Mt. Batulao – October 2011

It was my second climb in Mt. Batulao,  Batangas, but this time, it was a night trek; so it was a different story when you depend on that little headlamp lighting a little more than a few meters of the path ahead of you. Together with a group called HIKERS, we started the trek around 8PM.

Mt. Batulao in Batangas is a class 3 trail trek, with 4/9 difficulty and is considered a minor climb; so this mountain is an ideal first for some of my trailmates who were just entering the world of mountaineering.

At first, the idea of a night trek seems off to me, as I will not be able to see and appreciate the mountain ranges of Batangas while walking the trails, but somehow there was this urge to experience climbing at night.

We were ten in the group, and most of us are runners, bikers and occasional climbers. Our guide Sir Homer is an experienced mountaineer.

I was the sweeper (the last person on the line) during the first quarter of the climb. But after a few hours I found myself in the middle of the pack. I think that a night climb in Mt. Batulao was easier mainly because it was colder and you focus mainly on the trail in front of you.Around camp 5 and 6, we took some rest stop, a little time to look around – the sky, the surroundings.

At 600 meters above sea level (MASL), with strong winds blowing and dropping temps, it was an amazing moment for me. The appreciation for nature became more imposing. There were stars above me, and the glittering lights from Southeast and the Northeast horizons viewed on this peak lighted both my poles – I’m lying on a sea of stars.

We reached camp 8 at around 10pm. Here, we setout our tents and settled down for the night. We saw streak of meteors as we began to appreciate the celestial heavens. Maybe the little shots of vodka helped. Stories from each of us were shared, and the night was filled with some good laughs too.

It was a challenged to get some sleep at camp 8 where the wind kept punishing our tents. And with the temperature dropping, condensation inside the tent seems like drizzle dropping on my face. I actually don’t know if I slept at all, because I felt like a heavy log in the morning.

Was awake at around five, and up before six to witness the golden sunrise. It took some heaviness away. It was cold and the wind consistently made waves on the surrounding sea of grasses and cogons ofMt.Batulao.

I decided to stay in camp 8 and let my trailmates worked their way into the summit. At 700 MASL, the summit was just another a hundred meters more.

I was alone at camp 8, cooked rice, and took their pictures while on their way. I also activated my Nokia N95 GPS using SportyPal so I could see where our exact position on Google Maps.

Took them 2 hours to complete a traverse from camp 8, to the summit, then the old trail, and back to the new trail at camp 8.

We decided break camp at around 11AM and descended from camp 8. The sun was above us the whole time and it was a great relief to reach the Bukohan around camp 3/4. I bought two glasses of fresh coconut juice, while others replenished themselves with rice, luncheon meat and eggs.

The descend was much harder than the ascent, maybe because the heat was dehydrating and at this time, the exhaustion kicked in.

We arrived after safely in Evercrest after a few hours of trekking and took a good bath in a rented bathroom near the highway.

Took the bus bound toManila, got off inCavite, and was home at around 3pm, eating a delightful Turks Shawarma.