Mt. Makiling (MakTrav) | Sipit Trail

I did MakTrav a number of times, five to be exact, but never did I try the Sipit Trail (San Felix jump off). All of my previous MakTravs were via the Palanggana Trail (San Bartolome jump off). That's why, just this morning, I went back to Mt. Makiling for another Sto. Tomas to UPLB traverse, walang kasawaan, but this time it was via the Sipit Trail.

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Saturday - March 16, 2013

Getting to San Felix jump-off was easier than what I first thought. From Manila, we took a bus bound for Lucena then alighted at Brgy. San Felix, Sto. Tomas, Batangas. There's a tricycle terminal nearby (beside 7-11), just tell the tricycle driver that you're heading to "basurahan" for Mt. Makiling.

At "basurahan" or Eco-Park, there's a registration (no fee) and you can get guides from them. Guides are not mandatory but the people at Eco-Park strongly recommend each group to have their service, it's free anyway (bahala na lang kayo mag-abot ng tip kung magkano). 


The Sipit Trail

In this hike, I tagged along three friends. From the highway, we rode a tricycle to "basurahan", (fare is negotiable from P70-100) and arrived at around 6 AM. We were surprised that the people at Eco-Park were still not informed that Mt. Makiling reopened last March 1. They contacted several people from Los Baños, and it took an hour before they allowed us to proceed.

the "basurahan" jump-off of Sipit Trail.

There are pipelines all over the place, it is because MakBan Geothermal Plant lies nearby

It was around 07:20 AM when we started our trek, and we were accompanied by two guide volunteers (again, their guide service is free, however, you are expected to give some for tip). The trail is pretty much easy to follow, just along the rough road. The road then led us to an open field with pipelines from the MakBan Geothermal, somewhere there is the trail head of Sipit Trail.

Cloudy Mt. Makiling

I would say that the Sipit Trail is beginner-friendly at start (Station 1-4), then would become steep later on (Station 5 until it meets with Palanggana Trail). All in all, we took the length of Sipit Trail for an hour and a half (including the 5 mins rest).

Compared to Palanggana Trail, I don't see much difference. Both have tiring steep parts and easy gradual ascents.

Meron stream-crossing sa Sipit Trail, something na wala sa Palanggana Trail.

The ascent from Station 4 up to Station 5 is probably the hardest part.

By 08:50 AM, we arrived at the Sipit-Palanggana junction. There, we gave our tip to our guides, parted from them then continued our MakTrav all the way to UPLB.

  
Check out my quick MakTrav day hike 2 weeks ago in this link.