Mt. Maculot: A Journey to the Summit

Mt. Maculot is one of the beginner mountain hiking spot in the Philippines.
The major jump-off point is the Mountaineer’s Store located at Barangay 7 "Siete", Cuenca, Batangas.
You can have yourself prepared at the store which you can eat and change your clothes before the hike.

THE STARTING POINT

It was about 9 o'clock in the morning when we start hiking.
At first, we need to walk on the cement road until you reach the street sign pointing to Mt. Maculot.

The street sign. © Niño R. Ricon

We are accompanied by a local guide for safety and guidance while we are hiking the mountain.

The team together with our local guide. (fifth from the right)

© Niño R. Ricon

There are three destinations when you traverse Mt. Maculot - the Rockies (706 MASL), the Summit (930 MASL), and the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto (510 MASL).
See Google Maps{:target="_blank"}

Unfortunately, we only reached the summit and the Rockies since we do not have enough time and majority of us are first timers.

THE TRAIL

Trail going to the campsite.

The trail become steeper as we go along.

A beautiful scene at the background.

THE CAMPSITE

It was 11 o'clock in the morning when we arrived at the campsite.
The Rockies will be your destination from the left and the Summit from the right.

The summit behind us.

We decided to take the summit first since there are many people in the Rockies taking their photo opportunity.

The trail was muddy and lots of thorn plants.

Entrance to the summit.

THE SUMMIT

We reached the summit around 1 o'clock in the afternoon.
Rewarding scene awaits when we reach the summit of Mt. Maculot.
You can see the view of Taal Lake and you can feel the wind that makes you relax from the uphill journey.

The Taal Volcano.

Photo opportunity at the summit.

We started to descent back to the campsite to continue our journey in the Rockies.

THE ROCKIES

The Rockies.

The Rockies was the most challenging part since you have to climb the very steep rocks in order to reach the top.

We reached the top around 3:30 o'clock in the afternoon. Scenes are breathtaking when you reach the edge of the rocks.

At the top of the Rockies.

At the edge of the Rockies. © Niño R. Ricon

After the photo opportunity in the Rockies, we are now heading back towards the entry point.
Everyone must be carefully going down because you might slide off the trails due to slippery sand.

We reached the Mountaineer’s Store around 6 o'clock in the evening. We clean ourselves and rest for a while before going back home.

That was a great experience to embrace the nature and escape out of work for a while.

"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves" - Edmund Hillary