Date: July 2019
Destination: Tinipak River x Mt. Daraitan
Lodging: Kuta Bingliw Eco Lodge and Campsite
Place: Tanay, Rizal
I’m now reviving my blog again to write about our adventure last
weekend! It has been 4 years since I last
went into an enduring hike. 2015, it was
in Mt. Pulag. A year after, my friends
and I did Mt. Taal, not to mention, Masungi also as to include it in the count. 😊 This time, the venture is in Mt. Daraitan x Tinipak River located
in Tanay, Rizal; about 2.5 hours drive from Metro Manila.
Last July 6, Saturday, we left Ortigas City around 8:30am, had heavy
brunch along the way and arrived at Brgy. Daraitan at about 12:30pm. We parked
our cars and later on met our assigned guide Benji. The parking lot has various sari-sari stores. On the other side was a land going further down to the bayan. In between these lands was a river separating it. We had to ride this “Bangka” to get to the
other side. We’re a group of 9 people
standing on it trying to balance ourselves.
***
Few steps away from the camping ground will then lead you to the
main site: The Tinipak River! The rock
formations were huge and of different angles and shapes all together forming
into one big masterpiece of landscape!
The water is clean and it wasn’t too cold at all to welcome the people
into an inviting swim. The level of
water goes deeper as you go farther away from the land.
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| Heading down the river |
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| Group shot of the fun crew! |
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| Relaxing in the cool water with the current pushing us to one side |
We stayed in the water for about 1.5 hour, enjoying the afternoon dip and chitchatting. Time for us to go back. This
is when it rained. Good thing we just came from swimming!
***
Back at the
small canteen, we got our stuffs and rode tricycle again towards Kuta Bingliw
Eco Lodge and Campsite. That is where we will be spending the night. We arrived at the Kuta jump-off point and it
will take a 30-minute hike going up to the actual lodge. The rain stopped and with all our heavy
stuffs, we started the hike up and oh boy! It was a very exhausting hike! I started thinking how hard it is to do the
check-ins in their place! My Pulag
check-in was more convenient as there were porters carrying our heavy bags. Yet, we needed to focus as we don’t have any other place to stay!
***
Welcome to our “kubo” with a tent set-up! We washed up and later on, dinner was served: a big chunk of white rice
with Tuyo and Tinolang Manok. By 8pm,
we’re now ready to call it a night. 9 of us then will sleep side by side
together inside the tent. This was
actually a night full of epic happenings!
Each of us had a very unique experience from the “Fried Fish in Salt” to
the sleeping positions to how we can or cannot sleep to how we had restroom
breaks to how we saw the starry skies to how we hear the nature sounds and the
“somewhat-rhythmic” sounds and to how one of us woke up unable to feel his
legs!😂 It was indeed a night to
remember as we can’t help laugh about it a lot whenever we recall that evening! Because of that, wala na kaming hiyaan sa isa't-sa lalo na pag nasa bundok ka! I managed to sleep at around 10:50pm as our
call-time for the next day was 2:30am. 3
hours of sleep. The struggle of waking up is so real!!!
***
Day 2. Our journey begins towards Mt. Daraitan. 3 am. It was very dark and we only had head
lamps and flashlights to light our path.
The weather was good; no rain, however there were parts in the beginning
full of mud as the rain yesterday left the ground super moist. It was very slippery on some parts and we had
to find a stick to support us. We had 2
guides; 1 in front and 1 at the back. As
we continued to hike, there were 2 dogs following our trail sort of guiding our
paths. They know the path very well and
continued to stay with us all through-out.
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| Portion of the not-so-muddy trail |
The trail we
took was sort-of divided into 3 sections/parts: 20% muddy, 10% talahib, and 70% assault. Prior to the hiking, we knew that it was a
level 3/9 mountain to hike. But on that
very moment of hiking, we were all very sweaty and exhausted and some of our
footwear started to give up on us! One of us was wearing only hiking slippers
and imagine the demand of strength needed from him to travel by foot into the
muddy part towards the assault part and not to mention going back down that you
have to fight the gravity to balance yourself.
One thing is clear. Proper footwear is really a MUST! My Merrell hiking
sandals also started to give up because of the muddy part!
Along the way, we encountered this horse carrying baskets of eggplant and vegetables. This is how they transport their raw foods from one place to another to sell. No wonder there are horse poops on the muddy trail.
There was one resting place also with various Fire Ants. Some of us were bitten by it. I was bitten twice as I was just wearing socks and sandals. It wasn't itchy like the normal ant bite but it left a sting for a while like a burning sensation! After a while, it just went away on it's own with me trying not to think about it.
***
3 hours had
passed and we still haven’t reached the peak.
The sun is starting to rise already and we were still making our way on
the assault part. By the time we got to
the peak, it was approaching 7am. There was daylight already. Too bad we didn’t
see the sunrise from the summit. The view however was very nice and seeing it
with the naked eye gave us a sense of accomplishment for a moment. We finally made it! It was a bit foggy but when
you look down, you can see the lower mountains with rings of clouds surrounding
it.
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| Left side: Crowd X Right side: Bangin :)) |
We roamed around the peak taking pictures. It was a bit crowded already as the roaming area up there was just on one side as seen in the image. The guide said that it's approximately 200 people registered to hike up on that day. They normally welcome max of 400 people. Hence the rainy season made the count lesser.
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| Roaming around the peak *** |
After half an hour on the peak, we made our way down back to all those parts again. Good thing there were lots of trees along the way to cover us from the sun. The talahib part was the only area that exposed us fully to the heat of the sun. Trekking down ain’t easier than trekking up. This was the part where some of us had bumps, slips, and scratches along the way. Not to mention, trekking down was the very part where we questioned ourselves why we’re doing this adventure!😂 Nonetheless, we managed to get back to our lodge enduring a total of 7.5 hours of physical hardship; from 3am until 10:30am; and oh, don’t forget the additional 30 minute hike from the Kuta jump-off point upto the lodge itself!
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| Assault Part heading down |
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| Talahib Part |
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| Drop dead tiring na! |
***
Some people ask
me if it’s worth it. In my honest
opinion, it is very worth it most especially if you’re into hiking. I like to push myself physically to explore
these thrilling adventures (kahit na
hindi halata as many would often tell me LOL).
I am afraid of heights. Yet
those 2 days of being able to see the people there, their way of living, the
moments on the peak, witnessing the majestic view of God’s wonderful creation,
having to trek with a fun crew, and being able to conquer a mountain and get
back to Manila safely by God’s grace; all these things I am thankful for! These moments are an eye-opener to me as to the life out there beyond what the busy city offers. When
we look back, these experiences help shape us out of our comfort zones and ultimately bring us in awe of God with His wonderful creations! 👌😉
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| Special thanks to this guy for leading and organizing! :) **Special thanks also to Arich for the wonderful photos! |
All glory and
praises to God!
