Mt. Manalmon "Biak na Bato' San Miguel Bulacan.

Mt. Manalmon is located in San Miguel Bulacan at Sitio Madlum. Locals called this as 'Biak na Bato" which is part of the History of Katipunan Revolution. If you ask locals where is Mt. Manalamon they dont have any idea because they are used to call the mountain "Biak na Bato".Aside from the historical background of Biak na Bato National Park it offers great outdoor adventures. Such as Hiking at Mt. Manalamon and Mt. Gola, caving and spelunking at Bat Cave and Manalmon Cave, River trekking/crossing, cliff diving and the signature of "Biak na bato"  the monkey bridge.

From Cubao we took a bus heading to Cabanatuan. Baliwag does have a regular travel to Cabanatuan and its taking the Bulacan Route. Its a two hours travel from Cubao to Barangay Kamias which is the entry point to Sitio Madlum.

We get-off from the bus at Barangay Kamias San Miguel Bulacan. From here a tricycle ride will bring you to the entrance of Biak na Bato National Park. The fare is quite expensive so you should practice your bargaining skills when you get here. 

We asked our drivers to bring us to the nearest Carinderia along the way. We had great lunch with Bulacenio's dishes. Dinuguan, Lechon, Bopis, Banana and cold softdrinks.

For those groups that will stay overnight at Biak na Bato National Park you can buy your supplies in the Market before the entrance of Sitio Madlum. All supplies are available not including butane or denatured oil.

WELCOME SITIO MADLUM

Mt.Cristobal Traverse Tala-Kinabuhayan Trail- The Devil's Mountain. Finally!

Finally after third time of planning this event now for real I would be hiking the so called "Devil's Mountain". For some reason for my previous plans and itinerary which supposed to be  on October 2013 but before the climb date group had a work schedule problem so we had to cancel the event. For the month of November I also planned this Mt. Cristobal Hike but a day before the climb date I also had to cancel because of the typhoon Yolanda. I dont know if "there was something stopping our group to climb this mountain" The group shared the same feelings". But for this time everything went smoothly and we were so excited for this.

Mt. Cristobal is located within the borders of Quezon and Laguna. The main entry point is at Dolores Quezon in Barangay Kinabuhayan but there are also entry points and possible traverses in Nagcarlan ,San Pablo,Rizal and Dolores.

We took a bus from GMA heading to San Pablo- take any Lucena bound buses.

The bus dropped us at Jollibee San Pablo because this where our rented jeep was waiting.

For those who will be doing the Tala-Kinabuhayan Traverse I would highly suggest to charter a jeep because going to Tayak Hills which is part of Tala Rizal would not have any available public transportation. A tricycle might take you there but expect that you will pay extra. The convenience for the group is what you are paying for and you should also consider your time table.

This is the San Pablo Public Market where you can buy your supplies.

While heading to Tala Jump off this view stopped us because we saw the rare clearing of  Mt. Banahaw and Mt. Cristobal which most of the time cloudy.

Lioness back and Rhino Rock- The Norzaragay Adventures

One of my member  in  ESKAPO MOUNTAINEERS invited me to join TEAZONE (The Extreme Adventure Zone) Headed by Sir Marc Gana for a "Class 4 Rock Climbing/Scrambling Training" in Norzagaray Bulacan. Thanks Ms. Jackie Vargas ^_^

 LIONESS BACK

RHINO ROCK

POKER FACE ROCK

Our meet-up place was Jollibee Cubao. From Cubao we took an ordinary bus travelling to Sapang Palay and asked the "konduktor" to drop us off to Road 2 which is few minutes away from Tungko, San Jose Bulacan. From Road 2 we had to take another jeep to go to "Lower Bigte Norzagaray(Crossing) to secure our packed lunch and water. From crossing the the rock formation is 15 minutes tricycle ride away only. The major jump off is at "Upper Bigte" said by Sir Marc Gana. Note: tricycle drivers from crossing know about the rock climbing site. Just tell them you will go for rock climbing.

Mt. Sembrano Tanay Rizal.My start-up climb for 2014

Mt Sembrano is located in Pililla Tanay Rizal and  the major jump-off is at Barangay Malaya Pililla. 

To start my 2014. I thought of different mountains to climb. January was a tough month for me because of work schedules and other commitments that I had a hard time dealing with . I thought of a mountain that is near the Manila area which the travel is not a problem. Mt. Sembrano is located just  in Tanay Rizal and its just a two-ride away from Shaw Boulevard (Pasig) jeep to Tanay(Bayan) and a jeep from there will take you to the jump-off at Barangay Malaya Pililla.

View from Mt. Sembrano Peak 1

TEAM SEMBRANO "ESKAPO MOUNTAINEERS"

Dayhike Trippers Jackie, Philip, Ayang,Bel and Bhebz

Our meeting place was at Chowking Star Mall Shaw Boulevard. From crossing we took a jeep going to Tanay Rizal (Bayan). When you visit different places in Tanay Rizal from Bayan you will not have a problem about transporation because jeepney drivers there will ask you where is your destination and they will direct you to the right terminal and fare will be at regular cost. 

Mt. Batulao Traverse Old-New Trail -Back to our Home "The First Year Anniversary of ESKAPO MOUNTAINEERS"

As we celebrate the first year anniversary of ESKAPO MOUNTAINEERS. I decided to held our party in the place where the group started. Mt. Batulao was the first mountain the we hiked with the pioneers of the ESKAPO which has eight members who escaped from the work. We were all stressed out from our job and we wanted to unwind and relax by doing a nature adventure.When I was checking my facebok account I saw a picture of Sir Bryce in the mountain.I asked him where was that picture taken and he said it was in Nasugbu Batangas in Mount Batulao. Since college to be a mountaineer has been my dream but since you are just a student and you dont extra budget for this sports I told myself that after i graduate from college I will really pursue the mountaineering sports. A chance came along the way with no second thought I embraced it.!

ESKAPO MOUNTAINEERS at Mt. Batulao 3rd time ^_^

Mt. Batulao is the  favorite mountain of the group. The ESKAPO were here on  November 2012- the first visit, July 2013- the second visit and the FUNCLIMB of the group and now since we were celebrating our first year Anniversary the best place to celebrate the group existence is on our mother mountain. -The Batulao

Tagaytay Olivarez (Traffic)

That day was a day of "delay". I  started to be pissed off when one of the member who said and committed that he would be carrying all the supplies was not responding on any of my text and I even tried to call him but his two cellphones were "off". On all of my itineraries its usual that there are some instances that the time table will be adjusted but supplies and other important things for climb must always be secured. And because of him we were problematic because we dont have supplies like food,camping things,etc and knowing that in Evercrest(major jump off) there's no market or even convenience store there where we can buy like butane. But when we came to EVERCREST i got a call from him and he said that he will be doing a night trek to give us the supplies. I just convinced my self to be patient and understanding that time. I am just concerned on the survival aspect of the group on this climb and yet this is a climb for our Anniversary and no reason to be upset. But after the event I talked to him and apologized but explain why things that he did were not tolerable.

Mt. Maculot Cuenca Batangas

I have been into different places in Batangas and I always see this mountain. It can be seen anywhere in Batangas. If only my classmates back in College accompanied me to climb Mt. Maculot this would be my first serious climb and first Mountain.

When I was in Taal Volcano I got  amazed with the view of Mt. Maculot. If I am not mistaken this is the highest peak in Batangas. 

For the 8th Mountain of ESKAPO MOUNTAINEERS after the long and tiring trek in Makiling we had set Mt. Maculot as the next mountain to climb. During this time Mt. Maculot was very famous because of what had happened to our co-mountaineer Sir Vinson Ayson who fell from the  Rockies of Maculot during the Holy Week. Rest in Peace Sir!

Mt. Maculot is Located in  Cuenca Batangas. This is one of the prominent mountain in Batangas because it offers an enticing view of Taal Volcano and the Taal Lake from the Rockies side of Mt. Maculot which most mountaineers claimed to be their favorite spot.   

"TEAM MACULOT" For me this is the best line-up of my group. Halimaw!!!!

The day that we climb Maculot was totally raining. We were blessed because we waited for the rain to stop and fortunately when we reached the Jump Off the rain stopped but the trail was so wet and muddy which affected our group pacing.

Mt. Makiling Traverse "MAKTRAV" via Sipit Trail. From Sto. Tomas Jump off to UPLB.

Mt. Makiling is one of the famous mountains in the Philippines. Since elementary days we have been hearing the name of this mountain because of the story of " Mariang Makiling". Its considered one of the mystical mountains of the Philippines because of hearsays about the elements in this mountain.

Mt. Makiling View from Turbina.

Makiling has two main "Jump Off", one is at University of the Philippines Los Baños College of Forestry and the Jump Off from the other side of Makiling at Barangay San Felix-Sitio Jordan (Basurahan) Santo Tomas Batangas. The "MAKTRAV" or Makiling Traverse is one of the favorite trekking path of many hardcore mountaineers. From Santo Tomas Batangas there are two trails that you can take, one is the Sipit Trail and the other one is the Palanggana Trail. Officially the "Palanggana Trail was closed already because its now part f the UPLB protected area. The Los Banos Trail was closed in 2007 because of the damaged it had during a strong typhoon that hit the Southern Luzon. There was an incident happened back in December 2012. There were two students of UPLB who died in "Flat Rocks" a water catch basin of Makiling near UPLB where you can swim.  After the said incident the UPLB trail was closed again for mountaineers. This really made us to take the "MAKTRAV" July 2013.

ESKAPO MOUNTAINEERS "TEAM MAKTRAV"