothing but pictures, Leave nothing but footsteps, Kill nothing but time. No need to explain further, right?

Climbing Mt Maculot is definitely a great experience. Though trekking up and down can sweat the hell out of me, the view on top and the pride you may feel and get as you reach the peak pays off all those hard works. Just like the famous saying... No Pain, No Gain - I guess that's the ninth lesson.

Breakdown of Expenses:
Bus ride (Pasay to Lemery, Lemery to Cubao) - 300.00 PhP (two-way)
Tricycle (Lemery to Jump off, Jump off to Lemery) - 20.00 x 2 way = 40.00 PhP/pax
Registration - 10.00 PhP
Food: **.**

Mt Timbak and Mt Tabayoc of Benguet

My first hike this 2013 is not the usual climb that I do because I hiked the 3rd and the 2nd highest mountain in Luzon, which are Mt Timbak and Mt Tabayoc. Both mountains are located in Benguet so expect a cold and freezing trek ahead.

The right clothes
A friend of mine invited me to join Baroc - a mountaineering group, as they will climb the said mountains. So I packed all my mountaineering gears and most importantly my anti cold equipment. I suggest you bring jacket [of course], sweatshirts, gloves [which I forgot to bring], thick socks [have an extra], and If you're planning to stay in a tent at night have a sleeping bag as well. This will prevent you from chilling and have a stress free sleep :]

How to get there?
The travel time from Manila to Baguio is 6 hours, and I might say it is enough to gasp some sleep. And as we land to Baguio, additional 2 hours were needed to reach KM 55 - the jump off of Mt. Timbak. Don't worry, the additional 2 hours will not bore you because the scenic during the travel is breath taking and can be compared to other places that we see in postcards.

A signage with "Welcome to Mummy Caves of Timbac" denotes that you are already in Mt Timbak's jump off. Trail starts with a steep paved road and take note of this: in every fork you'll meet, always take on the left until you reach the elementary school.

That is my friend Edward (photo from Byron Cantonjos)

(photo from Bry Ocampo)

I find Mt Timbak as a large farm full of vegetables planted on it - from potatoes to carrots to cabbage, etc... etc. Until you reach its peak you will see vegetation. So trekkers are informed to walk lightly and don't step on the ground with vegetable plots. These vegetables give colors to the mountain and somehow makes Mt Timbak different from other mountains that I already climbed. The way they plant vegetables here are similar to terraces. So there are carrot terraces, cabbage terraces and potato terraces here. Hehehe

That's me, the third person from the top (photo from Byron Cantonjos)

Another thing that I love about this climb is even though we started the hike late in the morning and have been exposed to the sun during the afternoon, the cool and fresh breeze were still present which kept us in sweatshirts and jackets the whole trek. It was almost a "no sweat trekked" at all. :]

At the peak of Mt Timbak, a mini calvary lies. Along with it is an amazing view of the Benguet proper which amazed and stunned the whole team. We took some time at the peak for photo opp before we trek back down again.

(photo from Bry Ocampo)

Our next stop is Mt Tabayoc. Other called it Tabeyoc but I prefer Tabayoc because Tabeyoc seems like a conyo word to me. Hahahaha After my experience with the 3rd highest mountain in Luzon, I will now traverse the 2nd highest mountain.

The team rented 2 elf trucks to bring us from the elementary school down to Lake Tabeo. Lake Tabeo will serve as our campsite and a jump off area for our Mt Tabayoc hike on day 2. The travel was too long and really exhausting due to rocky road [as in a very rocky road]. I lost tracked how long it was but the view going there never fail to entertain us. It is also a good opportunity to bond with your friends.

(photo from Byron Cantonjos)

(photo from Byron Cantonjos)

Baron, Julius, Edward and Me (photo from Byron Cantonjos)

It was dark when we reach Tabeo Lake and the fog is getting thicker and thicker. So as soon as we reached the campsite, we immediately assembled our tent, cleaned up ourselves and things, cooked and prepared our dinner, and hide under our sleeping bags [with sweatshirt and jacket underneath and socks on] and went to sleep.

We woke up at 4:30am and started our hike to Mt Tabayoc at around 5:30am. It was still dark and the air/fog really makes everyone chill. Gloves is really essential in this kind of trek. It wasn't enough to just cover your body and feet. Trust me.

Hiking this mountain reminds me of the movies Predator 1 and Avatar. Mt Tabayoc's trail is covered with trees, trees, trees and trees [plants, mosses and ferns are also present]. Of all the mountains I hiked before, Mt Tabayoc is the thickest rainforest I have penetrated. Bonsai are all over the place and berries [not sure what exactly they are] are also scattered in the trail.

(photo from Byron Cantonjos)

Beware, Mt Tabayoc is considered to be a major climb. Meaning, the difficulty to trek it is no joke and needs additional caution traversing it. I don't want people reading my blog to be afraid traversing Mt Tabayoc but let me share you the accident that happened to me during our trek.

(photo from Bry Ocampo)

As we approached to the view deck [45 mins left and you'll reached the summit], I had my left knee dislocated. What happened was, the next step of mine is pretty high and i have to slightly turn my body to the right in order to go up to the next platform. Unfortunately, as I twist my body and legs to my right in full force, my left foot got stuck on a branch which result to make my patella bone to almost come out of my skin. It was too painful that I couldn't walk anymore and my teammates had to call mountain rangers to rescue me. We reached the view deck but I wished we have also reach the summit however others didn't push through because of what happened to me. We all had to go back down while assisting me. And as they help me with the pain, my left knee suddenly popped and when I checked it, it returned to its normal form again. Still we didn't continue.

Again, the reason why I wrote my story is not to make people be afraid to hike mountains, instead I wrote this as a precaution to those who want to try this activity. Hiking is an extreme physical activity and we should not take it lightly. We're there to enjoy it but we should not put our guards down and negligent on our actions. 

My rescue operation . Thank you Baroc. (photo from Byron Cantonjos)

After the incident, my love for hiking doesn't change a bit. Accidents can happen to anyone in an unexpected time and place. I guess it wasn't my luck that day. I am so thank you that I was in good hands when it happened to me. I would like to thank Baroc Mountaineers for helping me and the patience you give during that time. That incident only makes me stronger and be more careful the next time. Yes, there will be next time. I'll come back again to Mt. Tabayoc and promise to reach its summit.

From the view deck (photo from Byron Cantonjos)

So going back, as we reach again the campsite and gave me the aid. I feel incredibly fine (thank God). We took our early lunch and had a photo op at Tabeo Lake.

At least I tried :]  (photo from Byron Cantonjos)

(photo from Bry Ocampo)

My favorite shots of mine that day:

(photo from Byron Cantonjos)

After the photo opp. The team go back again to Baguio. We reach Burnham Park at 8:30pm. Took our dinner at Beggang Restaurant [try they're combo meal D -- the one with the spareribs on]. Afterwards, bought some pasalubong at the near shop. Then head back to Manila at 9:30pm and landed at 3:30am. 

Budget for this tour

The whole tour/hike costs me 1,800 php. It was organized by Baroc mountaineers and it comprised of Bus rental [Manila to Baguio and vice versa], Elf rental [Mt Timbac summit to Tabeo Lake campsite / Tabeo Lake Campsite to Baguio], and tour guides [both Mt Tabayoc and Mt Timbac].