Hiking Adventures #40: Mt. Makiling Traverse Dayhike

After the 1st training climb of MMS' Basic Mountaineering Course which happened in Mt. Daguldol, the next minor training climb would be in Mt. Iglit. Mt. Iglit is considered a minor climb in MMS because of its elevation, however, the difficulty climbing this mountain makes it a Major climb in Philippine Mountaineering. Our batch's BC(Batch Coordinator), Atty. JP Cunada have already climbed Iglit and he knows how difficult climbing the mountain. So he insisted to set a Makiling traverse dayhike as training climb for Iglit. I'm not supposed to join in Iglit climb because of my Halcon climb, but I did join to this event as tune-up climb for Halcon.

Since this would be a very long dayhike, we started to travel from Manila to Sto. Tomas around 3:00AM. I haven't had enough sleep for this climb so I tried to sleep throughout the ride. We arrived in the jump-off around 5:00AM and it was raining. The guides didn't want us to start until the rain stops or get low.

Finally, the rain stops. We started around 6:30AM and the weather was still gloomy. While climbing through the trails of Makiling, I had a chance talking with one of MMS Founding Fathers, Sir Long Henson. I already heard his name when I was still a guest on some open climbs. He was dubbed as the Father of Hiking Itinerary as he had provided hiking itineraries in the Philippines by publishing a book. Because of that, he's the first one to publish a book for Philippine Mountaineering. He knew about our Halcon climb, and he said that Makiling is a good training for Halcon. I told him that I would be joining the climb so he gave me some advice about the mountain.

Midway to the summit, we had to stop on a camping ground to wait for others. Since it was raining continuously, for sure there will be Limatiks lurking around. Makiling is known for having numerous limatiks or blood leeches. I find limatiks in Makiling cute as they have colored lines.

Someone from the other group had a limatik on his eye. As mountaineer, this is something that I don't want to happen to me. He was assisted by our senior members, Doc Mai and Doc Thom. Doc Thom was an ophthalmologist, so he knew what to do.

Then we continue to trek to the summit. Still no clearing after we reached the boulders. The trail was very muddy and we don't have choice but to walk and play with it.

We reached the part of the trail where it just a long gradual trail. After passing that part, there are habal habal waiting for us. Around P100 is the cost going to UP College of Forestry. 

It was still a great climb even if we had no clearing in the summit. I'm just happy that I finally climbed it. I became friends with some MMS Members who supported the climb especially those senior members. I'm also proud of my batchmate, Miki who successfully conquered Makiling Traverse as her preparation for Iglit. 

Mt. Makiling Traverse 
March 4, 2017
Difficulty: 5/9