I’ve been meaning to climb another mountain since late last year. But apparently, it wasn’t the best time for me just YET. You may know that one of the goals I have for this year is to keep my lifestyle as active as I can. I personally describe this as hitting the gym, joining running events and doing other fun and exciting physical activities including mountain climbing. Me and Jhori registered for a hiking tour, Traveling Adventure, last January 14 to finally make this thing happen. We opted for the February 28 schedule at Mt. Batulao because it seemed to be just right for our schedules. The truth is, I was having a hard time asking my friends to join us for this trip, so I guess signing up for a hiking tour became a big of a help for us, for providing us our needs while enjoying the company of other people who have the same interest as we have.
Mt. Batulao is one of the most popular day hikes near Metro Manila. It remains one of the most favored hikes for beginners and training for aspiring mountaineers. Being located at Nasugbu, Batangas, Mt. Batulao is very accessible and can be reached in roughly 2-3 hours travel time from Manila.
I wasn’t able to get some sleep before heading to our meeting place at 3:30 AM in Cubao, yes, I LITERALLY did not sleep! So I did a quick nap in the van while we were on the way to Batangas, and it wasn’t the best nap I could ever have. I felt really uneasy! We arrived at around 6:00 AM and prepared ourselves for the upcoming hike. I won’t be elaborating the trails and stuff here, so you can go check Mt. Batulao’s know-how on other blog sites instead.
We followed the old trail going up to the summit. There are a total of 10 camps going to the summit of Mt. Batulao. There were also vendors along the way who sell buko, snacks, ice cream and even lugaw. We made multiple stopovers for registrations, a total of four registrations if I remember it accurately but, I could be wrong, okay? haha! There were also several times that we had to stop and wait for other hikers. This is somewhat of a con if you are hiking with different groups of people. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a pro either, nope, not yet! But I can do better than the others, maybe? So we took that opportunity to take photos of the oh-so-great scenic view from up there. Nature’s beauty just continues to amaze me!
At last, the summit! It was very windy up there but that did not make the scenery any less of its beauty. It was majestic, beautiful! The word fulfilling is an understatement to how it felt like. I remembered my excitement upon reaching the top while I utter, “FINALLYYYYYY!”.
There were already a bunch of hikers (from another travel group) up there when we came. It was very different from my previous hikes because we were only few back during my Mt. Pamitinan and Mt. Maculot hike.
Then after a while, the weather started to get gloomy. We were rushing our early lunch and photo ops so we could go back to the van before the weather gets even worse. Next thing we knew, the rain had started pouring. It became freezing cold up there so we had to double time our way back down. We followed the new trail this time, by the way. The rain isn’t as visible on the photos, though. The bad weather lasted for about 30 to 40 minutes, then we slowly saw Mr. Sun shining upon us again, thanks God!
It was another fun adventure for the two of us. I’m more eager now to climb more mountains within this year, though I have to constantly remind myself to not be a couch potato anymore, oh please!
Other Things to Share:
- This is by far the easiest hike I ever did. Though I have only hiked three mountains to date.
- Both the old and new trails were easy to follow. You’ll not get lost even without a guide. It’s just so perfect for newbies!
- I suggest you bring packed lunch because there’s no available store in the summit and the locals only sell ice cream there.
- Aside from day hike, you can also go and try their overnight hike. Though, I don’t have any plans of doing it just yet.
- There are houses down the mountain that offer paid use of toilet and shower. For sure, you need to freshen up before going home just like what we did.
- I absolutely fell in love with Mt. Batulao and I would love to go back!
Updated!
