A Beginner's Experience of Mt. 387

View at the summit of Mt. 387, Carranglan, Nueva Ecija

To (sort of) celebrate my 25th birthday, I went on a joiners tour to climb Mt. 387, or Mt. Batong-Amat, in Brgy. Puncan, Carranglan, Nueva Ecija last October 28. As this was my first ever mountain hike, I had a lot of questions in mind -- How difficult would it be? Would I be able to go back in one piece? What should I expect? I even made a research about some basic mountaineering terms before I decided to go.

Road trip groufie

Pre-hike orientation

The road trip to Nueva Ecija was quite long. We left Batangas at 9:20 PM of October 27 and had some videoke session (YES! The van has one!) on the way to Metro Manila where we'd pick up some joiners. We reached the jump-off point in Brgy. Puncan at around 4:00 AM the next day.

Before starting the traverse, we had breakfast at the store at the jump-off point then we proceeded with the pre-hike orientation. We were told of the brief history of why the mountain is called Mt. 387 or Mt. Batong-Amat. Apparently, Batong-Amat is the name of the rocks at the summit. The mountain, covering 387.9 hectares of land, is protected by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. At certain times of the year, hikers can bring with them tree seedlings to plant on their way to the summit, but since we went at a time when the lands are quite dry, we were only encouraged to bring water bottles to water the little trees on the way.

Halfway there!

The traverse to the top was quite challenging. My friend said it's only 2/9 difficulty, but I felt like it was more than that. (It's my first time so I have nothing to compare it with.) I had a lot of stops before I reach the summit, and I even had to make use of a makeshift cane to have extra support while hiking.

It was still dark when we started trekking. Halfway to the summit, we already saw the view that Mt. 387 was known for. We saw wide rice fields and several other mountains in Carranglan. At the summit, the view was even more breathtaking because we saw Nueva Ecija's Chocolate Hills. We had a small picture-taking session there as we were traveling with three photography enthusiasts.

Stopped for a rest. (Dex Macalelong)

Majestic sunrise

The rest of Carranglan (I think?)

Here's to my 25th!

Photo-op at the Batong-Amat rocks.

Looking like my knees aren't shaking.

Lovers' tree campsite. (Dex Macalelong)

Group picture at the Lovers' tree. (Dex Macalelong)

Traverse to Aloha Falls. (Dex Macalelong)

Our little adventure didn't stop there. We had to go to Aloha Falls and to get there, we had to do a traverse. (The difficulty is 4/9.) The trail was so steep that the tour guides advised us to wear gloves so that we wouldn't cut ourselves on the spiky stems of the plants that we'd hold onto. Some of us decided to just sit and slide down our butts just to be safe. (And poor me got nauseous and had leg cramps on the way to the falls!) The way down took me longer than expected. Eventually, I decided not to go to the falls because I was already tired and I was nursing my poor leg.

Even though I got injured, I enjoyed my first ever hike and I was very grateful I decided to go. I was able to think about and learn a lot of things. (Watch out for my post about those learnings. *wink wink*) And most importantly, I was able to conquer one of my greatest doubts about myself.

Our small group. (Dex Macalelong)

A couple of people to be thankful for this trip...
To my friends, Dexter, Noriel, Tune, and Joan, for coercing asking me to join them on this trip. I quite regretted joining them at first, but I'm very thankful now. (Where are the rest of our pictures?)
To my fellow joiners on the tour, for the laughter and for the great experience.
To our tour coordinator, Ms. Daisyree Catad, for being very patient and for waiting on me while I nurse my poor leg.
To our tour organizer, Mr. Jhay Desamparado of Byahe Ni JhayRick, for a very well organized tour. Hassle-free!
To our van driver, Kuya Walter, for keeping us safe throughout our road trip and for dropping me off two blocks away from my dorm.
To our tour guides, Kuya Jordan and Kuya Isagani, for helping me in that steep trail going to Aloha Falls.
To my fellow hikers that day, for lending some help while I was resting on the trail. Some of them gave me Jelly Ace, a pinch of salt (to help with the cramps), and sincere words of encouragement.
And to God, for the great experience, for allowing me to go back to the city in one piece, and for letting me be at work the following day.

I just love this view! (Dex Macalelong)

Now, that was an experience!

October Sunset

Happiness is a choice.

This is one of the things I have learned for the past few weeks.

It is your choice if you are going to make this day, your day, a better one or not. It is your choice whether you are going to fulfil your dreams on this day or just postpone it until you feel you have everything on their perfect places. It is your choice whether you are going to school or not. It is your choice if you’ll come late or not. It is your choice whether you are going to wake up on this day or not. It all lies on your decisions; you have your freewill. It is all your choice. Things happen the way they should be and it is still, I can say, the consequence of your choices.

Talking about choices, you can only choose between two options. Yes or no? Go or not? You cannot be at the middle. Ask yourself. Are you happy? You only got two answers. Yes or no? You cannot be in between. It’s just you’re happy or you’re not. That’s it.

We may be facing a lot of trials and challenges which we think we cannot make, fears we think we cannot conquer, and losses we think we cannot get over. But, do not give up. It’s a part of this life. (Just call it  “spices of life”. :) ) Just always remember that the sunset may come to an end and start the night, but the darkest night comes right before the dawn where the sun will shine brightly once again.

I choose to be happy. I choose to claim that this is my day and this is the day the Lord has made for me to fulfil my goals and my dreams so I’m going to seize it and make the most out of it. This is my choice. I choose not to mourn on the bad things that happened in the past because it’s all in the past and I cannot change anything about it. I better get up, get off my back and keep going. The things that happened yesterday are my experiences and I will use it to deal with the future. It has surely taught me a lot.

 

This is my day. This is the day the Lord has made for me. I am going to use it efficiently, making experiences out of it which can surely bring lessons that I can learn from. I am going to seize this day! Carpe diem!

Laurel Adventure: Escaping from the Real World, Finding Paradise

September 29, 2012. A rainy day but it was a great experience for me and my friends. We went to Laurel, Batangas to visit the town fiesta and make our projects. The original plan was to finalize the concept for our exhibit in Philosophy of Education but the plan turned out to be an adventure through Malagaslas Falls and another falls which is not yet known to people.

It all started out at 11:00 AM. We rode a truck that delivers fresh fish in some parts of Cavite and Manila. It is owned by my classmate’s family. The ride took 15 minutes from the town of Laurel. The truck ride was such an experience for all of us especially for me because it has been a very long time since I last rode one.

Truck ride

The 15-minute ride did not bring us straight to our destination. We have to walk along a muddy terrain and cross rivers just to get to Malagaslas Falls. We even had stop-overs to buy some snacks and take pictures, so the supposed-to-be 40-minute walk lasted for more than an hour.

First stop is the Malagaslas Falls. It is located at the heart of San Gabriel, Laurel, Batangas. The falls was a small one but the water is so clear and freezing cold. This is my first time to see natural falls but I can say that it belongs to one of the most beautiful miniature natural falls. The water rushes down from a 6-7 meters high pile of rocks. The water is so clear that you would want to just dive onto the water but you cannot because the catch-basin is too shallow for one to dive. Cherishing the beauty of nature and the coldness of water, we took a lot of pictures here. Unfortunately, some of us were not prepared to wet themselves on the falls but we all did because of the inviting splash and coldness of the clear water.

After the Malagaslas Falls, we planned to visit the Simbahang Bato which is also an attraction in Laurel. But we didn’t find our way there; instead, we found a huge falls which we do not know the name. Before we got inside the hidden falls, we need to pass through a waist-deep river and cross over a huge rock which serves as the gate to the falls. When we passed the gate (that’s how I call it), it was PARADISE. The rocks are so beautiful and are placed almost perfectly alongside of the rock walls. The falls is on one side. It is like a cave but the difference is just that this cave has no roof.  

The falls was 10-15 meters high. The upper falls was, I guess, 8 meters high splits into two smaller falls. The splash of the water from the top falls gives drizzles of water that wets the sand and rock inside. Since it had just rained when we got to the unnamed falls, the water was brownish but we still enjoyed there. We enjoyed the beauty of the scenery surrounding the hidden unnamed falls. It was surrounded by a huge rock formation which is covered by moss and topped with trees forming a half circle. The green and mossy surroundings gave a cool and soothing ambience, perfect for relaxing one’s mind.

We need to say goodbye to the falls. It’s almost 3:00 PM and we have not yet eaten lunch. We have decided to go back to our classmate’s home, but this time, we had to walk our way to the town of Laurel because the truck cannot fetch us. We walked across rivers and the muddy terrain, passing the Malagslas Falls and through other two barangays. We were home by 4:00 PM.

My favorite shot. :)

It was such an experience. Adventure-packed. Worth-remembering. Worth-repeating. I will definitely go back.

Carpe diem!