Mt. Mariveles (Tarak Ridge) AUGUST 13, 2011
It was raining cats and dogs last weekend, two low pressure areas was reported around the Philippine sea with a chance to be a tropical storm and Theo was rush to the hospital 2 days ago. Because of this, i was already on the brink of cancelling joining the trip to Mt. Mariveles (Tarak Ridge). But when one of my friends friend who lives in Balanga reported that it is only minimal rain there and Rochelle confirmed Theo is doing ok, me , myself and I decided to proceed and join the climb organize by master and bossing JC Batayola.
Because of last minute decision wasnt able to prepare the things i need to bring for this climb.
We took the Genesis bus bound to Mariveles Bataan. JC , Jackie and the rest of the group meet-up in Buendia, which is the meeting place for the gang. I decided to wait in Balintawak to avoid the hassle of going south and will do north at a later time. I, Miles and Kenneth waited for the Bus in Balintawak around 2:30 AM. The trip was about 3-4 hours depending on traffic, but since its early dawn no need to worry about traffic .took dinner at Chowking , having siopao and chao pan.
Jump-off starts at Barangay Alas-asin. Here, registration is required and you need to pay P40 at the barangay hall. A bit expensive but this includes a bath before going back to manila after climbing.
I had been hearing good reviews of tarak ridge from the mountaineering coummunity, and even from my friends. And I guess it didnt just lived to my expectations but exceeds it.
After getting through barangay Alas-asin you enter the reforested part of the mountain. The next part of the trek you will be greeted with rich and maybe untouched forest. Large trees, several insects and you can even hear monkeys howling maybe to mate or mark their territories. We were even able to see a huge waterfall from a distance. After a few hours you will rich papaya river. You may opt to camp here and go for the summit early morning the next day, but since we are only doing a dayhike we stayed at papaya river for roughly 2 hrs . We take our lunch here but since i forgot my food jackie, miles, kenneth and me share our baon (pandesal, pineapple chunks (from my bag)). Most of the Gang is eating their lunch and were there to watch them eating thier food. Its really is nice to dip at the crystal clear water, so i decided to take a dip while Miles take his chance of swimming in the cold floating water.Then after 30 mins its time to go to reach the summit before 1 pm.
After papaya, the hard part. 1-2 hours of complete assualt. Its a good thing that tree roots are plenty on the trail, or else its really is gonna be slippery. We reached the summit by 1 pm, luckily there is a campsite were the trees are blocking the winds. Tarak ridge is well known for its strong winds in the summit. Rest of the group is not yet 100% sure if we are going to take the summit. After 10 mins of rest we then take the summit.After almost 2 hrs of assult we reached the summit, not sure if we were able to conquer the other peak since we also pass the kiss the wall part going to the other peak. Here is the nerve racking part since we have first timers with us doing this climb.
At 4 pm we started our descend. I was very happy with this climb that I promise myself to comeback again but with a different weather. Ill say it again, this mountain didnt just lived to my expectations but exceeds it. I decided to take the shower not in barangay hall but on the shower for pay in one of the few first houses on the foot of the mountain, staying there for more than an hour makes the rest of the group worries.hahahaha... For the record.. sinundo kmi ng barangay.. yehey free ride going to barangay hall.
At 10 Pm were ready going home, waited for more than 1 hour for the bus at di dumating . We ended sleeping on the waitingshed. I forgot na bday pla ni jackie , greeted jackie a hapi-hapi bday and treated her don sa tapsilugan. Godbless my friend, hoping for more bdays 2 come.. See you on our next climb.
