Tales from Mt. Natib and Pasukulan Falls

I was a newbie climber back then. Having only climbed one mountain didn't prepare me from the hardship Mt. Natib would bring. It was probably the pinnacle of all hardships a mountain could give me. Like, if I'm gonna climb another mountain, my first question would be: " Mas mahirap ba sya akyatin kesa sa Natib?" What I only had in my mind was my goal of climbing 5 mountains in one year, and since I managed to reach Mt. Pundaquit's peak, I thought of giving it a shot.

Mt. Natib is located in Orani, Bataan and at a towering 1,297 MASL, this is one heck of a major climb and we tackled it on a dayhike, so that's already a major feat for me. Also, I was drawn to the other attraction this mountain brings: Pasukulan Falls! I guess that was my deciding factor to go up there. That'll be my first waterfalls ever.

I knew I did my research well, but very little is known about Mt. Natib. Yeah, the blogs say it was a moderate climb with some 80 degree rock assaults that needs a rope to climb on. I also found one blog where it says it was an easy dayhike climb, but I was specifically looking for pictures of that assault and the trail itself. I found a few but it didn't bring justice to what I experienced as a whole in this mountain. They also mentioned about limatiks infesting the mountain but I wasn't too concerned about it either. I don't mind getting bitten anyway.

So to make things short, here's how to go to Mt. Natib.

1. Take a bus going to Bataan, it's advisable to leave at night as the ride takes about 2-3 hours.

2. The bus will drop you off at the market where you can buy water, trailfood etc. This is also where you will need to ride another bus going to Orani. The ride is about 1 hour.

3. Brgy. Orani is marked with, well, a landmark that says Orani, Bataan and this is where our hired tricycles will take us to the jumpoff.

We arrived at the jumpoff at around 5am. After settling our guide and registration fees, the group started trekking towards the entrance of Mt.Natib. We were blessed to catch a lovely pink sunrise on our way up. 

My first pink sunrise for September. :)

As I stared at that pretty pink sunrise, I thought that's a sign of a good, hassle-free climb. I was wrong. I underestimated Mt. Natib. 

After sunrise watching, we went on trekking for a good 30 minutes until we reached the steel gate.  Let that steel gate be your landmark, once you pass, you'll wish you'd stay on that trail forever. 

Oh look, I can see the Mt. Natib already! 

The first part of the trail after the gate was flat, grassy, almost 4-5 tall, then it gradually changes into a forest-y trail that composes of steep slopes and huge tree roots covered with moss, so you need to be very careful so you won't slip. 

And there's this...

A huge, 20ft something 80 degree rock wall that you need to climb up. But wait, there's more! There's three of them here at this mountain. Oh what a joy!

"Trust the rope" will be a very useful advice here.

I was really about to cry at that time. T_T

My friend took a video of how I struggle climbing up that rock wall. I was really about to cry at that time, thinking I wasn't prepared enough, why put me into something like this! But as my group would always say: "Ginusto mo yan eh.." and then so it goes. *grunts* Now after two hours of pure struggle in those grueling assaults, I finally reached Mt. Natib! It was truly one hell of a climb, but the view on top was beyond beautiful.

A full 360 degree view of Mt. Natib's nearby mountains welcomes you to the summit.

The blogger at the summit of Mt. Natib

They say you can camp here, but the space is really small and I don't think pitching tents of 6 or more could fit on the campsite.

Pasukulan Falls

After posing for the obligatory group photo at the summit, we decided to climb down to our side trip at Pasukulan Falls. I was like, I haven't even spent 15 minutes on the summit and now we're going down already? Then those flashbacks of rock assaults came in and yes, I must endure them once more, but this time, I'm going down. It was equally as hard as going up, and due to my feet's poor grip, I slipped and fell too many times.

Now, going to Pasukulan Falls was another part of the road and it took us about two hours to reach it, well, three for me. The first part was pretty easy compared to the other but it was too narrow, so narrow you can't walk side by side with someone and one wrong step you'd find yourself rolling down to the deepest part of the forest.

Trail going to Pasukulan Falls.

It was my first time walking at the edge of a forest cliff, I walked with both feet in front, not by side and that's how narrow it is. The trail was also much like Mt. Natib's, sans the huge tree roots and rock walls. It was also my first time crossing a river! We crossed about 4 small rivers (I think..) and that smooth flow of cold water felt like a soothing relief for my already tired legs.

All smiles while crossing a river for the first time. This one is knee-deep, but I still managed to cross it.

An hour or so of walking along the forest, we finally reached the very narrow and steep descent to Pasukulan Falls. I was cautious in falling over the edge so I just chose to look silly and slid my way down the trail, well at least I'm safe though. Then, I heard that faint sound of gushing waterfall, the louder it gets, the more I get excited in seeing it so I hastened my pace to get to my buddies who were already there. And there it is!!

The majestic, spectacular, beautiful Pasukulan Falls! It was the first and biggest waterfall I've ever seen! I couldn't contain my happiness, I hope you could see it. LOL.

I removed my shoes to get down and have a dip at the large catch basin underneath the falls. It was very refreshing. The cold water seemed to wash my weariness away, all those painful slips and slides just proved its worth after spending time at this wondrous beauty. After a good 30 minute dip at the falls, we now went back up so we could resume trekking before dark.

Be careful in climbing up, that rock is really slippery.

Mt. Natib was the toughest, hardest and the bloodiest trail I've ever hiked on. This mountain just put me to so many firsts that I'll be encountering pretty soon in my little adventurer life. When we were trekking back to the jumpoff, I was already the slowest one and I kept on walking on a really slow pace and even asked for a 5 minute break every now and then. I already had a walking stick on and dragging myself up the seemingly endless assaults but I still kept on going. 

It pays to have such a supportive group who helps a newbie climber like me to push myself to my limit and quit thinking about giving up. I truly appreciated their efforts in keeping up with my slow pace and walking with me though its already dark and 5 of us reached the jumpoff at the latest time.

Another thing I'd never forget about Mt. Natib was this spot infront of this house (it was so dark I don't even remember LOL), there's a tree that's full of fireflies. I love fireflies and I remember spending a good 10 minutes resting and just staring at them. That's one thing I like about climbing mountains: seeing fireflies. :D

Here's the itinerary we had for Mt. Natib, you can squeeze in the Pasukulan Falls side trip after you climb down the mountain. :)

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MT. NATIB DAYHIKE

Orani, Bataan

Major jumpoff: Brgy. Tala, Orani

Minor jumpoff: Kanawan (Hanging Bridge), Morong

LLA: 14.7119 N; 120.3997 E; 1287 MASL

Days required / Hours to summit: 1-2 days / 3.5-5 hours

Specs (Backtrail): Major climb, Difficulty 5/9, Trail class 1-3

Features: Scenic views of Central Luzon; Woodlands; Tropical forests

0030 Meetup Five Star Terminal Cubao

0100 ETD for Orani, Bataan by bus

0300 ETA Orani Crossing. Take trike to Brgy. Tala

0400 ETA jumpoff at Brgy. Tala, Orani Bataan. Register.

0430 Start Trek

0600 ETA Pinagbutasan

0730 Arrival at foot of Mt. Natib; start assault

0900 ETA Mt. Natib summit.

1000 Start descent

1200 Back at Brgy. Tala. Tidy up

1400 Head back to Orani crossing

1430 Take bus back to Manila

1730 Back in Manila

ESTIMATED BUDGET - Php600

Cubao - Orani - Cubao - Php 360

Orani - Brgy Tala (jumpoff) - Orani - Php 140

Registration fee - Php 30

Notes:

**Mt. Natib is famous for its limatik but I did not encounter anything at all. But some of my friends got bitten but they didn't seem to mind at all. I was more afraid of fat leeches that a tiny worm,like creature like this. Just in case you got bitten and too fussy about it, rub a detergent solution on the affected area until it falls off. 

**Thank you Jepepips, Je and Lem for the photos :D

Conquering Mt. Daguldol

Last weekend, I just climbed my sixth mountain, Mt. Daguldol with my awesome outdoor club Isang Backpack Ka Lang. This is probably the second time I told myself not to trust blogs that say they've been there but they've never really relate what's IN there, well, especially for mountain climbing newbies like me.

Getting to Mt. Daguldol is easy:

- Take a bus going to Lipa (get down at SM City Lipa)

- From SM City, take a jeep to San Juan.

- From San Juan, take a jeep to Brgy. Hugom

We had our lunch and bought our supplies at San Juan wet market. This was also where our hired jeep was waiting for us to take to Brgy. Hugom where we will start our trek along Laiya beach.

After registration, securing a small hut for tomorrow (so we could rest after the descent) and getting a guide, we started trekking along the shore. I find it weird that we started the activity at midday, when the sun is at its most intense. The sea was so inviting, It makes you want to jump in and forget that you're supposed to trek going up the mountains.

Dear sea, please take me away from this excruciating heat.

Yours truly trekking at the beach.

See how hot it is, it's 2am!

It's still a long way to go to that corner over there.

I would classify the trail as moderate to difficult. Before I went here, I googled  everything, from the trail to the campsite, but I only got answers for the latter. So I'll be telling the truth that this mountain is not for those who just wants an easy climb, like Mt. Pulag. LOL. The first part was slippery due to the small crumbling rocks, not to mention it was extremely hot, they did some kaingin on the other parts of the mountain so they could plant some vegetation. There's very little shade for you to cool yourself in, so I suggest you cover yourself entirely even if you sweat like there's no tomorrow (sweat or sunburn, you decide.) However, the guides have installed small huts along the road (but quite far from each other) so you can take short rests for a bit.

That trail is slippery due to small crumbling rocks.

So many winding uphill climbs....

After cooling down, we resumed our trek to Mang Lizardo's place, which is marked by a flower garden with a small hut of refreshments that sell fresh buko juice to ice cold halo-halo. I didn't pass the chance, because according to them, it's still 2-3 hours trek going to the campsite. That doesn't sound good for me since we already missed the sunset when we reached Mang Lizardo's place.

We just arrived!

Chillin' at Mang Lizardo's place.

From here, the winding ascent to the top begins. You'll pass by rows of big boulders along the way and it's pretty hard to climb them with the weight of my things as the trail gets stiffer, tougher and harder. It's dark already when we reached the second wooden gate (or was it third? I lost count already..) the trail past this point is bearable than the other, rocky but you don't need to climb much, but be careful because it's too narrow, one slip could make you fall that nearby cliff.

Those big boulders look interesting, like, how did they get there LOL.

Taking a break before another ascent.

It was my first time doing a night trek and good thing I have my LED light for me to use. However, not too long on this trail, I saw the most incredible thing I've always wanted when climbing mountains: fireflies. LOTS OF FIREFLIES. The last time I've seen fireflies was when I climbed Mt. Natib in Orani, Bataan. Seeing them somehow took my weariness away. There's this little who came up to me and I've felt how warm a firefly is, it's just so magical. I've always wanted to keep it and take him with me, but my friend says mind the faeries who live there, if you get what I mean.

The sunset that I missed because I was too slow... This was the first group who went ahead of us.

About 30 minutes of walking on the same trail, we finally came to an clearing which finally screamed "SUMMIT" for me so I hurriedly ran to my buddies who were already making preparations for our dinner, well, they can't feed themselves because I was tasked to cook food that's why. After cooking dinner, we had tons of fun from having a crazy socials night to rolling on the grass in our sleeping bags then sleeping outside our own tents. Sleeping there felt so good, I hardly had a backache because my sleeping bag is equally as soft as the grass I laid on.

Socials night.

Chicken Mechado for dinner

Mt. Daguldol's vast grassy campsite compensates for the lack of scenery this mountain has to offer. Probably the best campsite I've been, it's so pretty and well maintained - it could pass off as a backyard of some private villa or something.

We even enjoyed taking jumpshots while still on our sleeping bags and it was epic.

Whoops! ..and thank you Kirby for waking up for five minutes to let us nail this jumpshot.

The view of our pitched tents sunkissed by the morning sun on a grassy hill is a beautiful, I'd wish all campsites were made of these.

To cap off our climb, the group enjoyed taking selfies and group photos at the summit before heading down.

The grassy summit.

#selfie

Turista vibes at the summit of Mt. Daguldol.

I find it so weird that it only took me two and a half hours to climb down but almost five to go up, that already includes slips, slides and falling down on my knees during the descent (I told you, the trail is slippery!). I already missed them when I got down the mountain and was already too tired to walk on the beach (coz I fell several times LOL) So the guide suggested we should hire a small boat to take us to the other side of the island! 

The panoramic view of the entire coastline of Laiya was breathtaking! Here I was, having the ride of my life, treading the bumpy waves and enjoying the salty air on my skin. I didn't mind the heat of the mid-day sun as I waved goodbye to Mt. Daguldol for giving me one of the best camping trips I've ever had. :)