BATANGAS | Mt. Batulao

Mt. Batulao, one of the famous mountains in Batangas, is perfect for a novice climber like me. Lovers' Lakwatsa mountain experience started here.

Going to this Mountain isn't difficult, If you're coming from Manila area, you can take Nasugbu Batangas bound buses in Pasay Terminal between Mcdo and Chowking near Sogo (BSC Terminal or San Agustin buses). Buses will take you to jump-off, Evercrest Nasugbu, Batangas for P120.

TRAIL

From jump-off, you can ride a tricycle P100 or start you walk to campsite from here. It was late afternoon when we started our trek so night trail was expected . From the jump-off, trail is very dusty, few trees, some narrow paths and some uphill routes, so it's kinda humid temp will trekking especially in daytime. Most of us were first timers then and only one person in the group had climbed before and we're quite intrigued then what kind of experience it would bring to us like others did.

We took a short rest from here, traversing the new trail, which was hard to see, where we can't tell if cliff was just a step away, good thing we brought headlamp and flash lights. :)

After an approximately 3 hours of walk (beginners), we finally reached the campsite, set up our camp, cooked dinner and had socials thing. Hmm, It's a little bit cold in here during late nights so better bring some sweaters.


We woke up 5:30AM and started hike going to mountain's summit. Some didn't go with us maybe due to their physique, hehe. I thought then that summit will be just few meters away, but I was totally wrong. Our first challenge was to climb a hill (below, left), most of us thought it was the peak already, but again we're wrong..


Trail continues, we climbed again hills, crossed a very narrow path (above, right), death-defying for me and my Bf. It was only the two of us who took this path expecting it would be easier, thanks to our friend who tricked us hehe. It was scared then that we had to sit and crawl just to cross that path.

We were not able to had sunrise view from the summit, but we still did catch it during our hike up. :)

Land formations waiting for the sunrise as well.

AT THE SUMMIT

Finally we're at the summit and enjoyed the 360 view from the top. We saw Taal, Talamitam and Maragondon. Here are the boys who took care of me from jump-off to summit. :)

 You'll surely notice an idol of Virgin Mary at the top. They said that long time ago, a group of mountaineers brought it to the summit. Also we noticed that the zenith's area are quite small, approx. 10 meters in length.

After taking pictures and enjoying the beautiful views we went back again to our campsite using an easier trail. Gosh! There's an easier trail exciting, why didn't we go through there? This trail is so much easier, there's no cliff to be afraid of, no hills to climb and no narrower trail. So if you're a beginner you should try this trail first before you engaging a difficult one.

Trail going to campsite only took us 1 hour compared to the previous trail which took us 2 hours to summit. Upon reaching the campsite, we fix our things and ready our selves to descent.



ITINERARY

MOUNTAINEERS on a long night trek (left to right standing) Ronald Mesina, Gilbert de Guzman, Jay Adrian Evidente, Nhuj Jinayon, Mark Dee Jake Avinante, Mingming (wearing black), Dante de Guzman, Edlin Rotairo (took the picture) and Lovers' Lakwatsa (sitting) Aime Maranan and Raymond Rotairo

CHECKLIST

BUDGET

I'm so happy to have an adventure like this for the first time with my BF! I will never forget this one, it was the only time we felt we're free from any restrictions, freeing ourselves from anything. Mt. Batulao climb, May 23-24, 2011 was totally amazing!