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| Photo c/o Aejae |
This is probably the cheapest mountain climbing I’ve experienced, Mt. Pamitinan and Wawa Dam at Php 250.00 excluding food and transpo expenses to-and-from Cubao.
Call time is 4:00AM at Jollibee Cubao which is 24 hours open. Here I brought breakfast and lunch. Our group consists of 13 members so we rented two vans that will take us to Rodriguez Rizal. It was a 30 mins or less ride then we took a tricycle going to the registration area at Brgy. Wawa. It was a 15mins ride.
It was still dark when we reached the crowded registration area for 3 different mountains, Mt. Pamitinan, Mt. Binakayan and Mt. Hapunang Banoy. We got 2 guides for our group.
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| Our group. Photo c/o Aejae |
The first part of the trail is a continuous and a little steep way up a sandy and slightly rocky trail. It is covered with trees so it’s not that hot. Here is where my sleeplessness give in and it made me vomit for three times I think. First time in my hiking experience! Three hours of sleep equals three vomit. Err! This I think slowed our pace because of my repeated stops. But I felt better when we are nearing the second part of the trail which is rock climbing.
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| Photo c/o Aejae |
Gloves are a must for the hot and sharp limestone. It can be bought at the registration area for 45 pesos. The way is steep and mostly “almost death” positions. Life depends on your feet, one incorrect step could lead to death. Also the heat brought by the sun and the rocks will add up to the difficulty.
Upon reaching the first summit (it took us 3 hours), taking a picture is on a first come first serve basis. Most of the summits you have to line up to take a picture with it. On the highest summit we are at no. 8! That’s just wow! Ganun kadaming grupo ang pumunta! Oh well, we didn’t push through with that and just get contented on one of the summits. I was not even fulfilled to take a photo with the famous summit online that you will see below.
Here are some of our pictures:
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| Photo c/o Aejae |
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| Photo c/o Aejae |
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| Photo c/o Aejae |
We left Mt. Pamitinan at 10AM and went to Wawa Dam which is 1 hour away. We passed by a slightly steep trail going down the forest. Most of it is slippery due to the dry soil. Upon reaching the top of Wawa Dam, you’ll see a vast rocky land over a calm wide river. You’ll see an opening from two different mountains on the far end where the water drops. There are lots of cottages and stores. It’s like a public pool where you can rent a cottage and videoke. Some of us brought their lunch here. Wawa Dam is located under so we still walked for about 15 mins.
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| The clouds are perfect background for this silhouette. |
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| OTW to Wawa Dam |
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| No photos for the full view of Wawa Dam |
Still rocky and now big boulders of rocks, it was amazing to see such huge rocks dropped in the middle of the river like it was thrown out from above.
Our body is expressing its tiredness when we trek down to the dam, we were slow and our knees can’t take much weight from our body, so most of the time we were sitting for every step. OR MAYBE IT’s JUST ME? Hahaha!
The dam is of course, COLD! Super super super. I didn’t spend too long because I was freezing. I just sit there and laid my back for some massage. There are cottages too located near the dam and it has tables so the tourists can eat while watching the people struggling with cold under the fast running water OR watching other people doing their stuff.
We stayed for more or less 3 hours, then we walked back to the registration area. It was just 30 mins and the road is cemented, no more hiking skills required.
Going back we took a tricycle that took us to where the vans en route Cubao were passing by. Our trip ended at 6PM and it was a fast bidding of goodbyes. It was a quick and well spent Sunday! Yes, don’t ask, because I still managed to go to work the next morning. Ha Ha Ha!
For the suggested itinerary, kindly see below (I don’t have the actual breakdown of the registration and tour guide fee):
Until my next adventure,
Glens
