Mt. Matarem on Manila Bulletin
My climb last April in Mt. Matarem together with the Sarreal siblings and my brod Gerome was published in Manila Bulletin this Sunday (August 10), in an article entitled "The enchanting trail of Mt. Matarem". It is nice to reminisce about Batanes, truly one of the most beautiful places in the country. Click this link to view the article in Manila Bulletin Online.
Same old Maculot
At the first opportunity to escape from hospital work, I climbed Mt. Maculot on Saturday with one of my mountaineering mentors, Sir Bambi Guevara, and my blogging partner Ivan Henares.
We left Manila at around 0800H and started climbing at 1000H. Even with a relaxed pace, the Maculot trail up the Rockies can take just less than a hundred minutes
.
At the campsite and the Rockies, nothing has changed. Taal Lake lay perfectly still, and the breezes were refreshing - counteracting the sunshine. The talahib was as obstructive as ever; Aling Rose still operates the '7-11' - and the halo-halo was enticing as ever especially on a day that turned to be sunny. The locals assured me that Maculot safer than ever; there have been no untoward incidents for over a year and with the bridge to Cuenca repaired last May, climbers continue to flock on weekends.
I remember my first climb in Maculot when I was 13 or 14 years old; it was a family outing. My younger brother, then 8, joined up and he together with my younger cousins just slid their way down from the campsite to the jumpoff! Our titos and titas chatted over halo-halo while we explored the Rockies, as well the forest up to the summit, where I saw my first wild boar.
Last year I went to Maculot twice. The first one in February was with my classmate Pao - we cut classes to climb on a weekday: the result was having the mountain all to ourselves. Then I went back with the UP Med Outdoor Society in August.
Exactly a year later, I'm thankfully back. At the summit we met some members of a group called Team Sagul, plus some Korean trekkers. Meanwhile, on the way down I was pleasantly surprised to come across Sir Orly Ylaya and Albin Juta (with blogger on photo)- my companions from G2 and Amuyao - together with their fellow hikers from Nestlé.
Seeing nice views, meeting friends new and old, and catching a breathe of mountain air -- that's just about it. That's what a nice daytrip means to me and today, that's exactly what i got!
At the campsite and the Rockies, nothing has changed. Taal Lake lay perfectly still, and the breezes were refreshing - counteracting the sunshine. The talahib was as obstructive as ever; Aling Rose still operates the '7-11' - and the halo-halo was enticing as ever especially on a day that turned to be sunny. The locals assured me that Maculot safer than ever; there have been no untoward incidents for over a year and with the bridge to Cuenca repaired last May, climbers continue to flock on weekends.
I remember my first climb in Maculot when I was 13 or 14 years old; it was a family outing. My younger brother, then 8, joined up and he together with my younger cousins just slid their way down from the campsite to the jumpoff! Our titos and titas chatted over halo-halo while we explored the Rockies, as well the forest up to the summit, where I saw my first wild boar.
Last year I went to Maculot twice. The first one in February was with my classmate Pao - we cut classes to climb on a weekday: the result was having the mountain all to ourselves. Then I went back with the UP Med Outdoor Society in August.
Exactly a year later, I'm thankfully back. At the summit we met some members of a group called Team Sagul, plus some Korean trekkers. Meanwhile, on the way down I was pleasantly surprised to come across Sir Orly Ylaya and Albin Juta (with blogger on photo)- my companions from G2 and Amuyao - together with their fellow hikers from Nestlé.Seeing nice views, meeting friends new and old, and catching a breathe of mountain air -- that's just about it. That's what a nice daytrip means to me and today, that's exactly what i got!
THE BLOGGER'S CLIMBS IN MT. MACULOT
16 comments:
sir, i tot maculot is closed for clean up? a mountaineer informed us about it and i think that is why the annual anniversary climb of the UE mountaineers is transfered to Pico De Loro...
apparently this is not the case. we stopped by the mountaineers' sari-sari store and nobody told us anything about maculot being closed. also, the store at the campsite was open. if there was any closure, or any attempt at closure, there certainly was no trace of it.
nagclimb din kami last week sa maculot. its open contrary to rumors.
@rastaman, anonymous: ive been hearing the rumor that mt. maculot is closed since may, but this was never confirmed by mountaineers who climbed after that, or by locals we met.
let us know if you have updates regarding this matter.
gid
nice post on maculot! countless times nako nakapunta dyan!
i agree.. we also went there nung later part ng may, and it was open... madumi nga lang talaga... but i enjoyed the climb, 2nd climb ko pa lang 1st ko sa mt ugo. thanks sir! ;)
@kenji: thanks!
@rastaman: mt. ugo is a very nice first climb especially with benign weather. more mountains! ^^
Hi sir gid,
so you were the one whom we've met while we were ascending and you were descending then. when our eyes met i know I've seen you somewhere already now I know where. almost everyday my husband is checking this pinoy mountaineer account and I got curious and everywhere he goes he's telling things about mountains which he just saw from Pinoy Mountaineer.
thank you for the blogs, photos, etc which you are posting. It helps us a lot. very informative.
and im so proud I saw you in person already.
I hope you'll never get tired of informing other people especially those who are just starting to climb and enjoy nature.
Runah
hi runah, thanks for leaving a message. we had great weather in maculot last saturday, im sure you had a great climb as well.
hope to see you again along the trail. more mountains!
actually sir gideon masamang masama ang panahon nung pumunta kami sa mt ugo, its part of our thesis kasi sa UE college of dentistry, nagconduct kami ng dental service and data gathering... it was a hard but ofcourse a great climb... thanks sir.. hahaha... (more mountains! i like that!) hahaha.. ;) pico de loro next week, here we come!
Yeah Sir Gid. We had a nice nice climb. it was quite humid inside the tent though. It was not as cold as when we were there last december.
hello sir am (DAM) DIGOS ACTIVE MUONTAINEERS INC. KAMI LANG PO YONG GRUPO dito sa digos.. na malapit na pong e- introduce ng MFPI, recently this coming december mfpi forum.. DAM po kami dit sir
Thanks sa pag recognition ha?
god be with you always,
DAM
@DAM: it is nice to hear from your group. please send us your contact details so we can add you up in our list of mountaineering clubs in the philippines. you can also email us at info@pinoymountaineer.com if you have activities and itineraries to share and contribute.
more power to the digos active mountaineers!
elow sir....tga bansalan davao del sur poh kmi... nag iisng mountainrng club po d2 smin.... ''BLUE DEVILS MOUNTAINEERing club'' tnx....GOD blez u ol..
elow sir,,pki rcgnize nmn ng grupo nmin...tnx a lot... GOD blez u ol... ''blue devils mountaineering club''..mbhay ang pinoy mountaineer's..
hello sir.gid plz pasali naman sa org.namin dito sa Digos city.kami po ang DAM INC. Digos Active Mountaineers Inc.sa blog ninyo.ito po yung main site namin. http://dam2006.blogspot.com
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