Mt. Batulao is located in Nasugbu, Batangas. This mountain stands at 811 MASL with a difficulty level of 4/9 and popular destination in and out of mountaineering community.
How to get there?
From Manila, just ride a bus bound to Nasugbu and tell to the bus conductor to drop you off to Evercrest. From that point, you’ll be needing to ride a tricycle going to the jump off point. It’ll only take 20 minutes for you to reach the jump off point from Evercrest. Fee for the whole tricycle is P100.00 whether you’re alone or not (As of January 2014)
As I have mentioned in my previous blog(The Windy Trail of Mt. Talamitam), this adventure was supposed to be a Solo Hike but seems that God doesn’t want me to. hahahaha I have met two great men from Mt. Talamitam whose also planning to do a twin hike (Mt. Talamitam – Mt. Batulao). So ending was, the three of us went up together.
There are two trails you can take in Mt. Batulao – Old and New Trail. The old trail is harder than the new one. So we decided to take the New – Old Trail.
Here’s the picture of us at jump off point. Ready to conquer the second mountain! 🙂
From left, Sander (aka binatanglakwatsero), ME, and Ace
Ace and Sander shared a few stories of their mountain experience and thoughts. That includes the back story of the name Mt. Batulao. Mt. Batulao was named because of the combination of two words. “Batu” – means stones and “Lao” – means light (from the sun). They believed that every end of the year (December) the sun will rise in between of two stones. Interesting story isn’t it?
Out of curiosity about how the sunrise would look like, I decided to stay overnight and wait till the next morning to go home. Good thing that there are locals in there that can lend their tent for P200. Well, of course, I tried to haggle and so I got it for P150.00. hehe
after 7-peaks, we finally reached Peak 8 which is the campsite. (They use Peak # if you are taking the new trail and Camp # if coming from the Old Trail)
The registration is also at Peak 8 (really.). Usually, registration is at the starting/jump off of the mountain you are climbing but not in Mt. Batulao.
Sunset from the campsite (Peak 8)
I woke up 4am and went out of my tent. It was really cold and too windy. No one is outside. I decided to just get back to sleep and check later. I woke up again at around 5:30am and it’s still dark outside. I checked if the trail will be visible for us. The wind is too strong so I decided not to push through. At 6am, the other 2 guys woke up already and we have decided to go up to the Peak. We checked the sunrise at the Peak of Deception as they call.
SUNRISE!
On my way up to the peak of deception
Standing at the Peak of Deception
After watching the sunrise, we went back to the campsite and took our breakfast. After a while, we decided to pack our things and proceed to the summit.
There are few parts of the trail where I scrambled and crawled going to the summit. It is classified as 4/9 from the mountaineering community but at that time, I think it was supposed to be 5/9. Haha
But it’s worth the hardship because I was awed by the beauty of the view at the summit.
The reason of all. — A breathtaking view
Finally reached Camp 10! (Summit)
Descending to the old trail, as they say, is a lot easier. In my experience, it was a bit harder but more rewarding because the view is really picture perfect!
This is the part where I was so nervous because of the thought that I’ll be needing the rope to go down.
I felt that the old trail is longer than the new trail but probably,it was just me.
When we reached Camp 1, we still trekked for an hour and half before we reached the jump off point.
Breakdown of Expenses from Mt. Talamitam jump off to Mt. Batulao:
Bus from Bayabasan going to Evercrest – P32.00
Tricycle from Evercrest to Jump off Point – P30.00
Guide (in case) – P300.00
Tent – P150.00
Souvenir Shirt – P200.00
Tricycle from Jump-off Point to Evercrest – 100.00/tricycle
Bus going to Gil Puyat Manila – P112.00
Itinerary:
12:00pm Bus going to Evercrest
12:30pm ETA Evercrest, Lunch, Tricycle going to Jump off
1:00pm Jump off, Start Trek
3:00pm ETA Campsite
3:10pm – onwards Rest and Socials
Itinerary:
January 12, 2014
6:00am Wake up call
6:15am Checking for Sunrise, Peak of Deception, Photo Ops
6:45am Preparing for Breakfast
7:00am Breakfast
8:00am Packing of things, Preparing for Summit
9:00am Start Trek to Summit
11:00am ETA Summit
12:00pm Start Descending
4:00pm Jump off
5:00pm Clean up Time! Preparing to go home
6:00pm ETA Bus going to Gil Puyat Manila
Leave a comment or follow me if you happen to read this. 🙂
Thank you!
Add/follow me:
IG: joeyinwanderland
FB: http://www.facebook.com/theadventourist1
Photo Credits: Binatang Lakwatsero and Acepedition Pinas
Joey in Wanderland 