Runners’ day hike at Mt. Batulao

A thread started at takbo.ph for a climb to Mt. Batulao on Holy Thursday (April 1, 2010). Few days before the scheduled climb it was a sad news for me to hear that this would no longer be pushed through. This was the date that I was supposed to go home to the province (La Union) with my sister for a long weekend vacation anyway, so I still have plan B just in case. The thought of going to Mt. Batulao on Holy Thursday has not left my mind and I even got more curious about it as the scheduled date was approaching. Allen (ambo_kulit) and I decided to continue with the climb as planned. He has been my mentor-coach-adviser since my running career started almost 6 (six) months ago. Ambo, a mountaineer converted to a runner, has been giving me some insights and background information about Mt. Batulao after I have confirmed to go to with him. I was hoping that his past experiences through the trails of Mt. Batulao would lead us into good hands as we commune with Mother Nature.

After googling for some facts about Mt. Batulao, I stumbled upon www.pinoymountaineer.com. This site was so helpful that it contains all the details a mountaineer needs to know in climbing the different mountains across the country, Mt. Batulao of course not to be missed on their list.

Ultra-runners have been there too as I googled for more blog sites and their awesome pictures of the place has amplified my interest on climbing Mt. Batulao.

The day came and we were supposed to meet early at 4:00am in front of Pepsi, Tunasan, Muntinlupa City. We ended up meeting 40 minutes later due to a previous dinner engagement the night before. Starting up late on our travel to Mt. Batulao would make us suffer from the scorching heat of the sun on the trails. (The blame is on me Master Ambo!) The route we took consists of different rides using public transport.

Below are the details:

1. Muntinlupa to Pacita Complex
2. Pacita Complex to Balibago Complex terminal
3. Balibago Complex to Tagaytay market
4. Tagaytay market to Olivarez
5. Olivarez to Batulao (Evercrest Golf Course) – going to Nasugbu 

 

(road accident along Tagaytay highway)

Before we took our ride to Batulao, we had the chance to take a morning break near Tagaytay rotunda. We stopped at a convenience store to grab some bite for breakfast as we fill the bladder of our hydration packs with water and carried a bottle of energy drink. We’re good to go for the last jeepney ride going to Mt. Batulao… yay! It was almost 8:00am when we arrived at the entrance of Evercrest Golf Course and from there; we took a tricycle (fare = P100) to drive us to the jump off point. We passed a number of mountaineers preparing for the hike to Mt. Batulao from the Evercrest Golf Course.

At 8:10am, we prepared ourselves at the jump off point for the Mt. Batulao trail experience. The terrain on the first few hundred meters of trail from the jump off was dried earth (Imagine how challenging the trail would be during the rainy season as the terrain would be mud-covered that time.) We also met a group of mountaineers descending from Mt. Batulao. It’s a good gesture for a mountaineer to greet other mountaineers or hikers when they pass each other along the route. 

Our plan for this day hike was to do some sort of LSD (Long Slow Distance) run, to run slower on every uphill and to run slowest on each downhill so as not to injure ourselves before we could even run on an official race this April. Few more minutes of running and walking, we reached our first pit stop on the trail keeping our hydration still intact. We felt more energized with the buko juice and soon after we sipped all the juice, we asked Manang to cut the shell into half so we could spoon out the remaining contents inside. (Yum! yum!)

We still had a long way to go to Mt. Batulao’s peaks…

We took the new trail…

           

Peak to peak adventures began…

                          

Peak 3…

Going to Peak 4…

peeeAk-aM-boo!!!

                              
     

Peak 6…

Peak 7 as we approach a campsite and the toll gate....

                               

Missed Peak 8 marker…

           

Peak 9 as we looked back to previous peaks and the camp site.…

 

“Camerahan” mode…

                    

Allen’s summit assault…

Finally, at the summit (Camp 10).. 
We reached the highest peak in Mt. Batulao around 9:30am that took us almost a couple of hours from the jump off. This peak allowed us to have the best 360-degree view of the nearby towns of Batangas in Mt. Batulao.

       

On the left side is where we came from and on the right side is where we’re headed next…             

Familiar with this signature pose? 

                                                                      

We took our snack on the summit while enjoying the view.

We sighted a forest fire starting to heat up and spread on an area a stone throw away from our standpoint.

It could be a “kaingin” activity down below us.

So we headed down to Camp 1 to continue our Mt. Batulao trail adventure..

  

Ambo’s moments descending the steep slope..                            

Ambo romancing with the stones….

Ambo’s peak???

Ambo's moments…

We reached Camp 1 at 11:00am where we paid another toll fee for the trail.

This site has the most number of mountaineers camped resting on our day hike.

For the record…

Another 30 minutes was spent on Camp 1 for a break and chit chat with the folks then we headed down to Evercrest for lunch.

We took the old trail going back to the Evercrest Golf Club. We passed through trails just recently hit by forest fires.

             

Here’s a recap of the exciting and challenging trail experience we had at Mt. Batulao…

These were signages posted along the routes to remind us of our responsibility in keeping the environment safe and sound for future generations.

We hope you enjoyed viewing our pictures as much as we have enjoyed the actual trail experience.

Visit my blog often for updates on my running adventures and beyond…