02-03 November 2013
I have always wanted to try mountaineering but I don't know someone that could help me on my first climbing attempt. Until one day, someone added me to a Facebook group for mountaineers.
I chose to climb Pico de Loro first because it is just in Cavite. Luckily, an event was posted on the Facebook group page for an open overnight climb there. At first, di ko alam kung paano ako makikisingit sa thread nila at sabihin na gusto ko sumama but I mustered my courage na sinamahan ko ng konting kapal ng mukha, at dun na nagsimula ang lahat.
The group (mostly freelancers and beginners) decided to just meet up in Maragondon. I came from our house in Tanza, Cavite so it was just a good 20-30 minutes commute via bus.
Meet up spot in Maragondon
We had to take a tricycle from Maragondon to DENR aka jump off. Tricycles would charge 70-80 pesos per head.
On our way to the jump off.
We decided to take our lunch in the base camp which was around 20-30 minutes trek from the jump off. And a good way to enjoy our food is by doing it "boodle fight" style.
Days before the climb, I researched on basic mountaineering do's and don'ts and what essential things I needed to bring. Ayoko sumugod na walang kaalam-alam but one thing I was not prepared for, was the heavy rain. For beginners, it's a must to secure your things in a waterproof bag or plastic and I failed to do this.
Around 15 minutes after leaving the base camp, it started raining like crazy. All my things was soaked up and my bag got too heavy during the trek. Although I can say that the rain made it easier for me to trek kasi hindi mainit, the burden was my heavy bag, plus the fact that I cannot use my clothes anymore knowing na overnight stay kami at malamig sa taas ng bundok pag gabi!
The pouring just wouldn't stop.
After almost 4 hours of trekking under the rain, we finally reached the camp site (Yey!). It was Saturday, kaya inexpect na namin na madaming climbers na ang nauna samin. Good thing, Kevin (our leader/organizer) arranged for someone to save us a spot. It was still raining when we reached the camp site so we pitched our tents under the rain then prepared our dinner (Tinola and Spicy Adobong Kangkong).
The rain finally stopped while we were cooking dinner. After our sumptuous meal, and because the weather's too cold, it was a good time for alcohol! Pero dahil konti lang ang resources sa bundok, napilitan na rin matulog ng iba nung naubos na ang alak.
The next morning, some of the guys woke up early to prepare our breakfast. We also decided to break camp before climbing the summit, pero bago ang summit, photo ops muna sa camp site dahil maganda na ang panahon (Yey ulit!).
The most challenging part for me, was climbing the summit. Walang masyadong bato at maiiksing damo lang ang pwedeng kapitan kaya medyo kinabahan ako, buti na lang mga gentleman ang gwapong mga kasama kaya may taga-assist ako. And... I made it!
It was foggy when we reached the summit pero thank God at binigyan kami ng clearing. Buti na lang may talent ako sa quick snapping ng beautiful views (Naks!)
I decided not to climb the monolith though because there are a lot of people who were already there but I promised that I will come back to Pico and will try it next time kaya background na lang muna sya sa selfie ko. Hehehe.
We also did a side trip to the falls. Buti na lang pala umulan the previous day, kaya hindi tuyo ang falls.
Til next time, Pico! :)
