Mt. Sembrano 2013 (Revisited)
My First time with TheBackpackers (BP)
August
of last year, I joined a group of mountaineers on their climb at Mt. Sembrano.
It was again my first time to climb since time immemorial and unlike my previous
climbs, I was unprepared. I had no mountaineering gears, it was a rainy
(“bagyo”) season, and we’ll be sleeping overnight. My only purpose in joining
that climb was for me to relax and forget (even just for a short time) all the
bad events that happened recently on my life. Sadly, upon reaching the summit,
zero visibility welcomed us and I just said that one day I will return and see
the beauty of this summit. Little did I know, that experience was the start of
my mountaineering life and surprisingly, it also marked the day where I met this
set of people whom I will have a deep connection with.
Meet the “Biglaan” Gang and the journey
While
some BP’s were in Albuera, Leyte to finish the #BangonAlbuera (click here for the Bangon Albuera Outreach) Project, I together with friends
(and regular BP guests) Rexie Vergara and Isabel Fonte decided to take a
dayhike to Mt.Sembrano. And to complete the gang, I also invited my long lost
friend Pam Vinuya to join us. We met at Robinson’s Cainta at around 7:30am. At
around past 8:00am, after passing by MCDO to buy breakfast, our journey
started.
On
our way to Pililia, the weather suddenly changed gloomy and we were jokingly
telling Isabel that it was her fault (it was an inside joke around BP) but upon
reaching our destination, the weather became sunny.
Situated
at Brgy. Malaya, Pililia, Rizal. It took us around an hour and half (by car) to
reach our destination. The jump-off point would be the Brgy. Hall where we
registered and paid Twenty Pesos (P20.oo) for every person as registration fee.
And then it starts…
(The first half of Mt. Sembrano)
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| Cemented road |
On
the first few steps of the climb, we passed by an inclined cemented road and
houses on each side before we reached its rocky trails. Walking during the
first half was very easy and the trail was somehow narrow. I used to say during
the walk that “I remember this, I remember that…” The first pit stop would be
the coconut store, apparently, it was closed that time so we just rested. Looking
back on my first climb here, I was really tired from
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| Coconut store |
jump-off to the coconut
store but this time I’m still ready to push forward.
There are lots of fork
trails along the way and on the very first fork, we went the wrong way luckily
a local saw us and shouted that we were in the wrong trail. On the second trail,
we were correct but on the third fork, again, we walked on the wrong trail. As
far as I can remember (and I maybe wrong), it was right…right…then left on the three
forks. After a few hours, we arrived at the Manggahan camp site.
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| Nick, Isabel and Pam |
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| Thank you Rexie for taking the pictures |
Upon
arrival at the camp site, we paid Five Pesos (P5.oo) as entrance fee and were greeted
by fellow mountaineers who had a rainy overnight stay at the camp. Finally, we had a taste
of fresh buko being sold at Mt. Sembrano. Supposedly, we will have our lunch at
the campsite but we’ve been eating along the trail, therefore, our stomachs were
full upon our arrival. Instead of having our lunch, we rested, while again,
eating some junkfoods.
The climb continues…
(The second half of Mt. Sembrano)
The
second half of the trail was a complete assault to the top and can be divided
into two parts; the first part was an assault but with shades of trees and the
second part was an exposed grassland summit.
There
have been several instances when I myself was put to the limit. On the first
part, we were faced with rocky stones with distances that required our legs to
be stretched and teamwork as we pull each other up. The second part was the
time where I was completely drained, the reason…HEAT OF THE SUN!
As
soon as we reached the summit, I immediately laid down the grass. I can feel
everyone’s fatigue during the uphill on the grassland. Gladly, we were somehow prepared
against the sun since we brought an umbrella but we did not anticipate that we
will end up having no water due to exhaustion.
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| We have an umbrella! |
 |
| Literal na Group Summit Shots |
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Solo Shots at the summit
The Rexie and US pictures |
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| The famous Rexie selfie |
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| Isabel, Pam and REXIE |
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| Isabelm REXIE and Pam |
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| REXIE and Isabel |
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| REXIE and Nick |
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| Pam and REXIE |
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| Isabel, REXIE and Nick |
Waterless
I’m
not really into bringing huge amount of water during climbs, even if it is overnight
but this climb was the first climb where my water is totally drought and there
was no water source. Imagine having four people eating lunch in a bare
grassland summit with water less than 1liter. We expected that upon
reaching the Manggahan campsite on our descent, there will be buko to
re-energize ourselves but for some reason, the locals were nowhere to be found.
Maybe, they were watching the Pacquiao-Rios fight. Good thing, Pam had a bubble
gum to rely on throughout the descent
Manggahan Falls
Located just below the Manggahan Campsite. Rexie, Isabel and I had ourselves washed up while Pam had a little chitchat with fellow mountaineers before continuing with our trek.
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| Mini Magganhan falls |
Overall,
it was an exhausting climb especially atop of the summit. We again learned to never underestimate a mountain even if it is classified as minor. Will I be back again for the third time in this mountain? Without a doubt...YES! When that time comes, I'll be overly prepared.
And to the people I've been with in this climb, remember our theme song? #IkotIkotLang
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