MT MACULOT (TRAVESE)

Sept 4 2016
Brgy Siete Cuenca batangas.

At 7.30am,  On bound, we were going to Cuenca this weekend after successfully climbing Mt Manabu last week,  It was suppose to be our tree planting event however, due to seeds unavailability we proceed to continue our trek as a regular day hike exactly 1 week ago, we were on our way to visit one of Batangas famous mountain, Mt Maculot.

It was way back 2010 when my friend invited me to climb maculot, but I was so naïve that time that I refused to participate. It was my first time visiting Mt Maculot and this time we organized a joint hike from two aspiring Backpackers group. UGOEn and PMS,. This was our 3rd joint hike together after successfully climbing Mt Manabu last week.

Our group was partly mixed of some newbies and some veteran climbers, We organized this climb as a welcome activity to the new members of our organization. Maculot, was also known to many as a mystical and beautiful mountain after its counterpart Mt Makiling in Laguna. It is also a famous destination to tourist especially the Rockies that brings you 180 degrees view of Taal lake.

We were 9 including the team leader of PMS Aaron Moreno one of my climbing buddies, we were excited this time because Maculot is a known mountain to many in the southern most part of Batangas.

8.30am,  we were exactly at mountaineers store in Brgy Siete We were welcomed by local guides and tourist as we geared up in preparation for our traverse hike. Our trail will start in Brgy siete up to the campsite, left turn to the rockies and up to the summit traversing Grotto part, which on a scale of difficulty we have conquered 4/9 and took us 6 hours and 15mins.


We started our trek at around 9.00am, guides are required in Maculot as their new policy after a mountaineer died in the mountain way back 2014. The first part of the trail was a concrete it was an easy 10mins trek until we reached the rough area, the trail path became narrower after 30 mins of trekking. We saw signs of deforestation on the trail, we also heard of loggers cutting trees on our way to campsite.  our guide was well experienced guide. He told us that Logging in the area of Cuenca Batangas is prohibited by the local government. So I was a bit disappointed when I heard his stories. It took us a total of 30mins to reached the first view deck at around 10.30pm. 

It was also the resting point of some hikers, the camping site was about another 30mins away from the first view deck. At around 11.00am was when we reached the campsite on Mt Maculot, we were a bit surprise of the stores selling everything to hikers and trekkers, the rockies area in mt maculot was about 10mins away from the camping area, We decided to unload our bags on the camping area so that we could visit the rockies part of Mt Maculot which was a famous land mark of Cuenca Batangas.

The trail to rockies was not establish there were a lot of rope segments connecting the upper part to the lower part of the trail, as we ascend we saw already a preview of the world-famous taal lake. At around 11.18am was when we were already on the summit part of the Rockies area of Mt Maculot, the whole rockies part area has a 270-degree overwhelming view of taal and the nearby towns of Batangas city. That time we were already enjoying the view and taking good shots from the north and the south side of rockies part.

 Mt Maculot was also known to many as a mysterious mountain, fact that there was once a mountaineer went missing for 10 days in Mt Maculot and was found dead after 10days, It was one of the saddest moments of Philippine Mountaineering Society, operatives have investigated what was the cause of death of a mountaineer in Mt Maculot It was found out that prior to the death of that mountaineer he went to Mt Maculot on his own after successfully completing a major hike in Sibuyan island Romblon. 

He went up to the rockies part area on his own to take a picture of the sunrise he left his backpack on the jump off area without leaving a notice. Operatives found his body 10days after declaring he was missing, findings said that he got accidentally fell off 300-400feet below the rockies area.

 At around 11.45am was when decided to went back on the camping area of Maculot, after successfully capturing good shots. We were accompanied by our guide he told us the whole story of the tragic death of one of our colleagues in mountaineering.

It was past 12noon when took lunch on the camping site, that time we saw many other climbers who were that time just came back assaulting the summit of Mt Maculot. After our lunch we took a rest for about 30mins and resumed our trek at around 1.00pm I noticed that the clearing that day was not good due to bad weather and we expected rain that's why we packed our bags. The bad thing that day was I failed to bring my bag cover so we modified the garbage bag we brought and made an improvised bag cover. We resumed our trek at around 1.05pm, by that time fog was already engulfing our path, It seems that we were walking on an enchanted garden filled with mysterious fog. We decided to push through to summit even when we knew already that it will be raining. The good thing was that my the new members of our team posses great fighting spirit they were climbing hard with us.

01.30Pm was when all of a sudden the temperature drop and It started getting much cooler, so we enjoyed the whole ascent. The second part of the trail was like Mt Pulag Mossy forest, it also resembles wild bore trail in Mt Makiling, a mountain I previously climb last 2 months ago.

We continued pushing through, up to the thick fauna of Maculot, the presence of fog was also a major factor that we were trekking slowly, we were enjoying the whole trekking while relaxing, the wind was cool and breezy, all of us were silent that time, I always experience a sense of great sensation when hiking a mountain that's why I climb frequently.

At around 2.15am was when we reached the summit of Maculot after trekking for about an hour, It was a steady chill climbing relaxation on a great Sunday afternoon. We rest there for 30mins and met other hikers descending back to campsite, by that time I already expected a 900masl high altitude, although we were not been given a good clearing but It was so chill climb that I experience again satisfaction to the exquisite level of climbing a mountain.

We did the traverse climb that day so we were not going back from the point where we started, the clearing was a bit gloomy. I expected a great view of the summit and the whole of taal lake but after resting for 30mins we eventually forgot the clearing and took great pictures of the summit. From my memories, I have totally reached a total altitude of 40,000ft altitude since january this year and I'm planning to close my total altitude to 50,000feet at the end of this year. This was my 9th summit this year after Mt Manabu last week.

It was when 2.00pm when we decided to descend to the grotto area, the other it was on the other part of the mountain, the 3rd part of the trail segment was now muddy and slippery. It was due to heavy raining early morning, experience climbers are the one's that are doing the traverse part of Maculot because of the trail class, the descent from the summit down to grotto required a lot of rope segments and slippery rocks.

We carefully descended down, the mud was about 4 inches thick In my trekking shoes, it was a bit messy and we managed to descent successfully down after passing two rope segments. The descent was a bit comparable to Maktrav reverse trail and was also mossy. Our phasing was a bit slow because of the trail condition. The last part of the trail was a 20meter rope rapel down to grotto area, It was said that It was impassable when it is raining, although a reverse traverse trail was not recommended when raining but it is good conditioning hike for advanced climbers who are seeking for great tune up climb, It can also be a good alternate source of tune up climbs aside from Mt Makiling.

We took a rest for a bit and rehydrated our bodies, the fog was already gone, a good clearing of grotto area was already visible to my naked eyes, from our resting site it was now a swift 20mins descend going to grotto area after the rock segment. Now we were back to the familiar grassy part until we reached the grotto area. It was already 4.00PM, we rest for a bit. now the trail going to the grotto area was now far more established than its counterpart on the campsite area, It was composed of hundred of steps going down
After resting for a while we trail run down to the exit point for about 30mins, by 5pm we were already back at our jump off point. The entire traverse took us 6 hours and 30minutes excluding the phasing time and lunch. And at last, we finished another major climb that marked my 40,000ft altitude, this was the 9th summit we conquered this year, I thanked my hiking buddies for this another wonderful major hike we completed. I am looking forward to our major expedition in Cordillera this coming October so we are preparing for next month.

Cuenca, Batangas
Major Jumpoff: Mountaineer’s Store, Brgy. 7 “Siete”, Cuenca
Exit point (traverse): Brgy 5 (to Grotto), Cuenca
LLA: 13°55 N; 121°2 E; 706 MASL (Rockies) / 930 MASL (summit)
Days required / Hours to Rockies / summit : 1 day / 1-2 hr / 2-4 hr
Specs: Minor, Difficulty 3/9 (Rockies); 4/9 (Traverse) Trail class 1-3.
Features: Scenic views of Taal Lake, rock formations, forests