Mt. Maculot (Rockies) | Dayhike with Sidetrip to Lumampaw

My love for the mountain is unstoppably growing fast. Just 2 weeks after my first climb at Mt. Daguldol, I received another climb invite. This time it was just a dayhike and a lot easier than my first climb. Mt. Maculot in Cuenca, Batangas became Batang Lakwatsero's second mountain.

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Christine of jovialwanderer.com invited me to join their dayhike to Mt. Maculot on a Saturday (January 14, 2012). I actually have a lot of school works (thesis, reports, midterm exams) to finish on that day but my instinct told me to have a break, have a dayhike. Besides I really am looking for cheap, quick and easy hikes around the nearby provinces of Batangas, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal, so this climb to Mt. Maculot is a great opportunity for me to practice my budding hiking skills. And so I joined their climb to Mt. Maculot...


Our call time at KFC LRT-Buendia was 5:30am, I arrived at 6am (30mins late and the last to arrive, nakakahiya). We boarded a bus bound for Lemery, Batangas as it will pass by our destination, Cuenca, Batangas. The fare was only P147 and it's just roughly a 3 hour ride.

The bus dropped us in front of the Arch of the Town of Cuenca where tricycles are already waiting for prospective Maculot hikers. Christine asked the driver to drop us at the Rockies jump-off (one of the two main jump-offs). The tricycle brought us first to the registration area (we registered and paid P10) before we headed to the Rockies jump-off.

Around 9:20 am, we reached Ate Thelma's eatery/shower station, we drained our bladders there before we started walking the trail to the Rockies. One of us, ate Jules, went to Maculot for a marathon training so she went off about 15 minutes ahead of us.

Climb to Maculot (Rockies)

By 9:30 am, we started the trek. The trail is entirely uphill, but it's way much easier and shorter than my first trail in Mt. Daguldol. There's no forking trail at Maculot (Rockies) so getting lost on the trail is highly unlikely to happen. About 3/4 of the trail, I was surprised when came across ate Jules who was now descending back to the mountain's foot, she told me that I'm nearing the camp site. I walked for about 10 minutes more, and vwalla, I reached the camp site (I arrived at 10:35 am, an hour and 5 minutes climb). I bought a bottle of ice cold softdrink (P35) as a reward for myself while I wait for Christine and her cousin to reach the campsite.  

there's a tindahan on the camp site

andaming campers nung umakyat kami at nag-triple pa ang dami nila bago kami bumaba.

Three minutes before 11 am, Christine and ate Len arrived (congrats to ate Len for her first mountain). Ate Len quickly brought out her snacks, lots of it. To my amazement, around 11:15 am, ate Jules reached the campsite for the second time (just wow, she did Maculot twice in 2 hours, ibang klaseng training ito). Ate Jules led us to the Rockies upon her arrival (grabe, mga 5 mins lang ata nagpahinga, go na ulit siya).


From the camp site, we trekked again for about 10 minutes into the Rockies.

the next time I'll climb Maculot, it will be on that summit.

awesome view isn't it?

nakarating na kami ni ate Jules sa tuktok, there's Christine and ate Len about to climb the Rockies

according to them, this site is the best for Maculot Photo Op

A magnificent full view of the Taal Lake was seen on top of the Rockies. There's also, of course, the Taal Volcano, view of Mt. Makiling, Tagaytay and Manila Bay.

Pan-shot of Taal Lake seen from the Rockies

At first I thought we're already done with the Rockies, but I was wrong. We still went down to the so called "dila ng Maculot" (according to Dermin).

me and Christine at the "dila ng Maculot"

nakaka-lula ito, sobra.

The view is overwhelmingly fantastic, and the breeze was awesome too. But after some 20 minutes, another group arrived, so we just bid goodbye to the Rockies and the awesome view.

our group, me, ate Jules, ate Len and co-blogger Christine

We started the descent at 12:20 PM, (FASTFORWARD>>>)

Touch down, by 1:30 PM, we're back to Ate Thelma's eatery to get our Halo-Halo reward (P30). We ate lunch first before proceeding to our side trip Taal Lake via Sitio Lumampaw.

Halo-Halo FTW!

Side Trip to Lumampaw 
 
By 3:00 PM, we started the looooong walk to Lumampaw. From the Rockies Jump-off, we walked 5 mins along a concrete road, then down to a thousand steps Lumampaw. It was a test of endurance, I really felt pain in my gastroc and thigh part. But when we finally reached Lumampaw and saw Taal Lake up close (for the first time), I simply forgot all the pain and exhaustion.

long way down, a tiring one

pan-shot of Taal Lake

Lake View

We stayed on a shed beside the basketball court to relax and feel the elements of Taal. There were kids bathing, boats docked on the shore, and birds flying around. A great way to relax and be with nature for some time. We climbed back to the road after 45 minutes of resting, up again on the energy draining steps. This time I decided to count the steps as I go up and my count is..... 1,099.   

We then rode a tricycle back to the main road where we hopped into a jeep bound for Lipa City.


For the itinerary and budget, check out this post: Climb Itinerary | Mt. Maculot (Rockies) with Sidetrip to Sitio Lumampaw

For my traverse climb, check out this link: Mt. Maculot Traverse - Grotto to Rockies 
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