2nd AKYATAN CHALLENGE

(DESTINATION: MT. MACULOT)

www.akamug.com

By: McMike_Angel@akamug.com

Finally! AKAMUGS 2nd Akyatan challenge Kicked-offs! I'm expecting a great deal of adventure for the climb because I'd heard a lot about it. The "Rockies" & Taal volcano keeps my Adrenalin pumping. Mt. Maculot is indeed a very popular destination among mountaineers. It is what they called the "training ground" of future mountaineers.

Mt. Maculot is classified as a Level I - Easy climb. It would only take an hour to reach the campsite. So we decided to conquer its peak during the night ---- a night trek. We packed our equipments and headed for JAM Transit bound for Cuenca, Batangas. It took us 3 hours to reach Cuenca. We arrived at the jump-off point @ around 18:00. Registered at the Brgy. Hall and then proceed.

It was indeed an easy climb. You won't find any trouble, unless you look for it. :-) An hour has past and.....Hola!!...

Opps..Is this "Padi's Point"??. I'm a bit disappointed. Instead of a Welcome Hug or a pretty smile..."Tagay Sir" are the two most common words that they keep on saying. Whew! what a shame.

We finally pitch our tent @ around 20:00. The campsite wasn't really the summit. The summit is another hour of assault hike on the bush. A lot of mountaineers are no longer interested on the summit because there is nothing to see in there --- No View. But for us it's part of the climb. Early the next morning we began our assault to the summit.

The trail was not a pretty one. Lots of fallen trees and twigs. I mean lots of them. really. There was a bit of rain at that time so muds sticking-up our boots made our assault more difficult. Well after a gruesome struggle, we did arrived at the summit. Well as I said a little earlier, there was no view. Just plain thick forest. BUT...You can have a different perspective view of the campsite along the trail. I can say that it's worth climbing ...after reaching the peak, we immediately started our descend... after an hour we packed our equipments and headed for the Rockies. It's 100 meters away from the campsite. Explore. then start to descend all the way down to the bus terminal. Arrived in Manila a little earlier than 17:00.

COMMENT:

I did enjoy the climb...simply its an easy one. 1 hour of trek and presto! However be ready to encounter some folks doing some unethical & irresponsible behaviors....you know what I mean. On the contrary there are also a lot of interesting people, specially the first - timers, they seemed to enjoy the climb better than we do. I strongly recommended Mt. Maculot for everybody. So Long!