Pico de Loro Traverse (Batangas and Cavite)

My first official mountain climb is the PICO DE LORO along the borders of cavite and batangas. The mountain is level II, just about 664 MASL. Minimum day required is 1day, maximum of 2days.

To give you a little history, this mountain is said to be the look-out point during the japanese occupation and during the 2nd world war. Being the highest point in the province of cavite, this served the military purpose.The name is said to originate from the way it resembles, a parrot's beak. With its proximity to manila, it is among the most acccessible mountains to climb and with the government already doing their part in making this an eco-tourism destination, this mountain is gaining its glory.



I accidentally browsed thru the net and came to read one mountaineer's experience in traversing this mountain. It aroused my interest that from its summit, it offers a 360 view. Including a fantastic sunset on south china sea. I thought if i could climb this, it will be my 1st experience of a mountain sunset. I only had three days planning, and mostly it was of making itinerary. It was discouraging that i did not have any experience with mountains except that during my high school days i once went to hike up Mt. Maculot. Also, I doubted my stamina since i had fairly limited exercise.

Yet, I was encouraged to face this fear of unknown and explore a new environment. Moreover, I decided i would want a traverse. To travel on foot from one province to another felt like im going way back to living like how it was a century before.

And it happened. On friday morning, i buckled my bag and went to Zapote to ride a bus going ternate cavite, This was where we are going to ride a tricycle that would bring us to the jump-off point. Manong driver was more than helpful with our last-minute prep for the climb. When he dropped us in the magnet road he even advised us to follow the red-marked trees. (However, time might have erased this coz the only marked tree we saw was the one he pointed out).


The first leg of the climb was fairly easy and about 35 minutes into the trek, we reached the first basecamp with the kubo.We ate lunch here and replenished water since this is the only water source along the way. By 130pm, we resumed our climb. The last leg was supposed t o be 2hrs but we did it very leisurely stopping from time to time and making a break on a little waterfall for refreshing. The water was a welcome sight after all the sweat.


After which we passed thru 2 wooden fences ( a private property there) and a couple of Plant-a-tree projects. (Thanks to those advocates who fights for our environment.) About an hour later we came to a fork (The other trail was going to the mother of our tiny falls.) It was steep ascent after and by that time I was already hearing the beat of my heart drumming my ears. The fruit of no exercise there, we had stop a couple more times and by eternity, we finally came to the camp among the bamboos. Exploring further, we came to another campsite on the cliff. It was breezy and already, the view here was beautiful.


It was another 20 minutes steep climb toward the peak and it was all worth it. We got to get a glipmse of the the magnificent view. IT WAS SURREAL. The huge monolith on the south was really dramatic. I knew this climb had made an impact in me and i knew that this was not the only mountain id ever climb. In my 25 years, I felt fullfillment in experiencing the great creation around me. To my papa, i Knew he was up there looking at me and i knew he was also happy in sharing the joy i felt at that moment.


I had not seen the sunset though, the fog was thick and the air was already chilly. We decided to advance down toward the outcrop on the other side and I felt like doing a cliffhanger. After a couple of picture taking, we went back up the peak and down to the campsite on the cliff and pitched our tent. We camped overnight and i was scared and excited. The fear grew more as the night went deeper, and we had early lights out afraid that the mountain will reveal us to its dangerous allies.

The next morning we woke up to the mount-chattering cold and ate our breakfast of crackers and in can. We started to pack for traverse 830 am and by 9am we were already climbing the peak again. We stayed an hour here waiting for the fog to clear a bit. I got a view of a ship leaving the dock in manila. The view here commanded of the caraballo mountains on the north, the maragondon town on the east, nasugbu on the south and the south china sea on the west. I took the time for photos, and one last look.


By 1030 am, we were already on our way down to a remote brgy of nasugbu. We thought descent was going to be easy, but it was even harder than the climb. The dried bamboo leaves were slippery and the trail was obscured by vines, and bamboo growth. We hardly talked during the whole time of descent except when we asked if we were still on the trail. At one time, we lost our way and backtracked. What made it even harder was we were running out of water and our legs were already crumbling. We knew we were nearing our destination when we heard vehicles. But at that time we thought we can no longer make it and we were deciding to make a long rest, but we saw one reflecting light in between trees and leaves. I felt so relieved to see that it was the road and craved for liquid. we had no water by this time and i could gulp the whole sea if someone did just bring it on.


But again, when we were nearing the limit of our human strength, SOMEONE is always providing us. Just beside the road we saw this little spring of water which refreshed us. WE stayed here a bit longer before we walked and hitched a van along the way. the group of teenagers were again another blessing. The 14-yr old driver agreed on 300 bucks to drive us to nasugbu town proper. From there we went to a resort and swim and enjoyed the waters like we never did.

Looking back on that mountain, I was overwhelmed. I can not believe still that I did it yet. but God is Great and He provided us what we need all along. It was my 1st and it was heartwarming.