DAGULDUL 2003

www.akamug.com

Anilao, Batangas

Dec. 13-14, 2003

By: McMike_Angel@akamug.com

Batangas Province is a very exciting destination. Nice beaches, Resorts, mountains, kaping barako, nice people and lots of beautiful places to visit. A journey to Mt. Daguldul offers all of them!

Mt. Daguldul is located in the town of San. Juan, Batangas. An hour away from the City of Lipa and approximately 4 hours from Manila. Going to San. Juan is like exploring Batangas in its most intriguing way. Why? Knowing nothing of this part of Batangas surely puts a puzzle on my mind…Where is San Juan? How come it has everything Batangas has to offer? White Beach? Comm’n never did I heard of white beach at the foot of a mountain. Hmm. Let’s investigate!

The plan is to rendezvous at chowking Lipa coz we were coming from different places. Sir Jay from Pampanga, Sir DjXpact from Manila, Mam Cathy and I from Cavite. We were supposed to be at least 8 trekkers but many had backed-out at the last minute coz of some unavoidable circumstances. So we were only 4 lonely trekkers wanting to see what Daguldul has to offer.

The ride from Lipa going to San. Juan felt like we were so far away from home. One wouldn’t expect that San. Juan is located at the very edge of Batangas. When we asked a local how far is Brgy. Hugom, She said “ Ala Eh yanung layo nun ah! Abay sa dulo pa yuon! Kalayo pa ninyo mga utoy!”.

We arrived at Brgy. Hugom just before 1200, eager to start the climb as soon as possible. A guide approached us and hand-in the log book, we immediately signed-in and paid necessary fees. Few minutes later, we were cleared and Mang Zardo (our guide) started to lead us the way. Mang Zardo is one of the first to scale peaks of Mt. Daguldul together with U.P mountaineers headed by Sir BoBoy. Mang Zardo is considered the most “famous” guy in the brgy. Coz lots of mountaineers ask him to be their guide.

Yes indeed!! White beach complete with beautiful perspective of Mindoro. The trail traversed a beach resort named “La Luz”. The “beach trek” took us 15 minutes before interring the forest line. Bear in mind that the trek towards the peak is 3 hours so be cautious in budgeting your time. The first assault could be described as a moderate one up to Mang Zardo’s House. However, we did it in almost 2 hrs coz Sir DjXpact was in pain due to muscle cramp. Mang Zardo offered us kaping Barako! Wow! The cold and rainy weather proved to be “no match” after a zip of the coffee. But sadly, heavy rain came in. We were supposed to take our supper at the camp site, now we had to cook at Mang Zardo’s house so as not to waste any time. Another Kaping Barako pls!!

The rain just keep on falling, I wonder why? We know how it felt to be stranded on a very nice nipa hut, with a coffee, foods, and exciting stories from Mang Zardo!? Great! It felt great! Just after we were gone out of stories to tell, the rain stopped. It’s now 1700; we were supposed to be at the summit at this time. We had to continue trekking with our flashlights. Welcome to “Daguldul in the Dark”! The trek resumed at 1800. The heavy rain made the trail very slippery. I call this “Slippery Assault when wet” part of the journey! We had mud on almost every part of our body, we had to use our hand to hang on to whatever thing that we could grab. The struggle continues for 1.5 hrs, Mang Zardo made it so simple. Besides wearing a “Boots” or “bota”, he keeps on telling lots of stories, mostly historical as if he is just walking in the park.

We pitched camp at “Niyugan Campsite” @ 1930. This is the recommended campsite because it has running water and can accommodate a large number of visitors. It’s quite cold in here, maybe coz of the rain. The other group of mountaineers was caught by the heavy rain on the trail so they were all very wet when they arrived at the campsite. Lucky for us we were at Mang Zardo’s house zipping Kaping Barako. That night was a very charming one.

There were many thoughts on my mind, maybe because Mang Zardo told us lots of nice stories. I felt so thankful for the opportunity to enjoy great moment such as this. The other group of mountaineers invited us to have some socials; they are composed of 6 guys and 5 ladies. We had learned that they all came from T.U.P Taguig. Most of them were fresh graduate from the University, some were first timers. After some hand shaking and exchanging of phone numbers and email addresses; a good night sleep.

Good morning Mt. Daguldul! As early as 0500, Sir Jay and DjXpact were up and ready to prepare breakfast. They first cook rice. When I woke up at 0700, they are still cooking rice?? It’s difficult to cook on a very cold environment, especially when you are using a small burner like what we have. But after some few minutes of “Force cooking”…Presto!

After breakfast, we immediately break camp and headed to Gulugod Baboy Campsite for some scenic view. Gulugod Baboy campsite is located 5 minutes away. Unfortunately, the thick fog blocked every view. The weather was still not on our side. A group of U.P mountaineers was having their breakfast when we arrived at Gulugod Baboy.

The descent started @ 0900. The trail was still very wet. This is the muddiest trail I had ever encountered. Each of us had their fall every once in a while. A good trek shoe would be the best solution to this type of trail. The plan is to stop and cook lunch at Naambon Falls, but we were very busy playing with mud that we forgot to turn right on Naambon falls. We had it noticed when we reached the beach!!

We all laughed and asked ourselves how the hell did it happen? Anyway, we had our lunch at the jump-off point while waiting for the jeep that would take us to Lipa. We arrive at Lipa @ 1500 then we shook hands…… smiled…..thanked each other and said “Thank You for the Great Time, … See you when I see You!”