Friday, 2 January 2015

Rocks (No Rolls) at Mt. Maculot

Before proceeding any further in this blog post about Mt. Maculot-Rockies, I urge you to read this awesome post by my equally awesome friend Paulo, who was one of the people who helped my sedentary ass conquer this mountain. Just between you and me, I was the only sedentary ass among the four of us who climbed Mt. Maculot together.

Exhibit A: Here you see Dena trying not to fall down during the hike.

Mt. Maculot-Rockies is found in Cuenca, Batangas. From Buendia, Manila, one had to ride a bus to Lemery and ask the conductor to drop you off at Cuenca, Batangas (Fare: Php 150). An alternative route, which we took was a bus to Lipa (Fare: Php 99) followed by a jeepney ride (Fare: 20). Take a trike (Fare: Php 15) from the highway to the barangay outpost where you will log in your names and pay a registration fee of Php 10. The trip on the way back is simply the reverse of these instructions just mentioned.

A hiking guide (Fee: ~Php 500) is required to be able to climb Mt. Maculot, due to a history of untoward incidents. They were honest about these untoward incidents in their short primer (just a laminated bondpaper, but a primer nonetheless) and in their barangay ordinance requiring the hiking guide.

You might be wondering why Mt. Maculot has "Rockies" as its family name. This namesake was because of the Rockies found mid-way to the summit. They were formed by a dried up river bed and consisted of - you guessed it right - rocks. Haha!

This one. The mountain was rocky also,
so I guess that counts as well

I know Paulo mentioned in his blog that it was an easy hike, but not for me. Haha. I mentioned my sedentary ass earlier, and that same ass hurt a lot while taking the assault climb of Mt. Maculot. We took the easy climb, and saved the traverse hike for later (or maybe in my case, never, but who knows). Thank goodness there were rest stations every 10 meters or less! Thank goodness my companions paced with me. Otherwise, I would've just asked them to drag me to the summit and back!

In one of the rest stations. I was the only one resting, obviously.

Upon reaching the peak of Mt. Maculot-Rockies, the struggle was all worth it. The view was really, really lovely, with the lake and the view of Batangas from up there. I can go on and ramble about what I saw, but it would be better if you appreciate the view through photos. It would be best if you go and see it yourself.

Would you look at that view!

Would you look at this view! Hahaha.

We rocked the Rockies together.
Until the next adventure,
Dena
Honor and excellence, through uphill
and especially through downhill (pun intended).



No comments:

Post a Comment