ituated between Cavite and Batangas is Pico De Loro. At the elevation of 644 meters above sea level, the mountain was also known for it's "Parot-Peak" like shape, thus how it got it's name. This was my first mountain climb and a shocking start at that. Life as a deskjob graphic designer doesn't help that much, but it was a memorable time with a slightly painful after effect.
It was Saturday morning when I started my trip to Cavite. Leaving the comfort of home was a bit exciting; this was one of my dreams - To Travel. I have been envisioning this for months and now I finally got to go. My first stop was Cavite, Noel's home, he was the so called officer of "Escape Outdoors Club" that I hooked up through the net. From my home I went to crossing Edsa, took a bus to Baclaran church, then took a long hour jeepny ride to his house. I met the other guys of the club who will join us, Gary, Pj and Leon.
We took off from Noel's house around 9am, after an hour we arrived at the Registration area where we have to pay 10 pesos upon signing in. Then a little drive back, we stopped at the "Magnetic Hill" sign which was the jump-off point of the climb.
It wasn't a pleasant start as I was expecting. The elevation was like 45 to 75 degrees high among rocky slippery trail. And I was running out of breath easily and began to feel the toll in my legs. And Hell, it was just the start! I was thinking of going back, dropping the whole idea of climbing and just go home, but I held on and finally we came to a flat trail. It was a relief, or so I thought.
For two hours we navigated the muddy and rocky trail of up and down slopes. The forest vegetation was just great, but since it was rainy at that time the trail was quite slippery and muddy, and a careful coordination of steps was needed. By lunch time we were able to reach "Camp 1".
Camp 1 is where you will find a kubo that sells some softdrinks and refill your water supply from a bamboo pipe where mountain fresh water pours. It's also here where you will have to re-register (again!?) and pay another 10 bucks. It was fortunate that we arrived there before the strong rain poured. There's a covered table there where we had our lunch and a little rest.
After the rain has abated, we went on the long trail again. And as before, the trail was muddy and slippery, goes upward and downwards, but this time there were a number of streams along the way inside the forest. The weather seems to be with us as the not-so-harsh sun finally revealed itself as we arrived at the clearing. The clearing was quite picturesque as you can see mountain slopes as well as lush vegetations around you. Along the way, during our rest, we realized just how many groups were climbing. There was this group from La Salle Cavite who were mostly college women. Other groups came from the provinces like the PLDT Pampangga. It was during those moments when mountaineers cross paths that I noticed that everyone treats each other with respect.
It was almost 3pm when we arrived at the foot of the peak and saw that there were already other climbers who had already set up their tents. We took a rest and chatted with the other climbers. I was so tired and my legs were already aching and my bag seems to be getting heavier. My Bag? I noticed that most of the other climbers didn't have their bags, it turned out that they have camped earlier at the clearing so they wouldn't have to carry their load up the peak, I drank more of my water while we wait for the others from the peak to go down.
