Here’s a look back at a getaway that we did several months ago, when three of us from the boondocks deliberately made that long travel down to Rizal in order to… climb a mountain. Yep. You can say we wanted to get a taste of mountains other than where we actually live in, haha! This is in Mt. Daraitan in Tanay, Rizal.
A background first.
Mt. Daraitan is one of the many peaks in the famed Sierra Madre mountain range. It towers over the town and other lower peaks at around 739 MASL, and is located in Barangay Daraitan in Tanay, Rizal, which is just around an hour away from Manila. This is, as we discovered during this getaway, a favorite day hike spot for those from the city. They say it has a difficulty rating of 4 out of 9. (But that’s subjective, coz it depends on your stamina.)
This was never in my radar, really. I didn’t even know it existed, but a friend, who happens to be a prolific climber-hiker, had arranged a climb to Mt. Daraitan, and us three (Mark, Lorie and I) decided to join in.
We are so used to seeing peeps from Manila making that long trip up to Benguet to climb any of our mountains up north. Now the positions have reversed, as we are the ones who are making that trip. It’s… quite enlightening, to say the least.
Middle of the night, we rode a Victory Bus from Baguio and got off at Shaw Boulevard at 5am. Around 6am, we met up with the other people in our group (we only know Ka Ge, who co-organized the climb) and there were 11 of us. After eating breakfast, we rode on a jeep that took us to the Tanay Terminal. This took close to 2 hours because of morning traffic. When we arrived at the Terminal, we hired another jeepney (there were 11 of us, after all) that took us to Brgy. Daraitan.
When we arrived, the bridge was down, so we had to ride on the large rafts that did crossings in the Tinipak River to take us to the other side. From there, you could take a tricycle to take you to the Barangay Hall where you have to register. We opted to walk.
It was already half past 11 in the morning when we arrived at the Receiving Area… which is already packed with a lot of people.
Apparently, this is a normal occurrence, because in some days, the number of people visiting to climb reaches up to 500. That is A LOT of foot traffic right there.
We registered and paid the appropriate fees. There were 11 of us, and they only allow 10 people for 1 guide. Which meant we had to take 2 guides. But one of our companions, who happens to have visited the place several times already, graciously volunteered to just stay behind and let 10 of us go.
Applicable fees:
- Environmental Fee – P20.00
- Tour Guide Fee (Day Hike) – P500.00
- Tour Guide Fee (Overnight) – P1,250.00
- Photoshoot (non-commercial) – P500.00
Our group availed of an overnight tour guide, since we’ll be camping that night by the Tinipak River.
We were encouraged to have lunch first and let our food settle. This is also to allow some of the earlier climbers to come back down and prevent “traffic jams” on the trail.
12:30PM, we had a 5-minute orientation by our guide, and we set off, armed with only our cameras, water, and some nibbles and trail food.
The trail started out easy enough. The massive number of people that frequent this place for hikes means that the local government made effort to make sure the trail is hiker-friendly. The initial ascent was smooth, although I have to admit that sitting down on long trips since midnight the previous day IS NOT A GOOD WARM-UP.
1:00PM. 20 minutes later, the assault began. It was the middle of August when we did this climb, and we were so glad that it did not rain, so the trail was dry. No muddy or slippery slopes to contend with.
It was kinda steep, though.
And I forgot to mention, we agreed early on to hurry because we didn’t to make our companion, who was left behind at the Barangay Hall, to wait very long.
So it was a “fast charge” up the trail, marked by occasional stops to take photos and catch our breath. At one point, I felt my breath coming out in short gasps and I had to stop for a while because my peripheral vision was growing dim. I tell you, we didn’t have a proper warm-up going into this hike, haha! It was a brief dizzy spell, so I had to catch my bearings a bit.
1:40PM We arrived at Station 2 (Camp Site 1), which is a “crossroads” of sorts. Where you can take one path that will take you to Tinipak River, and the other continuing up to the summit. We also came across a vendor selling ice drop and pinipig. Pricey but we were thirsty, so.
2:10PM We came to Camp Site 2, where a couple of tents were already set up. Some hikers opt to set up camp in this spot and go up to the summit. Obviously, that was not the option that we picked.
2:20PM We finally arrived at the summit! Luckily, there was only around 2 other small groups, and they were already leaving when we arrived. So no jostling for space as we took out our cameras and snapped to our hearts’ content.
So the view from the top is like a 360-degree view of the town below and surrounding peaks.
To get a better view, however, you have to get up on the rocks.
Ok, that is not really a requirement, but I was looking for a justification for our clambering up the rocks, sharp and jagged though they were. 🙂
And I just saw this pic taken by Mark. Don’t judge, please, haha!
We then moved to the other side to get a view of the Tinipak River. It formed something like a heart. Just… make your imagination work, why don’tcha.
This meant more climbing rocks. 🙂 To be honest, though, I find the rocks in our very own Mt. Kalugong to be more challenging to “navigate”. (Check post here.)
It is moments like these, when you are sitting on a ledge, with precarious footing and wobbly knees, that you realize how tiny you are in the grand scheme of things. But then you realize that, no matter how small you are, you still somehow matter. If you didn’t, then you would not have been given this opportunity and blessing to behold such beauty.
I mean, how else can you experience something like this, except if you stand up and start walking, start climbing?
3:25PM After around an hour the summit (I actually felt that it was too short, and was surprised we were there for that amount of time!), we decided to go back down so we can proceed to Tinipak to make camp.
We were able to climb the summit in 2 hours. That is actually fast, methinks, considering how others say that it takes 3 to 4 hours. But, as I said, we were in a hurry. So our descent was just as fast…. It was a downward rush… and we arrived at the Receiving Area, very tired but still in high spirits, an hour later.
4:25PM We got back to the Barangay Hall, grabbed some refreshments, our gear, and proceeded to make that considerable walk to the Tinipak River. Which I’ll blog about next.
It was quite tiring, but no complaints from us. Except for that dizzy spell, I was having a blast. Can’t you tell?
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