Trekking Mt. Maculot

Province of Batangas

06 August 2011

Mt. Maculot climb was a Mt. Pico de Loro climb "reunion" since most of the climbers were also at Pico de Loro about a month ago. Twenty passionate and nature loving climbers met at Mc Donalds El Pueblo at 3:00AM and prepared for travel to Cuenca, Batangas, the jump-off point.

Jump-Off Point

We left the meeting place at around 3:30AM. We reached Batangas around 5:00AM. We were a bit lost looking for Brgy. Cuenca, the jump-off point. Nevertheless, we were at the place at 6:00AM 30 minutes earlier than our IT of 6:30AM.

We started trekking at 7:00AM as scheduled. Guiding us is Osep Reyes together with Joel Grande and Lorenz Zapanta. I started to get a little disappointed right at the jump-off point because of the weather. It was drizzling and foggy. I thought we would never see the view atop the mountain.

Trail

According to Pinoy Mountaineer, Mt. Maculot stands at 830 MASL. There are three destinations: the grotto, the peak and the rockies (706 MASL). At that time, the peak (grotto), according to our guide is closed and only the rockies is accessible. Our guides said that we were fast climbers reaching the camp site near the rockies at 9AM instead of 12:30PM.

Scaling the Rockies

While the rockies still foggy, we stayed for a while at the camp, had socials, picture takings and then an early lunch at 10:00AM. While having an early lunch, there was a clearing and we all saw the breath taking view of Taal Volcano and the magnificent landscape of the province of Batangas particularly Cuenca.

We head on to the rockies passing through grassy "cogon" trail. Mt. Maculot's trail in general is rocky and steep and slippery when wet. I remembered scaling the rock beak of Mt. Pico de Loro when climbing the rockies. The rocky trail is so steep that climbers had to crawl up at some portions of the trail.

Overlooking the Lake

We were at the top of the rockies before 12:00PM and saw another magnificent view of the Taal Volcano and the lake. The view was amazing. It was cold and the summit was so nice. I enjoyed taking photos almost everywhere. For an hour and a half, we did nothing but to enjoy the view, took a lot of pictures and enjoy the cool relaxing wind blowing to the direction of Taal Volcano.

Maculot Summit

We started our descent from the rockies at around 1:00PM and reached the camp site at 1:30PM and then continued our descent to the jump-off point. Again, we were supposed to start our descent at 4:00PM. At 3:00PM we were all at the jump-off point. Our IT showed that we were supposed to be back at the jump-off point by 6:00PM. Since it's early, our guides planned to have a side trip to Tagaytay but later, decided to stop-over at a "bulaluhan" near Cuenca.

The Rockies

After fixing our things and had a nice wash-up, we headed back to Manila at around 4:30PM. We stopped-over at "Banay-Banay" restaurant about 45 minutes drive from Cuenca for either a late lunch or early dinner. The menus were fantastic although I'm not sure if they were "authentic Batangas" dishes. Anyway, Bulalo and "Kilawin na Tanigue" were both good.

We headed back to Manila and back home at around 7:45PM. It was another tiring yet relaxing weekend nature adventure with friends full of fun and excitement! More photos: Gallery #1 Gallery #2.

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