Dry Trail of the North

 Mt Arayat

After 2 months of hibernating, I found myself on the trail again. This time it was on the uncovered ,exposed and hot trail of Mt Arayat.

I told myself that after this climb, its only a couple of days and I will be hiking up in Mt Sicapoo.
So I should be conditioned enough and rested enough for another multi dayhike. But with 2 months of no practice, no running Im dead tired after this dayhike. Maybe next time I should squeezed out even just one day hike a month and couple of jogging exercise will get my legs the desired condition I want.

I dont want to be the fastest or the strongest on the trail, I leave that title to those who hike years before me. I just want to finish the climb with no injury and not caused any burden to the group Im climbing with. Not that fast, but not very slow either..

This is just a minor climb, and can hike up for 2 hours, unfortunately those 2 months of not hiking can have a big effect on my legs and lungs as I find it taking a toll on me. With less preparation and anticipation, I did not bring enough trail water that can sustain me for the entire climb, much less of the traverse trail that we initially planned. It took us almost 4 hours to hike up, and 2 hours to go down. The trail was just easy to follow, with much less confusing for. However most people said that doing the traverse is not that easy, with less visible trail sign and more confusing fork, to our dismay because we do not have enough water, we aborted the plan of going down in san juan bano area.

This mountain should be climb early in the morning if you plan to do a dayhike , or traverse, and late in the afternoon if you plan to stay for the night. At the campsite, where the basecamp of the military is, there is no water source. Its completely dried up there and in the entire trail

                          My hiking buddy doing his signature planking pose

                     

                              At the south peak,looking at the north peak


How to do it..

From Cubao you can take the bus going to mariveles,orani or any buses that will pass by Sm San Fernando.
Fare : P102

From SM San Fernando take the jeep bound for Magalang, Alight in Jollibee Magalang.
You can buy your packed lunch and get some trail water there.
Fare : P35

Ride tricycle to Jump off.
P100/head