Mt Makiling Traverse

JULY 17 2016
Sitio Jordan Brgy San Felix Sto tomas Batangas                              


At 8.15AM,  Close to home lies at the heart of Laguna facing Calamba City my hometown from its north face stands a mystical beauty of Mt Maria Makiling. An ancient mountain familiar to many as a mysterious place ever since the time of pre-colonial Philippines.

She was named after Maria Makiling a diwata (Goddess fairy) in Philippine Mythology and stands at 3580 ft in altitude on its highest peak. Makiling, a rain forest mountain has a thick vegetation and is home to rare flora and fauna. It has 3 major peaks, peak 3 is connected to peak 2 via traverse Sto tomas to UPLB trail, while peak 1 has a separate trail.

 My first climb on Mt Makiling was on the year 2009, It was also my first ever recorded major and minor climb on my hiking activities. After 6 years since I first climb her, I am finally back doing a travese climb via SIPIT TRAIL from our entry point Sto Tomas Batangas, to UPLB (University of the Philippines Los banos Laguna) college of forestry as our exit point. It was so far the most challenging day hikes close to Metro Manila.

 Joining my adventure was Gerald Kumpan my hiking buddy and some of my new friends we met. The entire travese took us 8 hours 50 minutes of trekking with rope climbing and trail running. again we were the last team that took off, there were 33 groups ahead of us.

At 8.30Am,  we were already on our way to sitio Jordan Brgy San Felix Sto tomas Laguna, We headed to the major jump off point of Mt Makiling where we got our guide. We commenced our trek 15 min after we settled our Guide at around 9.15am. 

The first part of the trail reminded me of Mt Arayat via Magalang side, it was a continuos chill trekking, the thick vegetation of Makiling  gives sanctuary to indigenous plants and Animals. The trail was mossy and wet, it was composed of 30 stations before peak 2, and another 30 station after peak 2 on the UPLB side. I estimated a consistent 150-200 steps interval per station. We met our new hiking friends Marnie, Yul and 3 of there companions as they were total of 5.

  

At around 10.00am,  was when we arrived on the last water source and the first resting area of station 4, after a nonstop tune up trekking. We were a bit fast, all of us were eager to catch up because we estimated 10 hours trekking and by the time we finished the whole traverse on the other side of Los Banos it will be dark. We resumed after 10 minutes of break. 

At 10.15Am, on station 7, one of our hiking buddies decided to cancel the climb, we were on the 2nd resting area, Yul, one of his companions keep on cheering him but he was hyper ventilating due to fatigue that one of our guides decided to bring him down. Marnie said he didn't sleep prior to our climb and it was his first time climbing a mountain. We felt sorry for him knowing Makiling travese is not your ordinary walk in the park, in fact it is one of the thoughest major climbs within the vicinity of Metro Manila, so all climbers must be prepared and have a good sleep. I have been climbing mountains ever since 2009, although not consistently but I can assure you that never under estimate a mountain. Makiling, way back 2005 was more difficult to climb than it was now, the fact that Melkas campsite can accommodate more hikers because that time, it required two days to complete the whole traverse. While a day hike seems impossible and demands more physical strength. 

On the other side Makiling was famous as a Mystical Mountain, It was the same year  when one climber died in Makiling he fell forty feet on Palangana segment on Sto tomas side while descending, authorities said that there group were following a strange sound of children playing. It was also in 2011 when 2 UP students mysteriously disappered and found dead in the mud spring area after few days on Los Banos side. There were also reports of missing groups in Makiling due to heavy fog, so take precaution when climbing and presence of mind is a must.

10.30Am, was when we resumed our trek until we reached the first view deck, by that time I estimated a 2000ft altitude at around station 11. Tall grass resembles the trail in Tarak Ridge, I also saw Mt Maculot and Taal lake from a distance. After a brief trekking on the grass part segment, we entered again into the forested part. We push through to station 11, 12, 13,14 until we reached station 15 which is considered the most limatik part of Makiling.

   
11.30Am, We decided to eat lunch on station 15, limatik's were swarming from every direction, although I was hesitant at first but I eventually had fun eating lunch with this cute creates of the mystical mountain.  Some Limatiks bit me as if I am their lunch. We catch up to some groups who left ahead of us, we were fast and our momentum kept us moving forward. We resumed our trek at 12.15pm, the weather  was a bit gloomy when we arrived on haring  bato area at around station 16. 

  The hardest part of the traverse was on Melkas Ridge Just above the haring bato. It featured a lot of rock climbing segments up to peak 3, consisting of 85-degree assaults where we needed to crawl and used our contortion skills to pull ourselves up. 

It required a physically demanding lower and upper body strength to pass through melkas ridge a challenging 30mins assault with rope climbing. The gust of wind was strong and the view was exquisite just before peak 3, so we took pictures of the awesome view.

At 12.40pm,  We arrived on peak 3, it has a great camping area for campers and the clearing was also great, but we didn't waste time, so we continued our trekking via wild bore trail. It is the trail connecting from peak 3 to peak 2. Limatik Presence was still a major factor that we were trekking fast, we were considering the time required to reach Agila Base,  it was 4 hours from peak 3.  and another 1 hour from Agila base to UP forestry .

Wild bore trail consist of high grass bushes with some flora species covering the trail, I

saw some Poison Ivy or LIPPA a rare flora found on some mountains in the Philippines.  It was like a roller coaster trail up and down that resembles the ridge between the North and South peak of Mt Arayat. 

I saw the North face of Mt Makiling by some parts of the trail, facing the astonishing view of my hometown Calamba City from a distance. Gerald and some of our new hiking friends were ahead of us, they were fast, Yul Asuncion my hiking buddy and me were the last, we were trekking spontaneously, our momentum kept us moving, until we reach peak 2 after one and half hour of sprint trekking.

At 2.45pm, We continued our sprint trekking without noticing station 30 of peak 2, It was already 15 minutes when we noticed that we were descending peak 2 and on our way to Agila base, passing station 30 where our buddies were waiting for us. We decided to rest for a bit and Yul climbed up again to peak 2 to pick up our buddies who were resting that time on station 30 or the summit. We regroup at around 3.14pm and continued descending to Agila base, again a one and half hour of sprint trail running. 

We pass station 25 and rest for a bit, finally we saw a clear view of the Los Banos side. From our point of view we saw the whole of Laguna Lake, Talim Island, and the nearby towns of Los Banos, Bae, Calauan up to Sta Cruz Laguna.

At 3,25pm, We just passed through the wooden stairs made of bamboo, from there we run non-stop passing station 24, 22, 20 and 18 for one hour and six minutes with no rest until we reach station 10 of Agila base by 4.30PM. 

Los banos side has more establish trail compared to Sto tomas side. station 20 to Agila was comparable to Tarak ridge's trail to Papapaya River. Our water source ran out again by the time we reached Agila. Thankfully Agila has a sari sari store that sells water and mountain dew to hikers reaching Agila, we met other hikers resting in Agila base by that time we have already conquered eighty percent of the whole traverse which took us 7 hours and 30 mins.

At 4,50pm, After resting for 20mins we continued our trek down to UP Forestry, one option is to ride a motorbike which will cost you 100 per head down to UP Forestry but we decided to continue our trek because we were hardcore, we wanted to finish the whole traverse by foot. I switched my shoes to sandals and we started trail running again by 5.00pm, 10min after we departed Agila Base.

 We run non-stop on the cemented trail passing mud springs, Makiling Nursery until we finally reached UP forestry or station 1 by 6.10Pm. we met several hikers on the Exit point where there were establish comfort rooms for wash up.  Exhausted, and thirsty we arrived with smiles on our face knowing that we enjoyed the whole adventure, our athletic stamina kept us on track. We have completed the whole travese which took us 8 hours 50 mins

I am planning a Maktrav 2 this September as our scheduled tune up climb for Mt Amuyao on October 29.

It was nice to be back on Mt Makiling my first ever mountain to climb, so much changes have occured when I first climb it way back 2009. I thank my new friends we met for this another wonderful Day hike adventure. 

MT. MAKILING TRAVERSE (MAKTRAV)

Sto. Tomas, Batangas and Los Banos, Laguna

Entry point: Sitio Jordan, Brgy. San Miguel, Sto. Tomas

Exit point: UP College of Forestry, Los Banos, Laguna

LLA: 14.13°N 121.20°E, 1090 MASL (Peak 2)

Hours to Peak 2 / days required: 1-2 days / 5-8 hours

Specs: Major climb, Difficulty 5/9, Trail class 3 with roped segments

Features: Roped segments, rocky face, limatik, rattan, tropical rainforest

source: pinoymountaineer