San Bartolome, Batangas to Los Baños, Laguna
March
16, 2013
 |
| Mt. Makiling's view from San Miguel, Sto. Tomas, Batangas. |
Silently lying like a beautiful princess but proudly standing with more than a thousand meters height (1090 MASL - Peak 2). Picturesque sceneries with full of mystique stories. A mountain that is pertained with a goddess that once fell in love with a mortal. Known for several circumstances that took lives of some of its visitors which people relate to the superstition.
Mt. Makiling extends from San Bartolome, Batangas to Los Baños, Laguna and is conserved by
University of the Philippines - Los Baños, specifically the College of Forestry
and Natural Resources. Except from the superstition which people relate to the
mountain, Mt. Makiling is popular because of its characteristics, like having
boulder rock sections which require strenuous trekking. It is also known for
having rain forest, wild flora and fauna, limatiks
(tropical leeches), mud spring, which is believed as the crater of this
inactive volcano, and hot spring side trip.
The trek was not as funny and easy as how we handled
the not-so-lucky and not-so-timely scenarios that we had
before we stepped our feet on the right trail.
“Pinipigilan
talaga tayo ni Mariang Makiling na umakyat.. hahaha..” was our
favourite line for those moments. Funny huh? Well, not really. Not at all.
But, will we still go back to that mountain?
YES, of course, with conviction. It was not funny but was fun and enjoying. It
was not easy but was challenging. Tiring but was worthwhile. Death-defying but
we managed to keep everyone safe. It was
an experience that we always look for. An experience that provides sensation to
all our being every time we achieve our goal for every hike that we do, and
that is touching the mountain’s peak, by hands or by feet, and going back home.
Alive. Complete.
The not-so-lucky and not-so-timely scenarios
As Team Santelmo planned a dayhike on Mt.
Makiling, we decided to travel from Jam Liner Bus Station in Cubao going to San
Bartolome, Batangas as early as 3 o’clock in the morning, but failed to do so because
one of us stayed asleep until 5 o’clock in the morning and we waited for him to
arrive, which we jokingly said that “Hindi
pina-ring ni Mariang Makiling ang alarm niya para di siya magising agad, hahaha.”
Arriving at Barangay Hall of San Bartolome,
Sto. Tomas, Batangas at around 8:00A.M., we registered our names and paid
P20.00 each, then started to hike towards the mountain passing through the
local houses.
 |
| Brgy. Hall of San Bartolome, Sto. Tomas, Batangas. |
Exhaustion fast came to us because of minimal
number of trees to shed us from the heat of the sun. But the exhaustion was not
paid off as we met the people from UP Los Baños College of Forestry, at the
foot of the mountain, who told us that the trail we are trekking is already
closed since last year because of the incident that happened in which two
bodies were found dead in Flatrocks (see article).
 |
| Start of trek from Brgy. Hall of San Bartolome. |
 |
| Team Santelmo ascending at San Bartolome's trail. |
The trail
reopened dated March 25, 2013, three-months after the incident, for the Lenten
Season.
 |
| Mt. Makiling map posted in San Miguel registration area. |
Cannot do anything but to follow, we went
back to the Barangay Hall and waited for tricycles to bring us to the other registration
area. Again, we jokingly voiced out our favourite line for the trek, “Pinipigilan talaga tayo ni Mariang Makiling
na umakyat.. hahaha..”
We reached San Miguel, Sto. Tomas, Batangas
registration area, input our names again but paid nothing. We continued the
trek until Station 2 and had our lunch there.
 |
| Lunch at Station 2. |
After lunch, we started to hike towards the
river, as what the nice people we met in the Station 2 said that we have to
pass through it. We hired a guide named John who is 23 years old and was
accompanied by his cousin, but they are not aware of the trail we were trekking
because they are from San Bartolome, so they are more familiar with the trail
coming from there, which is the Palanggana trail.
 |
| Team Santelmo trekking from San Miguel's trail. |
And so we got lost. We crossed the river, passed
through the grotto, saw the small markers tied around the stems of the trees
and thought that we were on the right trail. But along the way, we were not
able to see the next marker. And our favourite line for the trek was heard
again, “Pinipigilan talaga tayo ni
Mariang Makiling na umakyat.. hahaha..”
 |
| Grotto in Mt. Makiling across the river at Station 2. |
John, our guide, told us that he is not aware
of the trail so we better go back and find the way that he knows. A little bit
frustrated because it was already afternoon, around 2:00P.M., and we still did
not know where we were and where we should go, but we still continued (of course, we had to).
We went back, passed the grotto again and
found the alternative trail after San Bartolome’s was closed, which is the
Sipit Trail.
The Real
Trek on the Right Trail for Traverse
Frustration and exhaustion mixed up along the
way going to Sipit Trail but were eased as we saw the ropes segment.
The Team forgot about the not-so-lucky and not-so-timely scenarios that we faced and focused on conquering the
mountain’s peaks. At first, we were planning just to reach Haring Bato because
it was already late in the afternoon and we were thinking on the extra challenges
that we have to face if we descend by night time, considering the risky trail, dark
surroundings and limatiks.
But after conquering the need-for-arm-strength
ropes segment, passing through Melkas Ridge Campsite and succeeding to be on
Haring Bato’s top, seeing how high we were at and looking below the ocean of
trees’ green leaves that were almost covered by clouds, we were encouraged by our triumph
and decided to continue pursuing our goal of touching the mountain’s peaks and
do the traverse.
 |
| View from Melkas Ridge |
 |
| Team Santelmo in Haring Bato. |
 |
| View from Haring Bato. |
 |
| View from Haring Bato. |
 |
| Team Santelmo in Haring Bato. |
Determined to continue, we dropped the moment
of seeing beautiful scenery and started walking again through the higher-than-us
grasses and plants. We vigilantly crossed the trees and rocks between the
cliffs and realized that what we crossed was like a huge stone put on top of a
steep mountain.
 |
| Team Santelmo member. |
 |
| Way up to Mt. Makiling's Peak 3. |
As the night fell down, fogs add up to the darkness
of the place. We cautiously looked at the trail we were trekking and ensured
that we could see any person at our front and back. Night trekking may be safer, if hikers walk together so they can make
sure that no one gets lost or worse, fall.
We reached Peak 3 but did not attempted to
stop for so long since it was almost dark when we got there, and we were more
focused on pursuing to descend. Then
we reached Peak 2 and stopped to take some rest.
 |
| Team Santelmo member, with the guide, at Mt. Makiling's Peak 3. |
 |
| View from Mt. Makiling's Peak 3. |
Limatiks were visible
along the way from the river to Peak 2 but were more aggressive on wet areas of
the mountain, which we experienced during the descend from Peak 2 (see this
link for more information about limatiks).
 |
| Limatiks attacked Team Santelmo during Mt. Makiling traverse. |
The Never-ending
Trek to Descend
Going down the mountain seems to be an
exciting idea. It gives the notion that sooner we can take a rest and clean our
filthy body. But descending from Mt. Makiling’s Peak 2, by night time, prolongs
the excitement and slowly kills it (whoah).
The trail from Peak 2 is infested by limatiks because of moist (well, what do we expect? It is a rainforest)
that made the trek more challenging. In addition, we had to fight against
darkness with our light supports (headlights and flashlights), slippery muds, starvation,
exhaustion and sleepiness (since the team
met up at 3A.M. but were just starting to descend around 8P.M.).
Despite the extra challenges, we managed to hike,
duck under the plants and trees, crawl over the roots and rocks, slide down the
mud and wander with limatiks on the
different parts of our bodies.
Hours later, around 11P.M., positivity got us
as we saw a road. But it seemed to be another challenge. It was just a road.
Lesser limatik. No strenuous trekking.
No need to hike up and down. But it was relatively a long road.
Along the way, we saw huge leaves of Fern and Gabi which are bigger than
a single bed (nai-compare ko siya sa bed
kasi inaantok na talaga ako sa mga oras na nakita ko yun.. hehe..:).
As we passed through the different large
plants and trees, different hallucinations also passed through our eyes and
minds. We thought that we were seeing lights from houses from afar, that we
were walking towards a bahay-kubo, hearing
dog barks and many others (maybe it was
our hope for seeing and hearing those things that delivered us to these
hallucinations, also considering the exhaustion and sleepiness that we feel).
Finally, we reached the UPLB College of Forestry
registration area around 3A.M. That was the only time we knew that hikers of
Mt. Makiling are only allowed to hike during day time. Everyone should have descended
from the mountain at 4 o’clock in the afternoon.
In the registration area, we had the opportunity
to rest, take a bath and have a couple of minutes to sleep. Then we were able
to walk again out the vicinity of the UPLB and see the day light as we travel
back home.
 |
| Mt. Makiling's view from Brgy. San Bartolome, Sto. Tomas, Batangas. |
Mt. Makiling is really a long quest that provides
hikers exhausting trails and challenging experiences. It is dangerous but can
be managed by being responsible and cautious to the pathways that people are
trekking, as any other mountain requires. A person should not be afraid of
exploring such a beautiful scenic mountain but should be prepared and excited
for extra challenges.
See Team Santelmo's video during Mt. Makiling traverse in youtube.
