Mt. Pico de Loro Traverse

February 2014 - Mt. Pico de Loro, Ternate, Cavite

The first mountain to trek for the year 2014 was Mt. Pico de Loro! I was just chatting with an old friend and the next day we were on our way to Cavite. At 4 am Byron and I boarded a bus from Coastal Mall bound to Ternate and arrived in 2 hours. We took a tricycle to the jump-off and by 8 am, we already started to trek. We did not hire a guide for the trail was easy to follow and there were a couple of trekkers present. In case, we didn't know where to go, we'll just ask and follow the others.

Rocky but shady trail 

For the first hour of the trek, I was a bit anxious if I will be able to complete the activity without getting any injuries. It was almost a year since the last time I hiked a mountain. But of course, I was also excited to experience new things and challenges again. At around 10:30 am we reached the campsite and rested for a while. We met some new friends, Maan, Chito, Alvin & Yhob and decided to hike along with them to the summit. We agreed to take a side trip to the waterfalls but it was dry. The weather was nice but it was getting hotter and the trees were becoming thinner as we were getting near to assault our way up to the summit. 

The Company L-R: Byron, me, Maan, Chito, Alvin & Yhob

Finally, we made it to the summit by 11 am and it was very hot. By the time we got there, we were tired and exhausted but we took our  compulsory photo ops, lol. Byron and I planned to take the trail back but the others planned to do a traverse. They persuaded us to do the same and we gladly accepted the challenge.

The Summit overlooking the Monolith

It was my first time to do a traverse hike. A traverse hike means taking different entry and exit points. We took the Ternate, Cavite entry point to the summit and we had to descend to Nasugbu, Batangas. We rested for a while and ate our lunch at the monolith, lol. Just behind it for the shade. I did not climb the monolith, I was very tired and did not have energy to do so, plus I was very worried about my shoes. We begun our descent at 12:30 noon time and we had to climb down to the other side of the mountain with 99.9 degrees elevation! HAHA. Okay, I needed to concentrate on this one. We had to sit on our butts and get our feet positioned for the next step downhill a cliff. We were very careful and paced ourselves for the first few minutes. I was very glad that my companions were experienced mountaineers. One part of that steep descent moment, I had to step on one's leg because my foot could not reach the surface of the rock and I was too scared to jump even facing in. I thought that I might accidentally fall off from the cliff and terribly died. I was overjoyed when we got through that rocky cliff. I had more difficulties in trekking down the mountain but thanks to the awesome company who helped me get through with it. I could not imagine that descent without them! The heat of the sun also made it so tiresome and exhausting. We arrived at our exit point, the MSDC Security Force Training Ground near the Nasugbu-Ternate Highway around 3:30 pm and we hailed a tricycle to Nasugbu to eat dinner together before heading back to Manila.

Successful company of 6.