Mt. Romelo | The Muddy Way To The Falls

Among the mountains of Southern Tagalog that are left untouched by my itchy feet is Mt. Romelo. This mountain, also called by some mountaineers as Mt. Famy, is very well known not just for its extremely muddy trail but also for the waterfalls it harbors. Kaya naman, I chose this mountain to end the month of September, a muddy and dirty month-ender hike.

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Sunday - September 30, 2012

Mt. Romelo is a mountain very accessible from Manila through Raymond Bus Line, ang bukod tanging bus na dumadaan sa jump-off ng Mt. Romelo. From its terminal in Legarda Street, we traveled for about 2.5 hours (P109.00) to its jump-off in KIA3 Restaurant (aka Trois) via the winding roads of Rizal Province.

bus ride to Siniloan, Laguna via Manila East Road

Just tell Raymond bus to drop you at Buruwisan Falls, you'll know you're on the right place if you see this resto. Also take note that Mt. Romelo and its waterfalls are part of Siniloan and not the nearby town of Famy.

We then walked for about 5 minutes towards the registration area where we paid the required P50 registration fee (nag-increase na from P20). And at 09:30 AM, we set off for Mt. Romelo. Nothing seemed so special on trekking this mountain, the views were typical so as the vegetation that line its trails. The hike was relatively very easy (recommended for beginners). The criss-crossing horse trails would end on the same point so chances of getting lost here is very minimal, if in doubt, just ask the locals you'll meet along the trail. The only challenge here is perhaps the muddy trail that everyone would encounter from the very start.

muddy trail

There were a number of huts along the trail, all of which were selling refreshments like buko juice, ice candy and cold soft drinks.

At 10:45 AM, about an hour from the registration site, we reached the grassy dry terrain which I believe is the summit of Mt. Romelo. The view was again very ordinary. We did not stay there long dahil sobrang init lang ng araw.

towards the summit

summit of Mt. Romelo, an open grassy area.

Past the grassland, we entered the extremely muddy trail (ankle deep mud) down to Siniloan's waterfalls. Thank goodness we had a wonderful weather that day, kung nagkataon baka knee-deep daw yung mud.

some may opt to ride a horse on their way to the falls. may bayad nga lang na P500

mud

the trail is also very slippery, extra care s needed

It was 12 nn when we reached the water system (Romelo River) that gives life to the falls of Siniloan. merong nagaganap na rappelling activity sa Buruwisan Falls kaya marami rin tent sa paligid.

people who enjoys rappelling activity would certainly love this place.

I guess it is the waterfalls complex of Siniloan that draws mountaineers/thrill-seekers to Mt. Romelo and not the mountain itself. I, myself, am more interested with Buruwisan Falls than the summit of Mt. Romelo.

Buruwisan Falls

A day would not be enough to explore the beautiful waterfalls of Mt. Romelo. There are 4 known waterfalls in the area, namely Buruwisan Falls (the most popular), Lansones Falls, Sampaloc Falls and Batya-batya Falls. Among these 4 waterfalls, we only visited 2.

photo from Mam Aleli.
river trekking towards Batya-batya Falls

Batya-batya falls is also an amazing natural wonder but I got no photo of it because one will need to swim a neck-deep water to reach it. Ayoko i-buwis yung dala kong camera kaya iniwan ko na lang.

Since it was only a day hike, our time there was very limited. At 03:00 PM we decided to march back to the jump-off, it took us only about an hour to descend Mt. Romelo.

It was a fun petiks climb for me, and I met three hiking bloggers on this hike: Macpol of www.weekendsidetrip.com, Mina of manongunyol.blogspot.com, and Tin of nagbabasangpinoy.wordpress.com.

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22nd mountain success!