Mt Sembrano was suppose to be the first mountain we climbed. I'm glad that it didn't push through the first time because I doubt neal and i would have wanted to climb another mountain after that. It is a level 2 (both hands and feet are used to climb) , minor climb (1 or 2 days climb)mountain in Rizal. By far the highest peak we have climbed at 700+ meters above sea level. Mt Gulugod Baboy was only 470 meters and Mt Daguldol was 670 meters above sea level. The Daguldol climb was a longer walk and Sembrano was shorter though a lot harder.
Some mountains require that you register your name before you climb. Though they usually don't check if you do come back alive. ^^ anyway in Mt Daguldol we were required to hire a guide but in Sembrano we only needed to register at the Barangay Hall. People who don't register are forced to go back (well at least one of you is) and that's a waste of time because you might have gone a long way by then.
After registering, we walked 5 blocks to the foot of the mountain. While walking, we had a good view of the mountain and we were trying to see which peak we would end up in. The first part of the climb was reminiscent of the Gulugod Baboy trail but instead of a steep paved road, the trail was a steep rocky road. A few houses were up the mountain and after 30 minutes, we reached the jump off point. At the jump off point, we rested and said a prayer before we went on our way.
Neal also decided that his jogging pants were way too hot for the current weather so he decided to transform his jogging pants into short shorts before we went on. Neal has certainly come a long way since when we first became a couple, he wouldn't even show his legs in public and now, he even let me take a picture of him.
The itinerary told us that we would only need to turn right once. However we found ourselves facing several forks o the trail, all of them seemed to be leading the right way. None of us have climbed the mountain before. There were only 9 of us and Ronie was the only veteran so we decided to call Leo who had climbed the mountain 2 weeks before.
We had to find our own shaded area while we waited for directions because there were barely any trees on that part of the trail and the sun was hot.
When we were finally on the right track, we made our way to the Manggahan campsite. This campsite is situated around the middle of the mountain named because of the mango trees surrounding it. Five minutes down trek from this campsite is the waterfall where we planned to take our lunch. We were all hungry before we reached it but we pushed through because we wanted the waterfall to be our reward. We almost stopped if we hadn't met a girl and her small brother going down. They assured us that we were near our destination and we pushed on until we reached it.
We all decided the waterfall would be a better spot to eat lunch so we headed there.
Leo informed us earlier that the water was cool and refreshing and that there was fresh water that could be used for drinking and cooking at the left side of the waterfall.
The water was cool and refreshing. We put our water containers in the pool to cool them a bit and we washed up.
We took pictures and rested for a while as we waited for the sun to pass before proceeding to the next part of the climb. We had to conserve our strength coz the next part was harder than the first.
After around an hour of resting, we packed up our stuff and continued with our climb. This was where we coined the title "Welcome to level two." If we thought the first part was steep, the trail was now almost 90 degrees. We had to find handholds and footholds as we climbed. It was hard because we were carrying heavy bags and it was a good thing we found wooden sticks to use like in Daguldol.
As you can see from the picture, I'm the small figure at the top with the orange mat sticking out of my bag. Distance between climbers is important when the trail is steep.
After another hour or so, (time has no meaning to us when we're climbing and none of us had a watch which didn't double as a cellphone) we broke through the foliage and finally saw the Peak 1 and 2.
We took another long break because the climb to peak 1 was steep and the sun was still high. We hid under small trees and rested. Two people in our group who both had Sun's call and text unlimited even called each other for fun.
When it was around 4pm, we decided to go up peak 1. After around 15 minutes of hard climbing we finally reached it. We practically collapsed on the site and entertained notions of setting up camp there, possibly our fifth "let's just set up camp here" jest.
However we had decided to camp at Peak 2, around 200 feet higher than our present location. There was no other way except to follow the trail down peak one before going up again.
The trail to peak two was surrounded by high grass which hurt if you didn't have arm warmers on like neal. He had scratches all over his arm and legs. It was also very tiring. I have to admit I almost gave up. Neal and I got left behind and I even left neal behind as well when I got enough will power to finish the climb.
The clouds were heavy and thunder and lightning were present and made us hurry so that the tents would be set up before rain fell.
Fortunately for us, rain didn't fall. It seemed like the clouds were all around us but not on top of us.
When we all got to the summit, we set up our tents, all three of them. Another group of four people shared the campsite with us. People started to prepare food and we realized that we had no can opener. I didn't bring any because we brought easy open cans but the others didn't.
Good thing Madz brought Jason along because he knew how to open a can with a spoon. Yup, he actually opened it, not just pierced it.
The first thing we noticed was that there were hundreds of insects. This was a new experience for me since the other mountains didn't have this many insects.
At first it was nice, seeing different kinds of insects until some of the insects started attacking us and getting inside our tents. I spent most of my time killing insects that came in our tent and hiding from the ones outside instead of taking pictures of the sunset.
We got to experiment with different mixtures of brandy and orange juice as we looked for ways to conserve our water.
After several rounds of questions, we started to play games. We played several games like the movie game, math game, topic game and even spin the bottle. The movie game is easy enough if your mind wasn't blank from the brandy and if you knew enough movies that start from A to Z. The person who couldn't supply an answer had to drink. I pride myself with my knowledge of movies but under pressure i can't think of movies starting with J or K.
The next game was the math game. I think for me the math game was the best game that night. It had complicated rules and the same people kept making mistakes and the more drunk you are, the more mistakes you make. The topic game was simple too, just give a topic and everyone should keep giving items related to that topic and make sure no one repeats someone else's item.
Of course i don't have to explain spin the bottle. Though our version changed rules so often because it was a "truth or consequence/spin the bottle" game where you had no escape.
We all slept and woke up around 5 or 6 am. The wind wasn't that strong since we were surrounded by tall grass. We all decided to have our breakfast at the waterfalls since most of us had very little water left. Neal and I got extra drinking water from the falls but we still didn't have enough. We just ate some biscuits and cookies and packed our stuff.
The people we shared the campsite with were also packing up by the time we left. There were two other groups camped at Peak 1. Peak 1 is like the Gulugod Baboy peak. It was just grassy and the wind probably blew hard that night so our campsite was better not just because of the fantastic view.
Oh yeah I forgot to mention there was not a single piece of poo in the vicinity. Yup, apparently farm animals can't climb level two mountains.
When we passed Peak 1, the other group caught up with us. Well, who am I kidding, everyone we left behind in the campsite were experienced climbers and soon passed us.
We were still surprised that we have come so far.
The descent was easier than the climb. The only problem was that you had to make sure you didn't put too much weight on your knees and that you didn't slip since the trail was steep. Most of the time, sitting down on the ground and making your way down slowly was the only safe way.
Within an hour we reached the Manggahan camp site. We passed by a durian tree and Ronie, climbed the tree to get one. In the Manggahan campsite, a woman was selling coconuts and we bought a lot. We refilled some of our water bottles and drank to our heart's content. We talked with the woman about our durian and she told us we got one that was not yet ripe. She said she had a few pieces kept at home. Some of us bargained with her and we convinced her to give us some of the fruit in exchange for the unripe durian. Since we were nice to her and her two kids, she told us that there was another waterfall slightly higher and stronger than the one we went to and it was only a 5 minute trek from where we ate lunch yesterday.
We said thank you and immediately went down to the falls. True enough, there were already people there, the same people we shared the campsite with the night before. We also told them about the falls but they didn't go look for it anymore. They left before we got breakfast started.
Neal, erik and I were the first to explore the way to the other waterfall. The trail to it was sort of hidden at the side of the mountain. The way to the other waterfalls involve a bit of rock climbing. It was a good thing we decided to leave our bags. The hidden waterfalls was beautiful and the water was strong. The falls was hidden from view unlike the first one.
Inside the cavern there was an altar of sorts: Flat rocks on top of each other from the largest one at the base to the smallest one at top. We even walked a bit to the edge of a small river which fell into the other waterfall. The stream from the hidden waterfall to the edge was slippery but I was wearing my slippers so I wasn't afraid to get wet and I wanted to feel the cool water on my feet and legs.
After breakfast, we continued on our journey down the mountain. Before another hour had passed, we had already reached the jump off point. Ronie suggested we eat lunch there, take a bath and pass the time since it was already noon. We all agreed and settled down. We gave the rest of the durian fruit away to be cooked with tuna. Taking a bath was one of the best ideas during that weekend. I felt really refreshed after it. We all ate lunch and waited for the rest to finish their baths.
One of our fellow climbers decided to go home early since he lived in Rizal and he wasn't in the picture we took before going home.
We left around 30 minutes after him and rode a jeep to the market and another FX to Shaw Blvd. There, we finally satisfied our craving for slurpee, one of the things we wanted up in the mountainThings i learned
1. A fan, yup a simple wooden, foldable fan is great. You don't have to wait for the wind to get cooled.
2. A sleeping mat is definitely worth it.
3. Level 2 mountains make your body hurt immediately after the climb.
4. Don't come early or on time. Sorry still haven't learned this.
5. Take more pictures. Bring more batteries.
6. The less people come, the more stuff are likely to be forgotten like butane, can openers...
.
