Travel Journal 13-001: Mt. Batulao

It is a lunch time at busy working day when friend of mine had sent me a message in a networking site, asking if I want to join a major climb when she comes back in the Philippines. "A major is major and no one can decline a chance to climb it", that's what's in my mind back them when I read the message. After checking the schedules, I informed her of my possibility and will revert once I have informed my girl. She agreed and asked me to gather a team to climb the targeted major, specifying I should check if guide is needed. I immediately called a friend to ask if he can join in the said climb, but he declined saying that the schedule could already be a part of busy days as he will be preparing for a major change in his life. Instead, he asked me if I could just join him to climb a cheap destination for the next day. After checking the schedules and informing my girl, the plan was immediately built, destination : Mt. Batulao!

After I arrived at home, late at night, I immediately packed my things and took my rest. Soon the morning came, my friend had informed me that he will be quite late so I shouldn't haste. I followed his advise and took my breakfast as normal weekend. I also checked my pack and noticed that I missed lots of things, so part 2 of packing came(Oh no, I'm not used to it anymore haha)! Finally, all things set. I prepared to depart and soon headed to the assembly point, Tagaytay.

I'm already riding a van bound to Tagaytay when my friend called me saying "Dude, I can't find the bus terminal, it transferred to another location". "Oh no!I'm already just 30min away to Tagaytay", is at the back of my mind. I thought of a way to break my boredom while waiting for him, and I ended up buying our supplies and strolling around making a way to meet a group of first time climbers.

After 4 hours of waiting, finally he arrived! We headed fast to the Mt. Batulao together with the said group I met. Soon the Evercrest Golfcourse, we decided to walk fast leaving the group of first time climbers who decided to take their dinner before heading to the climb. It was almost dark when we arrived at the end of the road. Walking fast, I thought of a thing, "I really miss mountaineering". Soon, the campsite and it is already 9th of the night when we arrived. Wasting no time, we immediately set the camp and cook while taking some pictures. Done cooking, the supplies was too much for the two of us, but still Bon appetit! :)

After the dinner, the usual thing came, the socials. We have some serious discussion about the changes in his life and we shared what are our plans, mine was still a li'l too far for today, but his was closed enough. After some time of discussion, a small group arrived at the midnight. As a usual etiquette of a mountaineer, we offered them to join and they unhesitatingly agreed. The conversation became more of a fun creating laughs until the "lights out".

The sun is up and mi amigo is still in the dreamland. I got up and took some pictures of the sunrise, then get back to him to wake him up. Then again, it's cooking time.

Soon, the breakFAST, as in fast. We took the breakfast in haste and  immediately packed our things, destination: Summit! Then it's trekking time. It is a lot harder than the last night as we were very exposed to the sun, plus the traffic at the trail. Yes, you're not reading it wrong. There are lots of hikers who were on the assault that time, first timers, professionals, and even trail runners preparing for their upcoming competition next month. Many had filled in the trails, and fortunately, the first timers always give way to us saying "mauna na po kayo, mabagal ako". Soon, the summit! We took some rest and some pictures before we headed down to the other trail, making us to mandatory descent at a roped segment. After the roped segment, the sun hid at the clouds and we took our time resting.

After the sun had released his powers again, we continued descending under the heat, making us a little slower. But we were so determined to reach fast the jumpoff so we kept on pushing, until finally, the junction.

We had our break at the junction taking a halo-halo and a softdrink differently. After some minutes, we decided to continue descending, and the worst part came, muscle cramps attacking a total of 5 parts of my two legs that I fell a sit on the ground. My friend was already way ahead too far for me to shout for help, so I relaxed a bit and take a little time before I pushed my self to the limits. Lifting my legs by means of pulling my shorts to keep pushing is what I did. But I can't move too far, I have to sit again and relax every 50 steps. I'm almost at the jumpoff, when I really have to take a rest. It is then when a local resident riding a horse pass by that made me stand up and face a rock wall beside me to give way. Then I decided not to sit anymore and push myself to the limits. Finally, the jumpoff! I thought trekking is done here hoping there's a nearby tricycle waiting, but I'm disappointed. We have to walk more and again endure the pain in my legs. Soon the challenge is over, a tricycle! We headed to the jumpoff and took a refreshing bath & lunch.

Going back home, I assessed what are my lapses why I got muscle cramps and I ended up for three reasons, first is lack of practice, second is too much diet with water(I barely drink water during my whole trek for two days), and lastly, admittedly, I gained much weight.

See Photos in Facebook.

 BUDGET CHECK (as of January 2013):

*Foods and Liquors : This could be a group expenses and it depends on your selection, average falls at Php 100-200 contribution.
*Fare: Cubao to Tagaytay + Tagaytay to Evercrest (Php 104+28) OR straight Cubao to Evercrest (Php 122)
*Registration Fee: Php 20 for each trail, so it's Php 40.00 for traverse.
Total: Php 484.00