Whenever you here the word “Los Banos”, it is always tagged to swimming but sometimes Mount Makiling is uttered. For this weekend, we will climb this enchanted highland. There are two organized groups, dayhikers (18 individuals) and the traverse team (22 individuals). I am part of the latter team.
We started our trek at 9:00AM and reached Melkas Ridge campsite at 4:00PM with numerous pit stops along the way. The first day was full of assault with views of Batangas area. During our lunch, we saw a small snake that is also resting while we are eating.
In this small campsite, we pitched our 12 tents realizing that there was already a new campsite just above us which can house at least 20 tents. The other groups were able to conquer that other side. We had an early dinner as well our socials since we are scheduled to have an early wake-up call.
At 4:30AM, different alarm sounds were played to wake the remaining campers. We prepared our “Lugaw” breakfast with combination of Tuna sandwich. After breaking camp, we started our assault to Peak3 at exactly 7:15AM. We had our group shot taken at that peak. Just a quick rest and now we are in the forest trail going to Peak2.
The forested trail is my favorite part of the hike because of the difficulty level. I named it as a soldiers training ground where you will learn to crawl, squat, slide, use rope segments and insert through wood obstacles.
Finally, we reached Peak2 at exactly 11:15AM, where we are supposed to meet the dayhikers and have lunch together. Since there is communication barrier in telecoms side, we decided to hike down to UPLB trail at 12:30PM which amazingly just after 15 minutes of walk, we met them along the trail. It was a united moment, where overnighters finally meet the dayhikers.
Hiking down the UPLP trail was a breeze with some attacks of the leeches along the trail. We were also blessed with some rain along the way. Before 5:00PM, we reached Station 7 which is the general marker of this side. We rest and freshen-up at Station 1 before heading back to the highway.
The Makiling traverse is a great experience because of the diversity of the trail and views. I like to try the dayhike traverse itinerary but it will require more physical and mental preparation.
See you soon Maria Makiling and Thank you for the good weather!
Overnight hikes are always the best!
ReplyDeleteOvernight hikes are always the best!
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