Planning a trip is always a mistake that’s why it’s very minimal of me to plan a trip ahead of time cos it usually doesn’t happen.
And if it happens, most likely it’s just 5-10% planned trips will be push through. Like right now, as I am writing this down my plan for later has been cancelled which I tell myself never to plan, AGAIN.
So yes, last weekend I’m suppose to go to Batangas to visit the famous Taal lake in a nearer view and the Batangas heritage town with my friends I met at Coron 2 years ago however as expected it didn’t happen. Why? Just because… nah, it was raining a day before the scheduled trip and thought it’ll be a rainy day on that day but oh well, a cancelled plan is a cancelled plan. I’ll just stop sulking then.
Later of that suppose trip day I saw my friend, Rica, posting a hike event for the next day and immediately message her about the hike details. Oh my spontaneous self kicks in and she was able to tagged me along with her. I mean, why not?
No proper preparations at all knowing my last hike happened a year ago. That long? It’s just that hiking isn’t my cup of tea. Sorry ain’t sorry.
Attended the anticipated mass ‘cos it was the 1st day of Misa de Gallo (Simbang Gabi) and it ended pretty late so I had no time to get ready plus the meetup time was around 12 midnight and I arrived back to my place almost 23:00 as I stopped by at the grocery last minute to buy a few things (snacks).
Grabbed something sporty to wear and just put whatever things I saw that’s useful for hiking to my bag.
Before 00:00 I arrived at the meetup place and met with the others. Almost 01:00 we started our way to Rizal.
Arrived at Rodriguez, Rizal around 02:30 so we still have time and enough time for me to sleep as the registration opens at 04:00. By 04:30, we gathered around and do some pre-hiking stuff before we started ascending.
I was one of the sweepers at first since I thought I’ll be very slow due to my non hiker self but ended one of the leads. The trails muddy as it was raining a day before plus the rocks are sharp that it requires you to wear hand gloves, because of it I was feeling sorry for my shoes for the torture it experienced.
Mount Pamitinan is a landscape that’s made up of limestone that formed by the dissolution of soluble rocks including dolomite located in the province of Rizal. There’s not much about this mountain aside that it’s called Pamitinan short word for a meeting place or a hideout of Gat Andres Bonifacio during the Spanish era; the Pamitinan cave was currently closed due to some reasons. Nevertheless, as a beginner climber I enjoyed hiking plus there’s bamboo trees everywhere.
After hiking, we walked around 1-2kms from Wawa Dam to this not-so-secret place that isn’t special for me to have a very late lunch in which I didn’t enjoy much due to appetite loss.
We rested a bit and head back to the van so we can freshen up ourselves before heading back home. And off we go but before the day ended, I was already surrounded by new individuals which may or may not remain my friends in the future. ^_^
ADDITIONAL INFO:
- NO ITINERARY, it’s just a one day event. The hike to the summit will take around 1.5-2 hours depends on how fast your pace is. Budget is less than PhP1,000 ($20).
- Always bring water with you but be ready for the consequences specially girls, know that there’s no bathroom in the mountains.
- Don’t forget to wear proper shoes and bring gloves as mentioned the rocks are sharp.
- Bring trail food that will surely satisfy your stomach for the time being of the hike or if not something that can last until early afternoon as you’ll never know what time you’ll finish and when you can have your lunch.
- Update your troupes or your guide whenever you need to stop for a break, again your safety always come first.
Thankful for this experience and am too proud of myself too. See you whenever and wherever. Safe travels to us, always! 😉
wandercez 