When asked what's my most unforgettable hike? Well, on top of my list is when we traverse Mt. Makiling from Sto. Tomas, Batangas to UPLB Laguna - or popularly known as MAKTRAV. It has the height of 1, 090+ MASL and trail difficulty of 5/9.
I heard so many things about Mt. Makiling when I was in gradeshcool. That includes it's famous legendary story.
"The most common "full" story is that of Maria turning ginger into gold to help one villager or the other.Maria is said to live in a place known to the villagers, and interacts with them regularly. The villager in question is often either a mother seeking a cure for her ill child, or a husband seeking a cure for his wife. The wise Maria recognizes the symptoms as signs not of disease, but of hunger brought about by extreme poverty. She gives the villager some ginger, which, by the time the villager gets home, has magically turned to gold. In versions where the villager is going home to his wife, he unwisely throws some of the ginger away because it had become too heavy to carry. In some versions, the villagers love her all the more for her act of kindness. In most, however, greedy villagers break into Maria's garden to see if her other plants were really gold. Distressed by the villager's greed, Maria runs away up the mountain, her pristine white clothing soon becoming indistinguishable from the white clouds that play amongst the trees on the upper parts of the mountains. Today,it is still believed that Mariang Makiling is still living there."
For hikers, there are two options in climbing the mountain. First is from University of the Philippines in Laguna up to the summit and going back to UPLB again. This trail is considered as minor climb. The second option is from Sto. Tomas Batangas all the way to the summit and exiting at UPLB. For us, we did the later.
Me and my friends meet up at MCDO in Buendia. Just beside it, is the terminal going to Lucena.
We arrived at the jump-off at around 6 AM. We registered first and our tour guide did a short orientation. He also told us what to expect during the climb - that includes Limatiks.
Obligatory picture before every climb with the squad. :) At that day, we were the only group to climb the mountain.
This is me while waiting for them to finish preparing. :)
Mt. Makiling was a bit shy that day. :) We already expected zero clearing at the summit but we still decided to continue hiking.
We started the hike at around 7:00 AM. We were still chilling at the first part of the trail until we reached the Kubo (Station 1). There is a water station here.
This is the first Limatik that welcomed us. The first victim? My sister. :) It went to her hand and our brave tour guide took it off and it transferred to his hands. Limatiks are blood sucker small vampires for me. haha We did put tissues on our ears to prevent limatiks from going inside. During the trail, we encountered a lot. Some went to our hands, to my checks and necks.
From station 1 to station 9 was a bit of a challenge having that steep assault and narrow trail. While station 10 to 19 was a long walk. Then, tough hike started again at station 19 where we need to pull ourselves up with the ropes to ascend to what they called "haring bato" or the rocky surface.
It started to rain when we reached the mossy part of Mt. Makiling. I stumbled several times. :)
At last, we arrived at station 30 or Peak 2. Look how messy we are, but still we took a lot of pictures before deciding to descend. From here, we still have another 30 stations to finish.
OMG as in OMG....
It was still raining when we continue and the trail was already slippery and muddy. After 2 hours, we finally reached station 11 or commonly called the "Agila Base". This is where we parted with our tour guide. This is also where "habal-habal" or motorcycle are usually waiting for the hikers if they want to take a ride going to station 1 in UPLB. But none was available when get here. So we decided to take our snacks first and of course drink coffee while waiting for motorcycles.
It was already getting dark when we decided to walk, since no motorcycle arrives. We were walking in the dark and I already feel my legs giving up. Ten hours hike was a no joke. Plus the rain added to the challenge. I was already eager to finish the hike.
After more than an hour of walking, we reached station 1 at the gate of UPLB. Here is where we washed up and ride a jeepney going to the highway.
Itinerary:
04:00 AM - Ride a bus bound to Lucena
6:00 AM - Drop off to Brgy. San Felix
06:15 AM - Ride tricycle going to Sitio Jordan - Jump off
6:30 AM - Registration and secure tour guide
7:00 AM - Start the trek
11:00 AM - Lunch at Station 20
01: 30 PM - Station 30 or Peak 2
04:00 PM - Agila Base
06:00 PM - UPLB Jump-off - Wash up
06:30 PM - ETD Los Banos bus to Cubao
Expenses:
Bus to Lucena - Php 105 per pax
Tricycle to Jump-off - Php 20 per pax
Tour guide - Php 1000
Jeep from UPLB to highway - Php 10 per pax
Shower - Php 10.00
Bus to Cubao - Php 99
This is my toughest hike so far and my first major hike. I'm not sure if I still want to go back but the experience was one of kind. A beautiful mountain indeed.
Revenge hike? Hmmh... Let me think about it. :)
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