Rainy day hike: Mt. Batulao

The fog and the emo feels.

In our continuing saga to ambitiously conquer mountains of different categories, here is another climb we did just recently.

Rainy, foggy, windy 20th of July: it was a day well-spent climbing Mt. Batulao in Nasugbu, Batangas with the best hike buddies one could ever ask for. The weather wasn’t really the perfect weather for trekking but everyone was so playful amidst the gloomy conditions. It was an exhausting climb because wriggling out of the long, mud-spattered road was laborious enough, not to mention the steep slopes which required rappelling that we had to go through several times. Surprisingly though, with the mountain’s more than 10 peaks ( which translates into many ups and downs, literally speaking), it only ranks among the few beginners’ climbs. Could someone enlighten us how exactly do they rank these peaks? haha

Here’s a glimpse of our mini adventure to conquer a 4/9 mountain on a rainy day. Too bad we didn’t bring coffee to fend off the cold. Maybe next time? 🙂

(All photos captured using GoPro)

Akala mo, sea of clouds na. Yun pala, puro fog lang. Paasa, parang pag-ibig.

Akala mo, sea of clouds na. Yun pala, puro fog lang. Paasa, parang pag-ibig.

And our adventure begins…

Could this get even foggier?

And just when we thought we were almost at the jump off point, voila, it was still a long way ahead. Here’s the team led by Sir Gerald Rago (leftmost) shown in the photo below.

The team (although I’m not in the photo because black and white doesn’t suit me hahaha)

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: how can nature be this beautiful?

Lusting over the beauty of nature

I didn’t know there were a lot of horses in the area (like almost every household owns one). I’ve never seen that much horses in my life and I was the happiest! 🙂

horse!

Still a long way ahead

Green.

the cutest photo in my album and i don’t even know why. maybe because of the horse?

Apparently, madaming haciendero sa Batangas. hihihi

ang daming haciendero sa Batangas. hihihi 🙂

Well hello there Batulao 🙂

This basically tells us that IT’S. STILL. A. LONG. WAY. AHEAD.

one baby step at a time, ladies 🙂

Its not what you think it is. I know it looks like he’s having a hard time, but he’s really enjoying it. Or is he??? HAHAHA!

the lone tree and the emo feels. yikes!

Tatang rebuilding his cottage a few days after typhoon glenda

Kate and the locals 🙂

hello fog, can you steer clear of the way?

misty

You know what’s creepy? THIS. KNIFE. EDGE.

the narrow passage that they call the knife edge. how creepy could that name be?

In every climb, we make it a point to capture “buwis-buhay” moments.

buwis buhay

buwis buhay again

And the “buwis-buhay” award goes to this man.

fearless

ang fog na nagkukunyaring sea of clouds. HAHA

Finally, after what seemed like decades, we reached the summit. We stayed for a while and waited for the fog to clear out. So with the long waiting time, we had a significant discussion on how to survive zombie apocalypse and who the hottest celebrities are. Just how coherent could our topics get? hahaha!

happiness at the summit.

The fog cleared out for a moment and this was what greeted us. *drools*

AWESOME.

happiness overload ❤

THE Summit

Concluding our day: Nothing like selfies and cold beer to celebrate a job well done.

and so I thought everyone was looking at the camera

cheers!

The Night Sky

finding solace in the dimness of the night and the vastness of the skies

tillness of the folks

Meanwhile, on a starless evening sky…

Conquering Fear of Heights: The Pico de Loro Climb

Photo credit: Marylette Roa

 

“When you think you’ve gone far enough, go further” – Anonymous

Never have I thought, even in my wildest daydreams, that I would be able to climb Pico de Loro’s famous Monolith – a rock tower that stands 90 degrees from the ground. Upon setting my eyes on the monolith from the summit, I was really sure I wouldn’t be able to make it because FEAR.OF.HEIGHTS. My fear kicked in while reaching for the summit as I knew I was already pushing myself to the limit.  Apparently, I just had to push my limit a little further to climb to the top and cross this off my bucket list.

My colleagues and I went on a dayhike to Pico de Loro – the highest point in the boundary between Batangas and Cavite. Going through the less traveled trail, it was a 3-hour trek to the camp site. From the camp site to the summit was another 30-minute hike. And finally, from the summit to the monolith was another 30-minute climb, or it depends on who’s climbing. In my case, it took like forever to reach the top because I needed more time to take in all the encouragement from the team I was with.

I am sharing some of the photos taken during our climb. I know that pictures tell a thousand words. However, pictures can only tell so much. Pico de Loro is so much more majestic in real life than what these photos show.

***

First of all, hands down to this “organic” monopod/GoPole for my GoPro. The pictures wouldn’t have been great without it, what with all the “buwis buhay” shots it captured.

My first ever “organic” monopod/GoPole: because how else could I show my appreciation to nature but by making use of everything it has to offer.
Photo credit: Jimae Diva

 

and of course, thumbs up to our exceptional guide in the climb, none other than the artist sir Gerald Rago. Bravo!

sir Gerald Rago

 

nature always gets me

 

ugh, bamboo forest?

 

A glimpse of the summit from this point was already rewarding.

There goes the summit.

 

Pico de Loro in all its glory

 

the camp site

 

Slopes toward the summit. They were so steep they had me crawling to the top.

steep slopes towards the summit

 

even steeper slopes

 

taking a rest at the summit before going for the monolith climb

 

Let the quest to the monolith begin…

if only this picture tells what it looked like in real life…

no room for carelessness, I suppose

 

ALMOST.THERE.

 

F-I-N-A-L-L-Y!

The self-fulfilling moments after almost forever!

It was worth the climb after all

 

emlet 🙂

 

The good thing about using a GoPro camera and putting it on time lapse the whole time is that it captures  momentary peculiar moments (like the photo below) in high resolution. HAHAHAHA!

those looks. HAHAHAHA!

 

THE monolith. Photo credit: Marylette Roa

 

blissful to finally cross this off my bucket list.

 

I hope this inspires people like me who are afraid of some things: to try. Because only then will you realize that you are capable of so much more.

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