Note: This post, just like the first two parts of my Knife Edge Trilogy climb (Guiting-guiting and Halcon), is quite long. I preferred to diarize every thought and every detail of the experiences I encountered. Only those patient and interested to know the journey I've been with are encouraged to read this. However, I will be disclosing our actual itinerary upon any request and will be sharing the source of info that made this climb possible.
An opportune time of having a
long break plus a great of amount of courage and inner strength, added by
a small amount of craziness– these
enkindled me in turning my dream of completing the last leg of my Knife Edge
Trilogy target into a reality. The Knife Edge Trilogy climb, as mentioned in my
previous posts, is known to Philippine mountaineering as three mountains in the
MIMAROPA region (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) in which a
treacherous knife edge-like trail are common to each of them, thereby, given a 9/9 difficulty rating. In November 2012, I was able to do the Mt. Guiting-guiting
traverse in Romblon and in July 2013, I realized the dream of reaching Mt.
Halcon. This year, it’s time for Mt. Mantalingajan in southern Palawan. :)
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| rocky terrain approaching the summit of Mantalingajan |
Mantalingajan was really a target
climb of mine this year, but maybe, I am just a woman whose mind is sometimes really
hard to read and i am a bit hesitant. Also, I was cornered by some financial
constraints. Moreover, another thing that made me forget it was when I heard the news
early this year that a group who climbed there was shot by an unknown gunman (I
have confirmed it and heard the details personally from Kuya Binoy, the guide
in our actual climb). However, as my mandatory leave was fast approaching in
May, it was only in the second week of the said month did I finally decide and take
the risks. Even if I would go on solo, even if buddy Dennis won’t be able to
take a leave and accompany me and even if at the back of mind, I was really
scared (of snakes, of malaria, of the fact that it’s difficulty is 9/9, and the
like).
I grabbed my PC and booked for a
round trip flight. I was firm in this decision. I would be forever regretful if
I had this long vacation and a good chance to climb it and I just let the
opportunity slip in.
Buddy Dennis, on the other hand, was also ever supportive
of this. He was actually one of the reasons why I was having the strength.
The unfavorable results? I only
got a discounted air fare (not-so-good discounted fare) in my return to Manila.
And so, I say “hello and good luck” to my bills for my booked flight going to
Palawan. I might add that I had to bear the difficulty in finding for
companions because it was a sudden invite for a climb, and take note, it’s not
just a simple, but a very serious climb.
Buddy and I still patiently looked
for any interested climbers who could join me in such impossible situation.
Haha.. There were many of them who were interested but no one was available. A
fellow climber who was once a companion in a dayhike back in 2011, in the
person of Angelo Cruz, texted me and expressed an interest to join. He would be
there in Palawan on the same dates that I target to climb it. Shoot! I got a
buddy to accompany me and to share the climb expenses with. (Anyway, I was a little bit in folly to push through even
if I’d go on solo, ‘sound s exciting actually). But it was truly better, there
was Gelo!
>>> After some short planning,
fast forward --->
Mount Mantalingajan: A Towering Gem of Palawan
With the height of 2,086+MASL,
the summit of Mt. Mountalingajan is the highest point in Palawan. Situated and surrounded by
various towns in southern Palawan, the mountain is a home to a tribe called
“Tau’t Bato” and a habitat for many wonderful species. It is considered as one of the toughest mountains
to climb in the Philippines. As
mentioned above, its main feature is the knife edge trail which is really
dangerous to walk at.
Talking about trekking in this mountain, the well-known and possible jump-off point is the one in Barangay Ransang, in the town of Rizal. A few years back, some climbers initiated a traverse trail which made the descent to the Barangay Malis (Brooke’s Point town) possible, hence, called the Ransang-Malis traverse.
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| Mt. Mantalingajan as tracked by Garmin Oregon 550 showing a 43.6km traverse |
During our actual climb, I asked
our guide of any other possible trail in Mantalingajan and we learned that
another traverse trail has been already doable but according to him, it's more difficult than the trail to Malis, that is, passing through the Kamhantian village, thus,
calling it as traverse via Kamhantian trail.
Pre-climb Preparation
I found a friend‘s (Sha Bedural)
blog post on Mantalingajan Traverse very helpful. I got the DENR contacts from
her site (http://kscdrbedural.wordpress.com/2014/01/28/climb-guide-mt-mantalingajan-traverse/).
We didn’t actually get a hard
copy of climb permit. I don’t know if it’s because of an impulsive
scheduling of the climb, or it’s just that there was a problem in the
communication. We even dropped by at DENR – Quezon office during our trip to
Ransang but still we failed to get one as Ms. Clarissa Pador was in a meeting in
Brooke’s Point. We really couldn’t get in touch with her thru mobile phone. On
the other hand, the guide assured us that as long as it was already advised to
the DENR, then it’s enough. It was just uncertain on our part since we wouldn't be able show any proof that we were really authorized to climb if anything goes
wrong. Aborting the climb was not an option as the trip is very tiring and is far away from Puerto Princesa and we
were already prepared for the climb.
I was also able to contact Kuya
Binoy thru Sha’s blog, too. For us to minimize climb expenses, our
initial arrangement was, he would be our porter-guide and as much as possible, not to
get another person to be our porter. By the way, they say it is only Kuya Binoy
and his uncle, Tatay Dinyo who know the way to traverse the mountain.
Since Palawan is said to be
infested by malaria especially in the past, we took some anti-malarial medicines
to at least ensure ourselves with prevention of the said probable malady.
The Climb Proper
A day before the target Day1 of the climb, I left for Puerto Princesa and met Gelo. Good thing, he was staying at a
relative’s house and so I was also invited to stay there instead of checking in
a hostel or a lodge. It was a day of preparation, shopping for the food and
camping supplies as well as cooking of some stuff in accordance to our meal
plan.
Day 0 – Travel Time to the Town
of Rizal
Taking the shuttle in San Jose Terminal
going to Rizal town, we were able to ride the 6:30AM trip. However, if only we
have known earlier that there was a 4:30AM trip (according to the
driver/dispatcher there, that was the first trip), we could have arrived
earlier in Rizal. This mistake resulted to accumulating delays in our itinerary.
Our next transfer was via jeepney to Sitio Sicud and we should alight at Ransang. Unfortunately, upon our
arrival in the Rizal Terminal, the jeepney going to Sicud had just left. We had
to wait for one more hour for the next trip so we just used the time to have an express cooking of our
rice. We were really behind the itinerary. We planned to start the trek by at
least 1PM. Miscommunication on the meet up point with the guide; a rainy, bumpy
jeepney ride; a prolonged travel time due to
some business trips of the driver --- I don’t want to state each and every detail
of these but all the worst things that
could make us delayed, simply happened.
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| A road to Sicud: on the left side is the Chairman's house which is the climbers' drop off point for registration |
The rain already stopped. We were
only able to meet Kuya Binoy, 30 minutes past the hour of two in the afternoon. We were
introduced to Kapitana, registered in the logbook and paid for the Visitor’s
fee of Php100 each. To re-energize ourselves, we ate lunch first and because of
these, we only managed to start the trek
at 3:30PM. Initially, we decided to hit the original target for the day
which was Magtangob campsite or Bulldog’s house but on our way to Balin-balin
Village (one hour trek from the starting
point), we already encountered two snakes (ulupong) along the trail. I was
really scared! It was my first time to see an alive and crawling snake in the
trail. Since it would take 4 hours or less from Balin-balin Village to Bulldog’s
house, it means we need to do a night trek. We thought it's unsafe so we just settled to stay overnight at Balin-balin where house of Kuya Binoy and his
family was also located.
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| on our way to Balin-balin Village with Mantalingajan range on the background |
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| the children of Balin-balin Village |
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Dusk at Balin-balin village
|
Few of the locals we encountered were wondering what on
earth we are doing up in the mountains. They said, “bakit ba kayo umaakyat dyan? Anong ginagawa nyo? Buti nga kayo at nasa
bayan na.” (Why are you climbing this mountain? What are you doing there? Don’t
you realize you’re fortunate enough that you are residing in downtowns?)
I just smiled. Gelo said, “self-fulfillment”. When only
three of us were left (Kuya Binoy, Gelo and I) I told Kuya Binoy, “pag po kasi nasa city kayo, iba yung
stress.. nakakapagod yung crowd, yung traffic.. so umaakyat kami, para marelax
at makalanghap ng iba naman.. ng kalikasan.” (when you are in the city, crowds
and traffic are very stressful. We climb to relax and inhaled different air.. or encounter the nature)
We slept in an open nipa hut and
we’re only covered by our respective sleeping bag. A bunch of annoying
mosquitoes had a sumptuous feast on us. I don’t even know if I got a continuous night
sleep.
DAY 1 – The Official Start of the
Journey
Full-packed with loads,
the two of us together with Kuya Binoy began trekking at 6:30AM. And oh,
after walking by around two hours in which we also started to encounter assault-type
trails, I felt the burden already that these full backpacks of ours bring. Not that I
was losing guts in the next three days, but such foretaste of the trail seemed
to warn me. To make it short, upon arriving at Bulldog’s house, we decided to
get a porter. (yes, I know at first that we would be climbing a 9/9-rated mountain and having no
porter is really doubtful, but at least we tried). Kuya Binoy just mentioned
that it's supposed to be his first time to guide a group with no porter and so we were already
erasing such record. We couldn't stand that claim, hahaha.
 |
| getting ready for the first day challenge |
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| at Kuya Bulldog's house |
Resuming the trek at around 10am,
we were a bit relieved by the lighter load we had after transferring some of the
things to the porter bag. We continued on. The other side of the mountain started to get dark. Kuya Binoy said it’s the area of Tau’t Bato tribe. And there, it started to rain! It rained that
hard that we forgot to rest. It was a nonstop trek and we only managed to have a break when it was lunchtime. We ate wet nuggets for lunch.
Heavy rains lasted until before 3pm.
What a discouraging and dreadful trek! Yet, it was still an advantage that we
got no time to rest that it compensated our slow but continuous moving. We also
got no problem in hydration as the water was right there in our faces and mouth,
LOL! Our rainy trek was full of encounter with the locals (I forgot to ask which among of them are of Tau’t Bato tribe). The terrains are combinations of assault, descending and gradual
trails but were muddier and more slippery this time.
Gelo lost his eyeglasses and his
sprained knee continues to threaten him. It was such a crazy climb with no enough physical
preparation, trainings and all. Yeah, it's really not advisable and all we got was determination
and a firm mind to finish the traverse. Despite these limitations, we were able
to enjoy the trail and continue to move on. Now the next dilemma was, should we
just settle for Kabugan campsite where water source is available, we would be
really behind the itinerary by 3 or more hours.
 |
| Kabugan Village |
My point here was to make up
for the time we lost in the previous day. I
had a plane to catch on the 28th and any extended day/s would put me
to uncertainty. I insisted to push the trekking until Kawayanan campsite. I checked on Gelo first (of course I would not insist if it’s not
possible given his situation) According to him, he could do it. The deal: since
water would be the problem in Kawayanan, we cooked the rice ahead which should
last until tomorrow’s lunch . We refilled our water bottles and began the night
trek. Honestly, night trek is not recommended in Mantalingajan because of the
possible encounter of the snakes and that the forest is really messy. There are
also cliffs along the trail. I was a bit guilty of it. Gelo could not see
the trails clearly and I had to guide his steps when the twilight began. Thankfully, after
two hours of believing we would safely reach the next campsite with so much
caution in trekking, we finally arrived at Kawayanan. The sky was already calm
and there seemed to have no threat of bad weather anymore on that fateful night.
 |
| beautiful twilight |
DAY 2: A Passionate Move to Reach the Summit
We woke up very early the next
day and were able to start the trek as early as 6am. It was the usual messy and mossy forest that we encounter, good thing there were no more rains. It was actually
a day of a fine weather. We passed by various points and campsites. We started
to come across the cliffs and rocky terrains.
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| at Kadiklayan View Deck |
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| assault to Tulanggok Peak |
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| at Tulanggok Peak |
For all we know, we were already
in Paray-paray campsite by 10:55am.
We set the camp and prepared
lunch to fill our stomach in before we do the summit ascent.
At exactly 1PM, we began to
ascend guided by Kuya Binoy and Kuya Bulldog was the one left at the campsite.
Gelo and I were obviously so excited. What was more amusing was that, we didn’t
have to carry our backpacks. Water and a few trail food would be enough. Boulders were like a playground to us that are really pleasurable to trek at.
The entirety of the Mantalingajan which is
almost comprised of rocks was now facing us with blue sky on the background
indicating and promising that a great weather won’t fail us. The other side
of the mountain (Ransang side) was still covered by thick clouds and perhaps
just like yesterday, it was raining there.
It was an open trail of
continuous assault with a lot of bonsai trees everywhere. It was risky because
piles of huge rocks are what the terrains are almost composed of. Just like in
Mt. Guiting-guiting in Romblon, in between the rocks are holes and the rocks
itself are pointed and sharp. Still, wearing gloves is necessary.
It doesn’t totally resemble that
of summit ascent in Mt. Guiting-guiting (G2) as the said mountain is a total pile of rocks
with almost no plants and soil to walk at. Thus, for me, the ascent to G2 is
more technical than the summit ascent to Mantalingajan.
We also trekked a mossy forest in the middle of this summit ascent.
At 2:45PM, we reached the very
summit and it was a 360-degree view although only one side was shown to us
(Brooke’s Point side) as the Rizal’s side is still covered by
clouds. Filled with joy, we decided to stay longer at the summit. It was
fulfilling! We could have seen also the Sabah, Malaysia’s side if it weren't for
the clouds that enveloped that side.
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| stepping up the summit of Mantalingajan for the first time |
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| panoramic 360-degree view of the summit |
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| viewing the Brooke's Point |
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| selfie with kuya Binoy and Gelo |
By 3:55PM (yes, we really enjoyed
almost one hour of staying there), we have started our descent to back to Paray-paray campsite. On our way down, we realized how steep and lengthy the trails are so we were wondering how excited we were in our
ascent as we didn't mind such a long assault way up. By 5:25PM, we’re back to Paray-paray. Being sweaty
and clammy, we eagerly joined Kuya Binoy going to the water source area. Woooh!
It was my first time to take a bath in the mountain. The water is flowing
that much and it was very cold and soothing. Mixed it up with a great
view of sunset because it was an open area.. it really felt wonderful.
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| as viewed from Paray-paray water source |
We went back to the campsite and
prepared our food.
We heard some noise and realize the existence of the
mountain rats. They would just appear quickly and are really stubborn.
 |
this cute and "makulit" one was named "Hubert" by Gelo..
i actually don't know his reason behind naming Hubert on all of the creatures that captured our attention, haha |
Gelo and I laughed out to death
when we heard a disturbing noise inside the tent of Kuya Binoy and Kuya
Bulldog. OMG! A mouse was able to enter inside their tent as they chase for our
food supplies. They were really funny as they strive to make the rat go out of
their tent. Every time I remember such funny scene, I can’t help but laugh much about it.. sabi namin parang may naghaharutan sa loob ng tent. LOL! But the truth is, it was only Kuya Binoy who was in panic as opposed to Kuya
Bulldog who remained calm. I wonder how
they looked like inside the tent. LOL.
DAY 3: An Epic Traverse
This was what I thought of our
Day1 and Day2: the trails are no way easy, are dangerous and the trek was really
tiring. Yet I have also experienced them in the other tough climbs I did. They
weren’t new to me. So I was this proud lady for that specific 2 days. Then this
Day3 came, my boastfulness to myself was brought to an end. The traverse is
like no other: rocks are so slippery, trails are narrow with only one foot fitted on it and are full of holes, soft and loose
soil are dangerous to step at (Twice that I slipped off and thankful that it
wasn't a cliff where I fell down), presence of thorny plants, descent are steep and the traverse itself is soooooo
lengthy that we did it from 7:30AMto 8:50PM. Do the Math and yes, that's only based on our pacing.. I think, we are the second team of climbers who did the one-day descent (next to Sha’s team in January). The normal itinerary that is being
followed is to stay in Lapong or Pirataw campsite. One-day descent is doable
but unless you started out early, you’ll surely be doing night trek just like
what we have experienced.
I must confess that I unload some
of the heavy stuff in my backpack and transferred them to the porter. I know myself
for being weak in terms of descending with heavy loads.
One of the struggles that we endured during this descent was that, we needed to save water. The next water source after
Paray-paray is two hours away which is Tabud river and the next
stop which we could avail hydration is already in Kupang which is 5 or 6
hours after.
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| at Tabud river |
Kuya Binoy told me before the
start of our descent that we need to arrive before 11AM at Lapong campsite, or else we
will be staying one more night at Pirataw. Gelo and I tried to beat it although
we were about 30-minute late or more as we only managed to start that day at 7:30AM. So I appealed if we could still push through even
if we arrived there at 11:30AM.. and the guide agreed. Leaving Tabud river at
9:45AM, I experienced the longest non-stop trekking so far (with only 2-minute water
break)... We arrived at Lapong at 11:35AM. It was a zombie trek! Haha.. (walang usap-usap, galit-galit muna).
We stopped at Lapong for lunch. I was a bit nervous at this area owing from the story of Kuya
Binoy that it was where the shooting attempt happened when he was guiding a group of
climbers sometime in the first quarter of this year. He told me that for a while, after that
incident, he was thinking to stop guiding. Now I understand him why during our
initial guideship arrangement, he offered us to avail one porter. I think it
was really appropriate that we get Kuya Bulldog as our porter, at least Kuya
Binoy wasn’t alone especially in this threat of being shot again.
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| Lapong campsite |
 |
| on our way down from Lapong campsite |
It was truly a long journey
passing the Mt. Magringgit and Karim peak. Cliffs and narrow side trails with only one sole fitted
on it never ceased.
Before nightfall at around 6:38PM, we arrived at a residential
area where sari-sari store landmark can be found. We moved on, but this time
the trail is much tolerable and night trek is doable. The main difficulty is
the steep descent but the trail is already wide and open and is no longer
technical. But the fact that our bodies especially our knees are already weakened and tired
for the whole day descent, it was apparently a greater effort for
us. That point is still more than 500 MASL I guess, so I was expecting that we still need to endure a longer walking time or worse, a continuous steep descent.
Gelo was also struggling as it was
already dark and again, he couldn't see the trail clearly.
As we move on, I was controlling
myself from insanity --- hahaha, I told myself that if this kind of trekking in
a dusty, rough road persists in the next two hours, I should start talking to
Kuya Bulldog or Gelo. Nakakabaliw ang
haba seeing only the light coming from the lamp and anything else is all
dark and yet you keep on walking and walking and walking without knowing if we’re already close to the end point. When we spotted a passing bus from afar, it felt like
it’s getting normal and we’re close to the civilization hahaha.. We're almost close to National
Highway and with much patience to keep on keeping on, we finally
arrived at the exit point in Barangay Malis.
Wow, it felt weird walking at a
non-rough, concrete road. We were really back to life! :D
And this marks the completion of
the much awaited Mantalingajan Traverse which was once a dream. Hurrah, we just made it in three days! Well, I got a big
hole in my pockets; I got lots of bruises in my legs, I got muscle pains… but
nothing beats the memories created, laughters and joys of the trek, the new experiences
encountered, new lessons in camping and the fulfillment of finishing the
traverse of this prominent mountain, alive, kicking and strong.
I thank Gelo for joining me in
this climb. I wouldn't be able to do this without him especially during camping (hey, I don’t
know much about cooking and honestly, this was my first time being not a “senorita”
in camping LOL! ). This was my first time to really wake up as early as 3am in the
morning and do the cooking tasks. I
experienced being hands on in this climb – deciding for the climb, pitching the
tent, and all the practical preparations before, during and after the climb. Now
I realized how spoiled brat I am to Buddy Dennis, hahaha. I would like thank him for his all-out support in this Mantalingajan climb.
Other Information:
> Mobile signal (especially Smart) is highly available at Paray-paray campsite and summit but there are also some parts of the trail throughout the traverse where there's a strong signal.
> Presence of limatik in the descent/traverse part
*Credits to some of the photos captured by Gelo
