Mt. Manabu | Lost in a Night Trek

The thrill and excitement lurked within me as we were trekking the trail of Mt. Manabu. It was nightime, and I know we're already lost. 

That's what I have experienced on the night of February 25, 2012 when I joined one of my online friends in their night climb at Mt. Manabu. It was my first time to experience getting lost on a trail, and I find it really fun. :)

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Another memorable sabit climb for me as we have conquered Manabu Peak in the absence of daylight, yeeha. It was a night trek adventure - a total different experience in the history of my mountaineering activity (history talaga?! parang ang tagal na ng two months).

Anyways, it was 10:30 in the evening when we started the trek and I was with three brave ladies. None of us knows exactly the trail except for one who has a 1 year old memory of her Manabu climb. Despite that, we still pursued the adventure.

night trekking is fun

I cannot remember much of the trail since it was pretty dark, my navigation system just won't work in the absence of daylight. We just walked until we reached the first forking path, from there we turned right.

But it was a wrong turn! We were walking for more than an hour in a moonless night until we realized that we're actually lost. The trail led us to wilderness, medyo makapal na ang talahib, and there were no more noticeable trail signs around. An old shed greeted us when we reached the end of the visible trail. What made us laugh is that there's a writing/vandalism on the wall of the shed that says: "Tanga ang nandito (the fools are here)". We're really lost in a night trek.

Our situation left us with no other option but to follow back the trail that we passed through. It took us another 1 hour to return to the forking trail where we made the wrong turn. It was pass 12 midnight (Feb 26 na) when we finally got back on track. We lost 3 precious hours in the forest, haay. But it was a different experience, something new for a newbie mountaineer like me.

one of the rope segments on the way up to the campsite

There's another forking path after the first one, that's the right place to turn right. From there we trekked a steep trail, crossed a narrow river, and a few roped segments. We're hungry, a bit tired and sleepy so we rushed our way to the campsite. In less than 2 hours (about 02:10 am), we reached Manabu Campsite.



The place was a crowded by a lot of campers, fortunately we're still able to find a place to pitch our tents. But before we fell into slumber, we still managed to feed ourselves with Chili Con Carne, one of mountaineers favorite recipes. *Thanks to Mam Cess for preparing the sumptuous meal.    

the first recipe I learned on a mountain - chili con carne.

Sleeping time at around 03:45 am.

It was cold and foggy outside, 06:00 am when I checked the time. There was no clearing, no view for the moment, so we just got ourselves busy na lang in preparing our breakfast. I really find it fun, it was my first lutu-lutuan experience while on a mountain (maraming firsts ang nangyari sa akin sa Mt. Manabu).

morning sun, covered by thick layers of fog

crowded campsite of Mt. Manabu

and for our breakfast, yummy.

Before 08:00 am, we decided to break the camp. The fog was also starting to subside, view of Mt. Maculot was already peeking. At 08:30 am, we did our final assault to Manabu Peak, a cross marks the site. Photo opportunity is a must.

Tres Marias, ang aking sinabitan for the 4th weekend of Februry

me with Mam Rosejane

view of Mt. Maculot from the Manabu peak

the campsite seen from the peak

the peak, marked with a stone cross

We descended Manabu Peak from another trail that will pass by the grotto. It was a quick 30 minutes descent from the summit to the grotto where we rested for about 10 minutes. Then we resumed the descent until we reached a house that sells fresh buko juice (P5 per glass).

going down now

the grotto, beside it is the water source

the people that sells the buko juice have a lot of cages full of guinea pigs and a monkey

From there, we still walked for about 15 minutes and we're back at the main jump-off. We took a bath of course before we head back to Lipa for lunch, then to Manila again.  

It was a very nice climb, and a memorable one.

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