Adventures | Surviving Mt. Maculot Rockies

Mt. Maculot summit - view from the rockies

Mt. Maculot is one of the famous day-hike destinations near Metro Manila. It is located in Cuenca, Batangas and stands at the height of 930 MASL (meters above sea level) on the summit, 706 MASL on the rockies. It is considered a minor climb with difficulty level of 3/9 and trail classification of 1-3 (source: www.pinoymountaineer.com).

We planned our climb to Mt. Maculot end of September and scheduled it on the first weekend of October. A day before our climb, PAGASA issued a rain and thunderstorm warning in the vicinity of Batangas so I thought the plan would not push through, plus it's actually raining in Manila that time. However, a friend/mountaineer inquired from some of her friends if it's safe to climb Maculot when its raining and they said it's fairly safe, so off we go to Batangas the next day.

We were supposed to meet at Jollibee Buendia Station at around 5:30 - 6:00AM but one of my friends texted me at around 4:30AM telling me that they were still preparing their pack lunch (they'll be coming from San Mateo, Rizal) so I didn't rush out. I reached Buendia at around 6:30AM, super late but I still made it ahead of the couple who texted me...hehe!

From Buendia, we boarded the JAM Transit, left Buendia at around 7:00AM and reach Cuenca around 9:00AM. It could be earlier had the bus took the Star Tollway but unfortunately, it passed through the major thoroughfares of Batangas hence, the longer travel time. Anyway, we estimated our ascend to start at around 9:30AM so at least, we're still on schedule. And luckily, the weather was fine that day, it never rained though the sky's still gloomy. Thank God!

Mt. Maculot is an all-assault climb. I had more difficulty climbing this mountain than the Mt. Pico de Loro in Cavite, which has the same difficulty and trail classification level. But I was amazed seeing children hiking this mountain with ease. There were some who sell coconut juice, they set it up on almost every station along the trail going up. Some of these children are too young, as young as 5 years old (I think). Well, I guess they are used to climbing, some of them are the vendor's kids anyway, the owner of the so-called '7/11 store', dubbed as such because it sells almost everything, from coffee to softdrinks to hard drinks, with noodles and crackers and junk foods too. And during summer, they say he sells halo-halo too. 7/11 indeed! *hehe*

Anyway, it took us more than 2 hours to reach the campsite. And there were a number of campers there already, good thing we were just on a day-hike. We stayed here for a while, had our lunch in the kubo, rested more for around 30 minutes and then continued our way to the Rockies.

the "7/11" store :D

View of Taal Lake from Maculot campsite

I thought I would never make it to the Rockies. A friend apprised me beforehand that there is this bridge-like section less than a meter wide that we have to cross to go to the Rockies. Thankfully, the grass there is taller than me I didn't notice the cliff while crossing. But when I reached the other side and started my climb to the Rockies, I almost backed out. The rocks, or should I say the boulders are too big, I had difficulty climbing it. Thank God my friends never gave up on me, they threatened to leave me here encouraged me to continue and helped me all the way.

going to Maculot Rockies

See the boulders in the photo above? I had difficulty climbing those, they are so big my "long" legs couldn't make it over  the boulder and climb it. So to get through it, I used my knees, almost crawling over it actually; thus, I got bruises on my knees. Anyway, I'm glad I was able to make it to the Rockies. The view from there is so breathtaking! I had a panoramic view of the Taal Lake and the Taal Volcano as well as the province of Batangas on the far end. I wasn't able to take a lot of photos as am afraid of going near the cliffs, so these are just some of my photos.

Taal lake

Taal Lake and Volcano

With us on the Rockies, Taal Lake on the background!

the daredevils!!

We stayed here at the Rockies for over an hour. My friends enjoyed taking their photos on the cliff, daredevils they are! Poor me, I don't have a photo just like them. But I know my limitations, so I'm not envious really. I'm just glad I was able to conquer and survive Mt. Maculot Rockies!

After more photo-ops, we started our descend and reached the foot of the mountain at around 4:00PM. Had some halo-halo from the vendor there, did some chit-chat with them too. And I asked them why the mountain is called Maculot but they weren't able to give me a straight answer, just that the mountaineers were the ones who called it Maculot. He also said that this mountain was used to be called Macatmon by the locals.

Anyway, after finishing our halo-halo, we went to one of the houses there that offers shower for a fee; 15 pesos for a pail of water (approximately 5 gallons), if I'm not mistaken. We alternately took our shower there; had some rambutan too. The owner has a rambutan tree in front of her house and she offered us some to taste it, for free this time. Thank you ma'am for the free rambutan, and thanks for the free use of off-lotion too. :)

the shower rooms!! (inset: the rambutan tree)

~ oo00oo ~

Date of Visit: October 6, 2012