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| Mt. Batulao, Nasugbu Batangas. |
Mt. Batulao is one of the famous mountains in Batangas and perfect for a novice climber like me. It's my first mountain to climb by the way, not to mention the wrong outfit I wore plus the sling bag I brought, haha.
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| Coming from Alfonso Cavite, we just walked all the way to jumpoff that took us almost 1 hour. Picture: Nasugbu Batangas welcome ark (Left),"Maligayang Pagdating sa Lalawigan ng Magigiting". Rested at Jumpoff: Evercrest Golf Course. |
Going to this Mountain was a very long trek, dusty and arid climate. 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 (along the highway), Evercrest Nasugbu, Batangas for P120.
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| We started 5pm, in other words, we did night trek. It was kinda difficult for most of us because lots were beginners, plus the fact that not everyone brought lamps or flashlights. Dusty road (left). |
From the jumpoff, you can ride tricycle for P100, or just walk and practice those walkaton skills. From the jump-off, trail is very dusty, few trees, some narrow paths and some uphill routes. Most of us were first timers then and only one person in the group had climbed before.
After an approximately 3 hours of walk (beginners), we finally reached the campsite, set up our camp, cooked dinner and had the social thingy. Hmm, It's a little bit cold in here during late nights and early mornings, so better bring some sweaters! |
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| Good Morning Batulao! My first mountain wake-up. :), so cold. |
We woke up 5:30AM and started hike going to mountain's summit. Some opt to choose to stay at the campsite, 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.
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| Hills and boulders conquered. |
Trail continues, we climbed again hills, crossed a very narrow path (above, lower 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. We werescared then that we had to sit and crawl just to cross that path.
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| We were not able to catch sunrise view at the summit, we saw it on our hike though. |
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| Beautiful land forms from higher view. |
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| Panoramic view from Mt. Batulao's summit. |
Finally we're at the summit and enjoyed the 360 view from the top. We saw Taal, Talamitam and Maragondon. On the other hand, we noticed that the zenith's area are quite small, just approximately 10 meters in length.  |
| Here are the boys who took care of me from the jumpoff to campsite to summit. |
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| Shots with Virgin Mary (left). Decent Shot taken (right). |
You'll surely notice an idol of Virgin Mary at the summit. They said that long time ago, a group of mountaineers brought it to the there and left it.
After taking pictures and enjoying mountain's beautiful views we went back again to our campsite using an easier trail. Gosh! There's an easier trail existing, why didn't we go through there? Our friend just said, "so you could experience both trails, hehe". This trail is so much easier, there's no cliff to be afraid of, no hills to climb and no narrow 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 that took us 2 hours to summit. Upon reaching the campsite, we fix our things and ready our selves to descent
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May 23-24, 2011: I'm so happy to have a mountain climbing adventure for the first time! I will never forget this one, it was the only time I felt I'm free from any restrictions specially when I reached the summit, freeing myself from anything. Well that was totally amazing |
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