It has been a while since I updated this blog and since I am a bit laid back today, might as well tell you about our trip to this gorgeous mountain. As i can recall, this mountain captured my interest because of its jagged peaks and vibrant scenery so I suggested this to my seniors at our workplace and in a snap of my finger we had already planned to reach its summit. This climb occurred last February 23, 2014.
Mt. Batulao
Nasugbu, Batangas
Jump-off point: Evercrest Golf Course, Nasugbu
LLA: 14.0408 N 120.8011 E 811 MASL
Days required / Hours to summit: 1 day / 2-4 hours
Specs: Minor Climb, Difficulty 4/9, Trail Class 3 with 60-70 degrees assault
Features: Open trails, rolling slopes, scenic views of Batangas
We met at around 4 am near the Jam Liner bus line at the corner of buendia taft and took a bus to Nasugbu, Batangas. The fare costs at around 110 pesos for one way. We disembark at Evercrest and immediate went to nearby eatery to buy food and take breakfast. The weather is cold since the location is near Tagaytay and its peak season for the Northeast Monsoon or Amihan. As we went out to the eatery, we were approached by a number of teens who offered to be guides on our trip. You just have to pick a really good guide with a reasonable price because i think we paid our guide 600 pesos but we are not satisfied by his service. The local authorities should train and regulate the guide system so that the guides will know their responsibility and the proper way guiding tourist.
Haha so much for the rant, anyway upon getting a teen guide, we boarded a tricycle near the eatery to drop us at the jump off point for about 100 pesos as an estimate. Well you could start walking from the gate of Evercrest up to the jump off point for about 30mins to an hour but since we were in a hurry we disregarded that option.
We started our hike at around 8:30 am and the sun is slowly rising thus making the surroundings even hotter. As you can see the path is really really dusty, i think many considers this the dustiest mountain haha. The early part of the trail has lots of houses as seen below. This mountain is very popular so there are lots of mountaineers that you will encounter along the way. Don't forget to say hi :)
After several minutes, we were able to go past the houses and the view of the mountain started to show.
Say hello to my seniors :) Just message me here if you want to get their numbers. They are all single except the leftmost and rightmost girl haha :D
Very lovely. Im referring to the mountain haha :D peace ate :P
Mt. Batulao is pretty amazing from afar.
Lots of cogon grass on the trails, This was the start of the slowly ascending part of the trail. We continued the trail with caution since you might stumble a few hundred meters below if you are not careful. Based on the available data on the web, there is one person who died and one person who fell on this mountain. The former was because the person was taking pictures resulting to the fall while the latter was due to being drank from alcohol on their way down.
This was the first stop, we had to rest for a bit because the rays of the sun is really dehydrating. You should not worry about having not enough water or drinks because there are a lot of these mini stores along the trail. Thou, the drinks were a little bit pricey.
Just enjoy the sun and the scenery so that you will not feel the tiredness :D
At last we were able to reach peak 1 :) Please take note that there are 8 peaks on Mt. Batulao :D
Mt. Batulao's trail is not that hard, i think the heat of sun is the hardest part of this climb. The trail is also pretty straightforward so im sure no one will get lost and there are a lot of hikers here specially on weekends. My advise for first timers on this mountain is to have a good hiking shoes because the trail is very sandy so you might slip and tends to be muddy during rainy season.
We continued the trail and let nature mesmerized our eyes for the pleasant and wonderful view.
These was one of the notable picture taking spots near the summit. You could actually climb these rocks, you just have to be very careful since a wrong step could cost your life. I actually managed to climb the large boulder on the rightmost part the picture but I could not stand above it because my knees are shaking.
After almost 3 hours of hiking, we made it to the summit :) Cheers to all my seniors for a successful and smooth climb. This was their first time to climb a mountain and I believed their experience here will paved way to more future climbs. The summit offers a 360 degree, dramatic and breathtaking view of the Batangas area. You just want to stare at the scenery for hours and relax at the peak. We took our lunch here and took individual shots. Every place on the peak is good for photo ops so be sure that your camera has still power.
After a tiring hike, we traveled to Tagaytay to have dinner and of course taste the famous Tagaytay Bulalo which was indeed very delicious and satisfied our hungry stomach. Cheers for a wonderful and successful hike :)
