Mt Balingkilat Traverse

Mt Balingkilat Traverse  (3,608 ft)

Sitio Cawag Settlement, Subic Town

January 7, 2017

OLONGAPO- It was only a week when I got back from Mindoro, we organized a climb that would be the first mountain of 2017 and we thought that it would not materialize until Erika Jefferson and Alex joined me and ended up with a great adventure of January.

BACKGROUND

Mt Balingkilat is situated in Subic, It is the highest mountain of Cawag Zambales after Mt Bira-Bira, Cinco Picos, Naule and Dayungan. Often called as the pointed peak by American G.I's who visited Subic Philippines. It has an altitude of 1100m with most parts of it were considered an open trial. We started in Sitio Cawag up to the summit and finally traversed down to Nagsasa Cove, which served as our exit point. The whole climb took 19 hours and 8 minutes.

SITIO CAWAG TO SUMMIT

We arrived in Olongapo at 12:30 pm bought our supplies, took Jeep to Subic Police station, and settled our permits before heading to Sitio Cawag settlement to meet our guide. We were total of four, the blogger, Erika, Alex, and Jefferson. we also had two guides. 

We reached the main jump off through chartered tricycle. Immediately, we started our trek at around 2:30 pm after a short briefing of the whole climb.

we had a wonderful afternoon

The first segment was tall Bermuda grass down to a dry stream filled with rocks. It was dry and golden brown.

the trail up to the summit

We have managed to catch up to the first group prior to us when we started. The last part of the first segment was hills covered with dry and brown grass we pass through until we've reached the last water source exactly 5:00 pm.

Darkness already engulfed as the sky turned into a dazzling luminous spectrum of light as we climb and gained altitude. We had few times we took a break and enjoyed the city lights. Subic, at night, was visible to our naked eye.

take 5 moments

Team Balingkilat

We arrived at the campsite at around 08:30 Pm we were bit tired and immediately cooked dinner, it was cold up temperature is at 16 degrees Celcius. 

Our guide started a bonfire to ease our shivering, we were all aware of the LNT principles but our guide insisted that it was a campsite. and bonfire is ok as long as it was set alongside with rocks and far away from dry grass. 

The campsite can accommodate 15 to 30 tents and was also spacious, the summit was just 15 minutes away from our campsite. We immediately ate our dinner and prepared to rest. 

Light out at 10:00 pm.

SUMMIT TO NAGSASA COVE

It was already 05:30 am when we woke up the next day, I opened our tent abruptly a beautiful array of horizon lights welcomed my drowsy eye. The wind blew hard as I returned back to our tent shivering from the cold.

Good Morning

Alex woke up also shivering, hurriedly we took pictures of the astounding view.

Sunday Morning

We returned to the campsite and prepared breakfast, Erika and Jeff were already up, we had our breakfast at 6:30 am and break camp at 7:30. 

mornings like this is priceless

We met the group we left on the trail last night, they were camping adjacent to our tent, we shared experiences we had on our way up and after that, we break camp at around 7:45 am.

We commenced our trek to the summit at 8:00 am and by 9:00 was when we reached the summit. We were delayed for 30 minutes because we took many photos on our way up.

Stolen shots.

The summit has a stunning view of Anawangin Cove and the West Philippine Sea. We had a spectacular time spent on the summit and even had good angle shots from our camera. 
It was my first time reaching Zambales and climbing one of the highest mountains in Cawag.
Indeed, a rewarding price for striving hard.

Photos of the Summit

After 30 minutes we descended to the ridge connecting to the other summit of Mt Balingkilat with a reminisce of Mt Pulag grassland.

We reached the other part of the summit at 9:45 am we took photos facing Nagsasa cove. and descended via ridge going to nagsasa at 10:30.

the view of nagsasa

The trail was open and the sun was radiating its glowing heat

Sharp rocks made the descend technical and complicated, and we've exposed to the sun's heat, a proof that Balingkilat is complicated than other mountains with the same scale of difficulty, a big factor is because of it's open trails.

Even pinoymountaineer recommends trekking the mountain best at night.

 
The path down was steep, there were no hopes of trees and the only shaded part were big grass that served as our cover on way down.

It was past 12 noon when we found a shaded part in the area. We then regrouped and waited for our sweeper.

no sign of trees

We met the team lead of the other group behind us, they were also suffering from the scorching heat of the mountain, one of there members past out.
We told our other guide to assist the other group behind us so that we could proceed to the nearest water source which was 200 meters away from our location.

 

The descent to Nagsasa cove seems endless

We wanted to assist the other group so we didn't waste time and arrived at the water source at around 1:00 pm, immediately, we refilled our water containers and asked our guide to deliver water back to the last team.

In times of uncertainty, camaraderie is a vital part in mountaineering, in the mountains every climber is your brother and sister.

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the stream of life

We unwind on the stream for good 30 minutes after we rehydrated our bodies with spring water. It was like an oasis in the middle of the dessert a delightful feeling reaching that area of Balingkilat. We even had nap for 20 minutes, a good afternoon siesta away from the scorching heat.

this part felt like African safari dessert

At 1:45 pm, There were no signs of the other group, so we decided to resume our relentless trek to Nagsasa Cove I was starving and wanted reach Nagsasa to cook our lunch, it was just an hour and half away from the spring.

that pointed peak was the summit 6 hours away

We arrived on the dry river at 2:30 pm and rest again for another 15 minutes.

final steps

Finally!, We reached Nagsasa cove at 3:00 pm and unwind for a while before cooking our dinner. We even waited for the beautiful sunset before going back to Pundaquit beach which was our exit point via chartered  bangka.

 

The end of trail is a beautiful sunset

All our exhaustion paid off on that astounding moment, it was filled with gladness and calmness, we knew on our hearts we did a great adventure there is a life saying "Difficult roads lead to beautiful destination". which indeed Balingkilat showed us.

We took chartered trike from Pundaquit before riding a bus back to manila.

Indeed Mt Balingkilat is a marvelous mountain filled with assorted kinds of adventure, waiting for you to discover.


until next climb.

MT. BALINGKILAT/TRAVERSE TO NAGSASA COVE
Subic, Zambales
Entry point: Sitio Cawag Settlement, Subic
Exit point: NAGSASA COVE (Brgy. Pundaquit, San Antonio)
LLA: 14.89 N, 120.11 E (est.), 1100 MASL
Days required / Hours to summit: 2 days / 5 hours
Specs: Major climb, Difficulty 6/9, Trail class 1-3