Mt. Maculot
Pinoy Mountaineer website has always been my favorite website when it comes to adventures. I have been following him when I started to do mountaineering. I saw his report and checked some photos and whoah! Something caught my attention, Mt. Maculot. It has three destinations; those are the Rockies, the summit, and the grotto.
How to get there:
From Lipa City, we took a jeepney (near Shakey’s and Jollibee) that is going to Cuenca which cost us 24 pesos each. I told the driver we will climb Mt. Maculot, and yes, he knew where to drop us. It took less than 30 mins and the driver dropped us at the jump off point. We took a tricycle (50 pesos/tricycle) then the driver dropped us in Barangay Outpost to register (entrance fee is 10 pesos each), then the driver continued driving up until the sign going to Mt. Maculot.
We started to walk around 9:00. The first part of the trail was good. It would be too impossible for us to get lost because there were a lot of signs which ways to go. That was so nice of them to put such signs. The most part of the trail was dry but slippery. Good thing there were roots, trees, and branches where we could hold on to. We reached the campsite in less than 2 hours. But there were a group of climbers occupying the area so we had to go directly to the Rockies.
Reaching the dining or eating area, we turned left and went straight ahead. That’s how we reached the Rockies for 5 minutes. Be careful because there is a part where we had to climb a rock. Lyngve accidentally hit his head, ouch. Yes, it hurts. It was bleeding but not bad. The view was oh la la! Heaven! We saw the entire Taal Lake as well as the Taal Volcano. How cool is that?
We went back to the campsite, had our lunch and took a short rest. On the opposite side trail of the Rockies, we followed the trail going up to the summit. What I didn’t like was the overgrown grass, which I ended up having some cuts. But that’s the life of mountaineering. Getting dirty, dead nails, cuts, blisters, name it! However, the advantage part is that I was able to see the world, healthy lifestyle, great bonding, experience, and new friends. We reached the summit in an hour. Nice walk.
Then we decided to do the traverse. There were 3 trails. The one we took from the campsite, the middle part trail and the one to right, right beside the summit. So we were wondering which trail was correct, either the middle part or the one beside the summit. I told Lyngve we should take the one beside the summit. He said it was the poo area. So we took the middle part trail, the trail was very established. We were walking and walking, but it was a dead end, urgh! We had to get back to the summit. We tried to investigate. The trail right beside the summit should be the trail going to the grotto. It was late; we had no time to get to the grotto. We decide to descend to the campsite. We wasted 3 hours of our time.
From the campsite, we took another rest. I was disappointed. Sometimes, getting lost is natural, so be it. Then we descended. It was a little bit hard because it was slippery. The fun part was I had to use my ass and slide down. It was dusty everywhere. We reached the foot of the mountain in less than 2 hours.
The exciting part of mountaineering is that we don’t know what will happen. Expect the unexpected.
Here's the GPS track just in case you need it:
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