Pico de Loro gained much attention to nature aficionados and adventure seekers as a good weekend getaway. For mountaineering group it served as a training ground to scale one’s fitness. Basically, hikers will always include Pico de Loro to their itineraries. And my Deus adventure is no exception to that, so here I am telling you my highlights of my trip to Mt. Palay-Palay-Pico de Loro.
A group of 37 mountaineers endure days of exhaustion putting themselves to the test to conquer the mountain, last 31 January to 1 February 2009. This is so far my biggest group I ever joined, it comprised of almost freelance mountaineer from the URC Outdoor and Recreation Club, represented by Sir Ranniel, my former group; from the group of Sir Moi and Sir EL; and from the group of Sir Jay.
We assembly at Chowking EDSA Central Mandaluyong about 5 in the morning then we proceed to Baclaran. From there, we were joined by the rest of the group of Sir EL. We arranged for transportation going to Ternate,
From the jump-off point, we were asked by a lady saying that she came from DENR and we were asked to register and pay a 20 pesos registration fees for each climber. What a good ‘business; I’m not against with the collection of fees, what I’m in opposition to, is that the lady don’t have identification to prove that she is really an employee of DENR and she don’t gave us a receipt that will served as our proof that we already paid. Also, if they issued proper receipt we might say that the fees that they collected will proceed to the government as form of profit but it never happened. They just collected fees and disappeared. Enough for my sentiments, let’s get back to my adventure.
The trail is gentle with some minor steep trails. After an hour of hiking we reached the ‘kubo’ or the base camp 1. The family of Mang Rey lived their and also requested for a 20 pesos registration fees for each climber. I cope some time to ask some questions to the wife of Mang Rey, according to her since they are involve in the management of the trails and they provide a comfort room for climbers most likely they need some minimal fees to compensate such cost.
We ate lunch, had a rest for a couple of hours and leave the base camp1 by 1 in the afternoon. After passing to woodlands and some series of bamboo forest, at last we reached the summit.
We waited for the sunset but unfortunately the clouds covered the sun merely dragging it down, nevertheless, a gust sea breeze and of clouds passed us leaving our body chilling to death. Even though I wanted to scale the
We ate dinner and exchanged meal with the other group. Beef Teriyaki and ‘Ampalaya’ con carne filled our stomach that night. The night was so young then, when we had our socials. We had fun and drink a lot.
Second day, our itinerary was to break camp early for us to dedicated much time exploring the nearby beaches. Early in the morning, we ate breakfast and drink coffee. Break camp. We had a group picture taking and then descended to Nasugbu trail.
The path to Bgy Papaya, Nasugbu was somewhat confusing so we had a hard time finding the trail but God is great, we reached the Bgy Papaya, Nasugbu by lunch time. We arranged transportation going to the resort and to terminal at Nasugbu to
Barely fifteen minutes from the drop point. We reached the public resort. Then after a couple of hours of plunging in the sea water, we leaved Pico de Loro but the memories will always remain.
Follow me as I provide you with a glimpse to see God’s art works and try for it yourself in my next adventure.
