A day in the Hike: November 2012

Saturday, November 17, 2012

M2M Dayhike !

The Malipunyo - Manabu Traverse Dayhike.

The Summit Of Mt Malipunyo

Mt Malipunyo is another mountain near Metro Manila . Located in Talisay Batangas. Its near other famed mountains like Mt Maculot and Mt manabu. Its also a part of the Malarayat Mountain Range, Where according to the locals there are six peaks on the entire Malaraya range.

Mt banahaw and Mt Cristobal can be seen from here

Mt Malipunyo is not as popular as its neighbor mountains maybe because of the fact that its not an easy hike. One reason is that theres a lot of trail that might lead you elsewhere, hence a guide is highly recommended.

Getting a guide doesnt mean that your afraid to get lost or might not add up to the thrill and challenge that you might seek . For me , its my way of helping the locals or the communities to earned something.

The steep part of the trail

The grassy trail going to Biak na Bundok

Trail Conditions :

The trail of the entire traverse compose of a different set of challenges to your knees and hiking shoes. The first part is a rocky trail,then when you enter the forest the trail becomes rooted soil all the way to the summit. Then the trail becomes dense with thick vegetation ,with sharp grass and thorny plants. Lipa plants is also visible ,so full clothing protection is recommended.

The bamboo part of the trail

Water source :

There is a water source on the trail . The source would be the malipunyo river. Theres one after an hour of trekking , then theres another one before going to biak na bundok. So prepare accordingly.

The River. Serves as the water source.

Recommendation :

1. Start early! It is always better to start early just before the Shine shines at its brightest. Starting early also means that you might have a time to do as you pleases for your photo ops and needed rest.

2. To avoid the traffic and time delayed, Ride the ac-tex lipa bound bus. Get off at Lipa Bus stop , Ride a Jeep to Fiesta Mall. It will save you an hour for your ride.

3. Use sunblock and full covered clothing. No short please !

                               At the biak na bundok grassland

4. If your planning to leave the terminal at 5am or for another specific time, Make your meet up time one hour ahead. There are lot of people who just shows up at exact time. Not knowing that the bus will leave at the exact time. We got delayed for an hour because of this. I dont want that to happened to you as well.

As it happened Iteraries :

We agree to meet before 5am , because I know the bus will leave at that time.

5:43 am : etd Jam Terminal
7:17 am : Eta Lipa Bus Stop . Take breakfast , Buy packed lunch.
7:44 am : Take jeep to fiesta Mall
8:00 am : Take trike to jump off
8:30 am : Start Trek
9:13 am : Arrive at the river. First water source.
9:37 am : 2nd water source . Rest
10:24am : Arrive at Peak 1. Rest
11:08am : Arrived at Peak 3. Mt Malipunyo Summit. Rest. Enjoy the view.
11:35am : Start descend
12:11am : Arrived at Balete park . Lunch
12:40pm : Start descend
01:25pm : River. Water source
01:58pm : Arrived at Biak na bundok
02:27pm : Start descend. Thick vegetation trail
03:09pm : Arrived at Mt Maraduhan. Rest
03:57pm : Arrived at Manabu Campsite. Rest
04:09pm : Set foot on Mt Manabu Peak
04:16pm : Start descend
04:37pm : Coffee Break
05:30pm : Arrived at Mt Manabu Jump off. Rest . Tidy up
06:00pm : Take tricycle to lipa Bus stop
06:20pm : Arrived at Lipa Bus Stop. Dinner
07:00pm : Take bus to Manila
09:00pm : Arrived at Kamuning

Budget :
Kamuning to Lipa Bus Stop   : P132 one way
Jeep to Fiesta Mall    : P 8
Tricycle to Jump off :    P20 /head
Registration fee    :    P10
Guide fee    : P1000

Hail Salute. Respect to our fallen comrades who didnt make it to the climb.

For more information :

check out :
http://www.pinoymountaineer.com/2007/10/mtmalipunyomalarayat.html

Monday, November 12, 2012

The climb that Should Not Be

Mt palali is located in nueve vizcaya , the same place where the most popular mt Ugu is also located.

Preparing for logistic about this mountain is easy , as theres a lot of recorded ascend for the past few months of the year. The peak of Mt palali have a recorded 1715 masl and it was tagged as major climbed as well.

The fastest way to go in Nueva Vizcaya was to ride Victory liner in Kamuning station . The buses bound to tuguegarao and solano . It was a 7 to 8 hours ride. From solano, theres a lot of tricycle you can choose, just tell the driver you are going to brgy madiangat .

From the jump off the trail was pretty straightforward, with steady inclined. There are open trail also, so prepare accordingly. The intense heat can easily drained your energy. Theres a watersource on the middle of the trail and reportedly there's also one on the summit .

The Jump Off Point

Mt palali seems to be elusive for us, We have a record of 4 aborted climbs , due to weather issue. At last the weather cooperates with us, however we still not escaped some troubles going to Nueva Vizcaya. All the buses bound to solano are fully occupied, so we have to go to other bus terminal in Cubao. Tired and hopeless one by one, we checked with each terminal we could find. We slowly accepted that we cannot climb again Mt palali and decides to change the plan.

The view from the trail

With much determination and desire to set foot on the mountain, we checked another terminal in cubao. To our amazement, theres still one more bus bound to tuguegarao and will depart on 12:00am. With our tired body and restless soul,we board the bus and prepare for the long ride to Solano.

The trail of Mt Palali

From Solano, we just ride the first tricycle we could find,arrange to just drop us to the best carinderia in town so we can eat breakfast and buy packed lunch. We meet the guide and proceed to Jump off by foot..

The River Crossing

The trail that have a gradual ascent

Due to time constrain and desire to have socials in the memorable sari sari store in Solano, We decide not to push to the summit, As the guide and colleague said that there are no more to see in the summit. Its like summiting Mt maculot. So we just rest in Haring bato, ate lunch , then go down eventually..

Haring Bato

One of the waterfalls of Mt palali

We also visit one the falls in Mt palali, having done the overnight climbed , we could visit the most majestic and higher falls that Palali could offer..

With still unfinished business., We decides to go back In the mountain some time soon..

Climb Budget :

Bus from Kamuning to Solano : P333
Tricycle from Solano to Jumpoff : P60
Guide fee : P900

For more information :
Visit : http://www.pinoymountaineer.com/2007/09/mt-palali-1715.html

Ride the Lightning

Mt balingkilat is one of the famed mountain of zambales, together with cinco picos, each mountain offers a unique set of challenges , and entry to the to anawangin,nagsasa and silanguin cove.

Mt balingkilat is also known for its hot environment, because there are no tree covers on the trail troughout the summit. On the first part of the trail, the grass are so grown that it touches your face and nearly covers the trail.

After an hour , you will emerge to kawayanan,(bamboo part of the trail) where there are small river that serves as the only water source of the entire climb. From here to the summit it will be a non stop assault to rocky open trail.

Depends on how fast you climb, it will take 3 to 4 hours to reached the summit.

Based on the internet, our research shows that it is better to climb Mt balingkilat early in the morning, because

there is no shade to comfort you from the scorching heat of the sun.To avoid the intense heat and sure sunburn

we start our trek at 3:30am.

Based on the intenaries from the internet also, mt balingkilat is climable for 5-6 hours. So if we start early, we can descend early .

We started walking at 3:30am ,our pace was much faster than normal, because it is colder. With our limited vision

and lights, we arrived in the water source at 4:30am. The guide decides it is still early to start the ascend and it might be too difficult because he had no headlamp. As precautions , we just rest until the sun shines. We had breakfast here and prepare mentally and physically for the steep assault that lies ahead. Also, I have an opportunity to try the homemade fire can,which proves to be efficient and strong as it lights the entire area.

Home Made Fire Can

At 5:45am we are now ready to start the assault , slowly we are starting to gain elevation. Climbing this early morning relieves us from the heat, as it was the cold wind that embraces us and welcomes us from our journey.

Morning View

The view was stunning beautiful as you can see the sun slowly rising from the east as it lights all the surrounding, from the subic bay to the mountains of zambales.

Every now and then we rest our legs, it is better to rest when we get tired than push it all way to avoid cramps.

The rest becomes longer as we continue our assault . After 4 hours we arrived at the summit. it was very foggy and windy. There are no view everywhere. So what we did we just ate our lunch, and wait until the clouds disappear. After 30 mins , our jaw drops from the beauty that engulfed us. Here you will see the Gods amazing creation and feast your eyes from the beauty that touhes your inner soul.

They said that there are water source on the summit, however it was drained out. So meaning, we did not carry enough water to sustain us from our way down. We rested too much on the top that we start our descend at 1:00pm. The sun will sometimes shows, sometimes it will be covered by the clouds. During the time that the sun shines hit us, We proved to ourselves that the rumor was true. It was intense, with little water and no food we descend faster and no rest stop. We arrived at the watersouce 10mins to 2pm. We refreshed ourselves , and recharge our water supply . We decide to rest from here longer. At 3pm we resume our trek. On this part of the trail it was an easy walk, the hard part only was the heat and the cogon grass. At 4pm we are back at the jump off,

share stories with the locals and tidy up. At 4:30pm we are waiting for the tricycle to take us back to subic

At 6pm were back at subic, ate dinner and part ways with chieftain balosbalos.

Signature Pose

Magnificent view

Locals , Guide and chieftain told us that Balingkilat dayhike is rarely done, And told us some stories why it was called balingkilat , the mountain was the favorite landing spot of the lightning .. Sometimes I wonder if i can get the lightning teeth,that Ramon Revilla once have on one of his anting anting movies.They also shared that during the Pinatubo eruption, the place was almost gone from the map. It was entirely covered of dust and mud.

How did they recover,, as they said,,the rest is history..

And for our climb.. well its part of our history