Hiking matters #860: The ascent of Mt. Malindang’s summit

I have long dreamed of climbing Mt. Malindang – one of Mindanao’s great mountains that is mostly in Misamis Occicental but also straddles Zamboanga del Sur and Norte – only to face numerous logistical hurdles over the years. I came very close last year – we were already on the mountain and camped near the beautiful Cobra Falls – only to be told that our permit didn’t allow us to go to the summit! Disappointingly, the highest point we reached on that two-day hike (which involved scrambling up a wall from the river) was a spot along the Penacio ridge that the local guides called ‘Pinukis’, which stood around 1700 MASL – a far cry from the mountain’s highest point.

Thankfully, with the help of my Mindanao hiking buddy Kristina Alonzo (who made my White Peak, Makaturing, and Kampalili ascents possible) and mountaineer Eugene Villantes, I was able to realize this dream with a three-day ascent of the mountain via. Aside from Tina and Yue, we were joined by Palaweño hiker Julius de Vera. 

The first day consisted first of going down a valley and taking the uphill cemented path to Brgy. Gala. There, a village elder conducted a ceremony, which involved the ritual sacrifice of a chicken, to pay respects to the mountain and wish for a safe ascent. From the barangay, what followed was sitio-to-sitio trek , until we finally entered the forest at 1100 MASL. The giant almaciga were most impressive! At around 1500 MASL, we reached Camp 1 and spent a restful – if rainy – night in our tents.

The following day, we left Camp 1 at around in a bid to teach the peak, carrying only light packs. The weather was nice, but the trail was overgrown, making our progress slow. We reached the High Camp, from this point the trail was even more overgrown and convoluted – with fallen tree trunks and other obstscles. It was already 1300H when we finally reached the summit, over 2450 MASL (Officially 2404 MASL but it seemed higher based on our altimeters). The descent, as you can imagine, felt even longer than the descent; by the time we reached the campsite just before sundown, I was so tired that I decided to just eat what was left of our packed lunch, then went straight to sleep!

The third day, I left very early in the hopes of reaching Ozamiz by lunchtime, catching my good friends and hosts Ton and Maebel in Ozamiz, and not missing my flight back to Manila. Thankfully, our plan worked – we were back in the barangay by 0900H and finished the trek at just over 1000H.