Monday
May 14, 2018
It was a holiday this past Monday due to the local elections. Being an unregistered voter, that meant a free day for me. Fortunately, some friends of mine were planning to climb Mt. Maculot. It’s been 3 years since I last went there so I think it’s time for a revisit.
Early Monday morning, the group picked me up along Rosario in Pasig. From there, we just Wazed our way to the jumpoff in Cuenca, Batangas. After stopping by a 7eleven to get supplies, we registered at the baranggay before having some breakfast.
The locals were having their elections as well so they asked us to get back before 3pm so our guide, kuya Edwin, can still be able to vote. We agreed to this and promptly started the trek.
I can only remember snippets of the trail, but I forgot how vertical it was. Mostly a steep uphill not unlike a Vertical Kilometer. We slowly made our way up, taking breaks every now and then.
We reached the rockies, where most of the hikers were already taking pictures. Here, we waited for our turn before engaging in a photoshoot session ourselves. The view was still as wonderful as before and I had a grand time exploring the rocks.
Fortunately, there were only a few groups hiking that day so the line for pictures weren’t as long. Kuya Edwin said that during weekends, the rockies were jam-packed. Thank you everyone for voting.
When we were done with the rockies, we proceeded to the summit. It was more ascents until the trail opened up to the bare summit. It was hot so we just waited for our turn at the summit marker, had a quick picture, and went down.
The way down was fast and easy. We arrived back at the jumpoff with time to spare before 3pm. We paid kuya Edwin and set him off to vote as we washed ourselves.
Itinerary and cost breakdown:
- 07:30 Start Trek
- 09:00 ETA Rockies, Photo ops
- 10:00 ETD Rockies
- 11:00 ETA Summit, Photo ops
- 13:00 ETA Jumpoff, End Trek
Local Fees:
- Hike to Campsite and Rockies
- P400 for 1-5 pax +P50 per excess pax
- Hike to Rockies and Summit
- Same as above +P50 per pax
- Traverse to Grotto
- P800 for 1-5 pax +P100 per excess pax
- Overnight
- Same as above
- Overnight and Summit
- Same as above +P100 per pax
- Overnight and Traverse
- Same as overnight +P100 per pax
Safe budget: P600 per pax
Finally done with the hike, we reached the highlight of the day: eating lomi!
We drove to G2B lomi house which was the most popular in Cuenca. We arrived just in time to secure a table. After waiting a bit, our order arrived, the huge overloaded lomi! It was enough for the seven of us!
Our stomachs full, we got back on the car and drove back to Manila. There was hardly any traffic and I was home before dark.
Thank you to my hikemates, Mam Tin, Eybi and Liz, Pao, and Mark for the company and for sharing the pictures. Until our next hike!
This was a perfect quick hike to recover from Shingles. No training, but I got by with the entertainment and talk with friends. And the lomi afterwards was superb! Really a good break from the pressures and demands of life.
-jgzn
Jai Online 