Batangas - Mt. Daguldol

Mt. Daguldol
Brgy. Hugom, San Juan, Batangas
670 MASL
Difficulty: Minor, 3/9
Trail Class: 1-3
Trekking Time: 5-6 hours

Lying next to the beach of Laiya, San Juan, Batangas is one of the mountaineers' favorite destination for "beacheneering" (term for a climb where beachl bumming consumes more time than climb; see Glossary of terms) is the so called Mt. Daguldol.

Mt. Daguldol's jumpoff lies at Brgy. Hugom where an association of tourist guides were formed, the HEGA or Hugom Environmental Guides Association. It is mandatory that you register here and secure a guide for a whole group before climbing the Mt. Daguldol. There's a pros and cons here, as your truly like the way they maintain the and establish station where climbers can have a rest. However, on the other hand, this can have an impact to the mountain as they encourage more of commercialism of their tourism in the mountain.

Mt. Daguldol's name came from the word "Dagundong" which means like a sound of thunder. Some say it is because during some season, the night at the top of Mt. Daguldol is polluted by the sound of rolling thunders.

Mt. Daguldol is one of the minor mountains in the CALABARZON region yet, it offers of a challenge especially for those beginners in the world of mountaineering as it's trails is well exposed to the sun during sunny day and muddy during rainy season plus the inclination angle of trail which is a continuous ascend.

Taking this very mountain will need 5-6 hours of trekking time before reaching the summit. From HEGA, you have to pass by the beach and some resorts walking at the sands, then a rocky part of the beach, then sands again before reaching a residential. This may already be a challenge especially if you started your trek at the mid of the day. Then moving on, will be what yours truly called "zigzag ascend" as it will be an abrupt ascend in a zigzag, so you better be warmed up before continuing. Next is a long  li'l shaddy trail where station 1 and the junction going down to the Naambon falls lie. Next landmark will be a house with its own satellite. Here you can refill your water at their water source near the small creek. Continuing the trek, you will reach a chapel after 10-15 mins from the house. Then you'll have to descend to reach a trail with lots of rocks and coconut trees. Then atlast, shaddy trails which extends up to the intersection between two neighboring campsites.

The summit of Mt. Daguldol offers a scenic view which shows it's neighbor mountains, Mt. Lobo & Mt. Banoi. It could be cold at night at the top especially during Ber months up to February.

TRANSPORTATION & LOGISTICS

You may take bus enroute to Lipa and take the trip all the way to Lipa where you can ride a Van going to San Juan. From San Juan, take a jeep bound to Hugom which trips leaves of either full load or  1 hour interval from the last trip that left the terminal.

SUGGESTED ITINERARY

Day 1

06:30 Assembly time
07:00 ETD for Lipa
09:30 ETA Lipa, ride Van to San Juan
10:30 ETA San Juan
11:30 ETA Hugom, register and start trek
12:30 ETA Station 1, take lunch.
13:30 Resume trek
17:30 ETA Summit, pictures, set camp, cook dinner
19:00 Dinner and Socials

 Day 2

06:00 Wake up call
07:00 Breakfast
08:00 Breakcamp
08:30 Start Descent
11:30 ETA Beach, secure resort, buy lunch & cook
12:30 Lunch, Beach time!!!!

*Note that itinerary is more focused on the climb, you can schedule a day hike and spend a night at the beach (we have tried same by arranging with the resort where we left majority of our things for faster pace). Or you can extend up to day 3. It's up to you, itinerary is open ended. And don't forget the Lomi and Bulalo.