Nasugbu Trilogy Dayhike

Pico de Loro Traverse/Reverse (664+ masl), Talamitam (630+ masl), Batulao Traverse (811+ masl)

Some of you may probably heard about climbing two or more mountains in just one day. For those who may wonder, yes it is possible! This multi-peak dayhike climb has already caught the curiosity of many inclined-to-climbing individuals as they seek for more adventure and challenge.

So just a few hours away from Metro Manila lie three of the famous hiking destinations in Batangas. The pioneer of this climb trio called it Nasugbu Trilogy dayhike and  this includes Pico de Loro, Talamitam and Batulao. Let's call it NT dayhike, and of course they are all located in Nasugbu. Nasugbu is a town not just a home to many beautiful beaches and resorts but as you may see, it is also a sanctuary of scenic mountains.  For those who are familiar with these mountains, you are right, they are all minor climbs but try to roll it into one dayhike event and it becomes a major one. It is a dayhike with an exciting twist and extra challenge of completing all the three hikes. Otherwise, you cannot claim it as a trilogy.

the first ever Nasugbu mountains trilogy by Outdoor Pilipinas

Nasugbo Trilogy Map

More than having it as an extended nature experience, some try it primarily with an intention to do a training climb as NT dayhike is a really a good practice/warm up prior to a relatively major climb. They are those who are aspiring an even more difficult trek. When I tried it in 2011 as part of my training for our Mt. Pulag via Ambaguio-Akiki trails, I was doubting myself at first and yet I was able to finish it. It's just a matter of perspective -- I've viewed it as one high mountain comprised of many peaks.

The advantage?

For a damage to your pocket of only P500-600, you can already accomplish and explore three mountains in a single day and you can already have your desired training climb. Being near to Manila is also an advantage as it is only 2-3 hour drive to the Batangas province.


Records

The first ever NT dayhike was made possible by Sir Benj Magkalas, founder of Outdoor Pilipinas and one who has already established a good name in mountaineering community. According to him, he was looking then for a hike to train himself for their upcoming Luzon 3-2-1 climb, it is climbing the top 3 highest mountain in Luzon, thus, calling such event (as you might have noticed, NT climb is just a baby step to do an even more major trio climb, thus it's really worth trying). What they did was a Pico de Loro-Talamitam-Batulao dayhike. The second one, was organized by my climbing buddy and his climb buddy then, Sir Ed Bedural with the same sequence of the trek but adding one notch to the level of difficulty of the Pico de Loro climb to a seemingly insane traverse-reverse trek. Still they owe the itinerary credit to sir Benj. Apparently, there are many variations, so long it suits your satisfaction on how you will complete the trek.

I joined a NT dayhike invitational climb by Dennis Hisanan in August 2011 which happened to be his 3rd time to do it, Imagine the rainy trek that we faced since it was a wet season already. But more than a wilderness experience is the creation of new friendships and an opportunity to meet more mountain fellows who share the same enthusiasm in doing this kind of outdoor. By the way, it is best to do this multi-peak dayhike with a group. Not just for  budget reasons but it is best to experience and create remarkable moments  with fellows. However slots are still suggested to be  limited to 15 participants. There is a limit because strict compliance to the itinerary is advisable. Remember that it is a dayhike and thus you should finish the trek within 24 hours. Time is everything to this trek and pace is a high consideration.

Regrouping: "happy us" at the summit of Mt. Talamitam

The Mountains

First and foremost, a chartered jeepney is required in this event as this would transport the participants from one mountain to another. All the 3 mountains are not next to each other and they are situated in different locations in Nasugbu.

1. Pico de Loro

pico de loro (mt. palay-palay)

Pico de Loro 's jump off point might be in Ternate, Cavite yet for the NT setting, you'll be doing a traverse having an end point on the other side which is already in Nasugbu. By the way. Pico de loro hike (at 664 MASL) is actually good for first timers, hence the mountain is relatively easy to trek. Actually, we do our invitational climbs especially organized climb for the first timers usually in this mountain). The mountain's highlight is the monolith or parrot's beak, which  is just across the summit. Who could deny the picturesque and breathtaking views of Batangas' mountains and seacapes. However, initializing the traverse through a descent from the summit point marks the beginning of a steep and long trek. Poison ivy or "teka-teka" is also rampant and the forest that one would be facing is some kind of messy. In such end point of the traverse, the chartered jeepney would be waiting  and would eventually transfer the group to the next mountain at around 45 mins.

Here is a guide map courtesy of Sir Benj Magkalas, creator of Outdoor Pilipinas:

2. Mt. Talamitam

mt. talamitam

Standing at 630 MASL is Mt. Talamitam - the second leg of the trilogy is fairly easy trek to a seemingly bald grassland. In a matter of just one hour you should be reaching a summit of 360-degree view including the jagged silhouette of Mt. Batulao, the next and last destination. Beginning February 2013, the jump off point in Brgy Aga imposed a required guideship on the mountain for Php350 0r 400 per day. I happened to climb this mountain twice in separate events in 2011 and the only fee imposed  ( which is Php25) that time was the registration fee at the barangay.

3. Mt. Batulao

Highest of the trio, is  Mt. Batulao perched at 811MASL , this mountain in its bald and jagged grassland feature gives a very scenic view. It may be considered a minor climb yet its high cliff and knife edged trail still depict a risky trek. From Talamitam to Batulao jump off point is approximately 15 mins drive.

mt. batulao

Our actual NT climb in August 2011 was a group of 18 climbers and only nine of us completed the trilogy. Some were injured and already tired after the first two legs of the climb. Others just intended to join the Pico traverse or a twin dayhike which is up to Talamitam.

Due to fork encounters by some of us in Pico Traverse and Talamitam, we just arrived in Batulao jump off point at around 7pm and only after some refreshments did we able to start the Batulao traverse. The traverse from old trail to new trail lasted from 9pm to 3am. Yes, that long hours of night trek was consumed. Oh well, obviously this was due to a rainy and muddy trek. Crazy act it may be but all we wanted was to finish strong and complete the trilogy. According to Dennis, the NT dayhike they made in January 2012 (originally, it was Sha Bedural's climb event but handed down to him because she was already preggy to baby Maktrav that time), given no fork encounters and a start of the first leg in Pico as early as 4am, they were able to finish by 8pm. Well this is fairly convincing, it's just like doing a regular pacing in Makiling traverse. 

early lunch after Pico traverse

Itinerary

I am concluding this post by sharing with you the itinerary of NT dayhike:

NASUGBO TRILOGY I

12:00am Meet-up JOLLIBEE ALABANG
1:00am ETD to Pico de Loro

Start Trek Pico de Loro Traverse
4:00am Start Trek to Mang Rey's Kubo at Pico Basecamp
4:20am ETA Pico Basecamp Mang Rey's Kubo - Get Water and pay regisatration P20, Eat Breakfast
4:45am ETD to Alibangbang from Basecamp. Will by-pass falls
5:30am ETA Alibangbang Commence Summit Assault
6:30am ETA Pico Summit Camp - Get Water for traverse if available
6:15am ETA Pico Summit Pictures - Breakfast Snacks
6:45am ETA Pico Tower (will by-pass tower assault) - Commence Traverse to Nasugbu
7:45am ETA Level Trek Rolling Terrain Nasugbu Trail
8:00am Exit Point Brgy. Hamilo, Nasugbu - Brunch
8:30am ETD to Mt. Talamitam - Lunch on Jeep

Start Trek Talamitam Traverse
10:30am Mt. Talamitam Jumpoff, pay registration, Start Trek
10:45am ETA Talamitam River Last water source, get trail water 2L Minimum
11:30pm ETA Talamitam 4WD Assault via Western Trail
12:00nn ETA Talamitam Summit
01:15pm Commence Talamitam Descent Via Eastern Trail
01:45pm ETA Talamitam Jumpoff, Ride jeep to Mt. Batulao

Start Trek Batulao Traverse
3:15pm ETD Mt. Batulao Evercrest Get Water, Merienda, Buy Packed Dinner
4:45pm Start Trek to Mt. Batulao Camp 1 Old Trail
5:45pm ETA Camp 1 - Commence Summit Assault Prepare headlamp
6:45pm ETA Mt. Batulao Summit, Sunset Pictures, Merienda
7:15pm Commence Mt. Batulao Summit Descent via New Trail Night Trek
8:00pm ETA Batulao Jump off - rest and clean up

To Manila
9:00pm ETD Manila
11:00pm ETA Manila


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NASUGBO TRILOGY II

12:00mn Meet-up Jollibee Alabang
01:00am ETD to PICO(Please don’t be late)

Start Trek Pico de Loro Traverse-Reverse
04:00am Start Trek to Mang Rey's Kubo at Pico Basecamp
04:20am ETA Pico Basecamp Mang Rey's Kubo - Get Water and pay registration P20, Eat Breakfast
04:45am ETD to Alibangbang from Basecamp. Will by-pass falls
05:30am ETA Alibangbang Commence Summit Assault
06:30am ETA Pico Summit Camp - Get Water for traverse if available
06:15am ETA Pico Summit Pictures - Breakfast Snacks
06:45am ETA Pico Tower (will by-pass tower assault) - Commence Traverse to Nasugbu
07:45am ETA Level Trek Rolling Terrain Nasugbu Trail
08:00am Exit Point Brgy. Hamilo, Nasugbu - Brunch
08:15am Start Reverse Trek
08:45am ETA Level Trek Rolling Terrain Nasugbu Trail
09:45am ETA Pico Tower (will by-pass tower assault) - Commence Reverse to Ternate
11:00am Pico Jumpoff
12:00 NN ETD to Mt. Talamitam - Lunch on Jeep

Start Trek Talamitam Traverse
12:30pm Mt. Talamitam Jumpoff, pay registration, Start Trek
12:45pm ETA Talamitam River Last water source, get trail water 2L Minimum
1:30pm ETA Talamitam 4WD Assault via Western Trail
02:00pm ETA Talamitam Summit
02:15pm Commence Talamitam Descent Via Eastern Trail
02:45pm ETA Talamitam Jumpoff, Ride jeep to Mt. Batulao

Start Trek Batulao Traverse
03:15pm ETD Mt. Batulao Evercrest Get Water, Merienda, Buy Packed Dinner
03:45pm Start Trek to Mt. Batulao Camp 1 Old Trail
04:45pm ETA Camp 1 - Commence Summit Assault Prepare headlamp
05:45pm ETA Mt. Batulao Summit, Sunset Pictures, Merienda
06:15pm Commence Mt. Batulao Summit Descent via New Trail Night Trek
08:00pm ETA Batulao Jump off - rest and clean up

Contact number for the chartered jeepney:  Kuya Rey (0939 816 7785)

Aiming for more difficult climb requires enough preparation, so if you want to experience more and witness more in mountaineering, you gotta prepare enough and expect for the worse. The important thing is to build stamina and get your feet used to walking in the trails at a more improved pace since many of the major climbs are strictly following the itinerary for safety purposes.  If you are preparing for an undeniably high resistance-required major climb but still looking for a much friendly-to-the pocket climb, NT dayhike may be of good help to you.

I'm telling you, when you've reach the point of finishing the first two legs, it's so tempting not to proceed with the last one. and that's the challenge! You might be convincing yourself that you've done so far with the first two. But let's see how long would you be able to sustain? Besides, if you won't do it, how much more awaits if you finally do a much more difficult mountain?

If anyone have already done this, well, kudos to him for not giving up and completing it all.  But for those who would be doing this being a first timer to all the 3 mountains, I would like to hype you up as exciting adventure and surprises truly await in this single event. It's not your ordinary weekend dayhike, not even an easy trek yet it's definitely a fulfilling one.