Ever been in a situation where you’re both in your element and completely out of place? Well, this was that for me.
About a Lass
Ben invited me to a benefit climb organized by the ADP Mountaineering Club (one of many interest-groups in ADP Philippines) for Little Lilit. She’s a daughter of an ADP Associate, she’s eight, and she’s currently battling Leukemia.
Normally, I would just write about stuff when I feel like it and decide whether I’d post it or not. But this particular trip has a purpose and a deadline (December 11, apparently so!), so here I am. I recently visited her gogetfunding site and with less than two weeks remaining to complete the funding, I feel that I have this duty of exerting a little more effort to put her link out there to my (two hehe) readers. I’ve been on both ends of this charity thing and trust me, every penny counts.
About the Climb
This was my first mountain in Rizal and the biggest group (shy of 30pax) climb I’ve ever had. Mt. Maynuba stands at 662MASL (728MASL according to PinoyMountaineer) with a 3/9 to 4/9 difficulty depending on the weather and with all that mud, I would infer, it was a 4/9 that day.
The original plan was to climb Mt. Binacayan but due to the downpour the night prior, the organizers decided to change location for safety. We met at their office in Makati at 3AM and to my pleasant surprise everybody was there at the given time. We departed 30 minutes later and arrived at Brgy., Cayabu at around 5AM. The road to the jump-off was rough and muddy but our hired driver, Kuya Martin breezed-ish through the path.
We started the climb at the break of dawn, around 6AM. Our pace was kind of quick but with a large group, you wouldn’t really notice. Needless to say, the trail was extra slippery with a huge side of mud (see shoes for reference).
But it was nothing that can’t be handled with a little bit of sweat, clinging on to grass, using poles, and of course, other people willing to lend a helping hand.
The climb is different for everyone, we had first timers in the group and certified ones too, some even climbed Mt. Apo already! For me, this is one of the “not too hard” ones (I’m still wincing at the mention of Mt. Pinagbanderahan). The weather was nice, the sun wasn’t drilling me down to the ground, the group, well… I don’t really have much of an opinion because I didn’t talk to all of them but the ones that I did talk to were all nice and helpful. The core group that I was with (Ben, Gian, and Barry—they’re from the same department in ADP) was fun to say the least.
AND! This climb was made extra special because a dog named Michiko (I was calling him Summit half-way up because Kuya Arthur, our human guide, said it was her name!) trekked right alongside us. She was very much a show-off I must say, and she depleted my water supply… still love her.
When we reached the summit, we were treated to the sight of a seemingly endless Sierra Madre mountain range. We weren’t lucky enough to see a sea of clouds but there were clouds—so maybe just a lake of clouds? Still pretty. It took us three hours to get to the top and spent ample time for photo ops. Note that we were able to do this because we were the only group that day.
So, overall the climb was pretty chill. The decent however, is a different story. A pretty slippery story.
Falling to the Falls
An additional treat to the already beautiful summit view is Mt. Maynoba’s 8Wonderfalls (love puns). But as with any treat, it came with a price—a little bit of rappelling, a dash of rock scrambling, some river trekking, and a whole lot of mud.
We reached the first waterfalls around noon and had lunch there. Some of the pack swam and looked a lot like they had fun (didn’t go dippin’ because red day). First to swim was one of the organizers, Kar…and her phone. She laughed it off like a champ and went back swimming.
After a while, we started walking again. The decent was extra slippery. On some parts, I was actually just sliding down. Life tip, aside from removing mud by using grass (it helps!), bend your knees and go sideways. It lowers your center of gravity so you have more control and having your foot sideways give you better footing compared to have it pointing downward. Or maybe that’s just me.
Anyway! So, we trekked through mud, couldn’t count how many thuds and splats I heard and saw but I’m sure it was less than the number of laughter and people pulling each other up. I’m proud that I didn’t fell on my ass but I did hurt my knee when I tripped in one of the river crossings. Hah.
We breezed through (I’m using this phrase too loosely) the next seven falls: Lantay na Bato Falls, Katmon Falls, Gugulong na Bato Falls, Guintoan Falls, Manganiso Falls, Pantay Falls, and Maynuba Falls. I had to google the names because I can only remember Michiko posing for photo ops on each one!
Some of the falls can only be reached by climbing down rock formations and crossing rivers. Nothing too extreme, really, but caution should always be exercised. Remember that it’s not a race and that there’s real danger of someone getting hurt if you horse around—be like Michiko instead.
Since I couldn’t give you particular details, I will just dump this post with a lot of photos I hope you’ll enjoy!
XanWrites 