The summit of Mt. Makulot

Four months have passed since my climb to Mt. Makulot and here I am making plans to climb again, this time to camp at the shoulder and make for the peak.  Aside from Jandy, also traveling with us are Ms.  Glorain “Rainy Canillas” and Ms. Marge Yu, former SPED (Special Education) teachers of Jandy; and Warner Bros. executive Ms. Lourdes “Lulu” Seguinza and Ms. Rosevie Sevilla, both friends of Rainy and me.  All, except Rainy (who made it up the campsite a few years back), were first timers up the mountain.         

A World War II Japanese tunnel

Laden with backpacks, tents, sleeping bags and provisions for an overnight camping stay, we left Manila at 6 AM, Friday, February 25, 2000 (Edsa Revolution anniversary and a non-working holiday), passing through the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) up to the Calamba Exit, then entering Batangas to Sto. Tomas, Tanauan, Malvar and Lipa City before turning right to Cuenca, arriving there at 9 AM.  At the barangay hall of Brgy.  7, we all registered and paid the required PhP5 fee .  Here, I secured the services of 3 porters to carry the bulk of our equipment.  We parked our car at the Mountaineer’s Stopover Store and began our climb from here.

Another tunnel

My first climb to the campsite was a breeze compared to the climb we were doing now.  During my first visit the skies were overcast, the weather was cool and the ground along the trail, slightly wet due to rain the day before, was nevertheless compact, making it easier to climb.  Today, the sun was shining intensely bright and the weather was humid. There wasn’t a gust of wind.  We were in boisterous spirits when we initially started out over the gentle, moderate grade gravel trail, chatting and laughing as we went along.  As the porters were carrying our equipment, we only carried our bottles of water.  Pretty soon, the chatting died down as our tongues were beginning to hang out due to thirst and heat stroke.  Even as our load was beginning to lightened (we were drinking our water at an alarming rate), we frequently had to stop to recover our breath and replenish our system with water.

The mountain spring

After about 30 minutes, the trail became steeper as we entered the light forest.  As the ground was very dry, we frequently slipped and literally had to crawl our way up.  There were many refreshment stations along the way selling fresh buko juice (good for rehydration), a welcome relief.  Things changed as the forest gave way to an even narrower, dusty and more slippery path through tall, sharp cogon grass, virtually unprotected from the intense heat of the sun.  And worse, there were no more refreshment stations along the way. The pace was beginning to tell on us especially Lulu who was a little bit under the weather.   She practically lost her voice and had to be assisted.  Our once compact group was now splintered as the others were beginning to lag behind and we had to wait for them.  Other hikers, all seemingly fit and able, occasionally passed as by.  We all arrived at the campsite after about 2 hrs.; hungry, thirsty, drenched with perspiration and bedraggled.  Again, it seemed like an eternity getting there.

Being a long 3-day holiday, there were many campers and tents were sprouting like mushrooms all around us. By the end of the day, there would be 250 names registered in the barangay hall logbook.  Mang Ed, together with his wife, was there to welcome us.  Both were minding their store and doing brisk business, selling canned goods, snacks, soft drinks in cans, bottled water and buko juice from which we quenched our thirst.  Their son, Ramon, showed us a suitable place to pitch our tents. The spot we chose, at the edge of the clearing, had a good worm’s eye view of the now cloud-free (it was cloud-shrouded during my first visit) main summit.  Further off, we also had an impressive view of Taal Lake, Lipa Point, Volcano Island, the nearby towns and beyond it, Laguna de Bay and the sea. We pitched our 3 tents beside each other.  It took me some time to figure out how to set up our tent, a 6.5-ft. by 4.75-ft.Bobcat dome tent with ultra-light aluminized coating.  After about 30 mins., our tents were set up and we settled down to a late lunch, dining on provisions that we brought along: packed rice, pork and beans and sausages.  Being very hot and tired indeed, we decided to postpone our final trek to the main summit for the next day.

On top of the Rockies

Instead, we decided to visit the Japanese World War II caves (there are 5 on the mountain) and the bukal (spring) located about 100 m. down the campsite.  The trail was also well-marked and we passed (but did not explore) 3 caves, a group of campers and a cluster of tents along the way to the spring.  The spring, the mountain’s only water supply, was actually a constantly dripping aquifer by the side of a cliff.  The only way to get to it was by clambering down the huge, exposed roots of a tree beside it.  I was the only who attempted this and the others just contented themselves with the view and the sound of the spring.  Upon reaching the spring, I rewarded myself with a refill of my water bottle.  On the way back we had a photo session by a huge dangling aerial root of a huge tree.

Sunset at Mt. Makulot

After about an hour, we returned to the campsite as we didn’t want to miss the beautiful sunset.  We proceeded along a small trail through the cogon grass to the Philippine Air Force marker. Beyond it was the knife’s edge leading to the 700-m. rocky drop-off of the “Rockies”.  Its peak was beginning to fill with people waiting for the sunset.  Rainy, Marge and I decided to join them.  The way up wasn’t easy as we had to negotiate the narrow, but well-marked, knife’s edge and then clamber up the cliff.  Sometimes, we had to stop to give way for others going down.  After about 10 mins. we reached the top.  The 360 degree view here was even more spectacular.  This is as close to God and Heaven as I have ever been and I was not the only one who felt that way.  Nearby was a religious group of young people singing their high praises to the Lord above.  After admiring the spectacular sunset, I descended the way I came in.  

Campsite at the shoulder

It was getting dark and we made arrangements with Mang Ed for a hot supper.  It was also getting very icy cold and windy and we arrived at Mang Ed’s store wrapped up in our warm sweaters, jackets and caps.  The night was very cold and windy.  We soon had our fill of the hot supper prepared for us and prepared to retire to bed literally with the night sky and stars as our blanket.  Too bad we can’t start a bonfire (it is prohibited) to keep warm. Dead tired, we decided to retire early to our sleeping bags.  However, sleep for me was an impossibility since the spot I chose to build my tent was quite lumpy and uncomfortable.  I envied Jandy who was sleeping soundly. While still dark, I mustered the courage to get out of my tent, wrapped as warmly as possible, to have hot coffee and a chat with Mang Ed.

Mt. Makulot

Jandy and I checked out of Casa Punzalan in Taal early in the morning and proceed to Cuenca, passing by the towns of Sta. Teresita and Alitagtag.   We planned to climb the 1,145 m. high Mt. Makulot, the highest mountain in Batangas.  The weather was perfect.  Mt. Makulot (also called Macolod), located at the northeast boundary with Laguna, is said to have been named after the kinky-haired people who lived on the mountain.  The mountain dominates the southeastern shore of Taal Lake and has a rounded, densely-forested  main summit and an extended shoulder on the west flank which ends abruptly in a 700-m. rocky drop-off.  The mountain  is thought to be the highest part of the caldera rim that was not blown away in Taal’s ancient eruptions.  Others say the mountain is part of another extinct volcano.  It was the last Japanese stronghold in the province during World War II, and 5 Japanese-built tunnels still exist in the area.  To preserve the mountain for future generations, the mountain was adopted by the Philippine Air Force, under then commanding Gen. William Hotchkiss, on February 21, 1998.

The Philippine Air Force Marker

Upon entering Cuenca town, we stopped at the town hall where we were advised, as a safety measure, to register (PhP5 per person)  at the Barangay 7 hall.  After registration, we were given a quick lecture lecture on how to get to the campsite.   I parked our Nissan Sentra at the Mountaineer’s Stop-over Store.  At the last minute, I decided not to bring my camping equipment and to just go on a day hike up to the mountain’s shoulder.  I wanted to go home early.  We donned jackets, changed into rubber shoes and packed 5 bottles of mineral water, my camera, extra shirts, my cell phone and a first aid kit.

The Rockies

The initial trail is a fairly gentle, moderate grade section through a gravel path.  After passing some residential houses, including an expensive-looking one, and entering a forest, we reached a fork along the trail.  Remembering the lecture, we took the left trail (the one descending), and went past a dried rivulet and another fork. We asked around and were told to take the right trail.  We were also told that the left trail leads to a staircase down a cliff to the lake shore.  Surely for the more adventurous.  The trail became steeper (and more lung-busting) as we entered the forest.   We needed both hands to hold on to roots and branches of trees.  Rest stops became more frequent.  All the while, hikers, as well as local residents, were passing me by.  I was shamed by the sight of a woman carrying a heavy load of long bamboo stems.  As we went along, I befriended a man laden with two backpacks and an icebox full of soft drinks, all slung on a pick.  Named Eduardo Puso, he was a Barangay 7 tanod on his way to bring supplies for his store on top of the mountain.  His two sons, Eduardo Jr. and Ramon, also carrying provisions, passed me by a while earlier.

The knife’s edge leading to the Rockies

The last quarter of the hike was through an even narrower path through tall cogon grass which swayed in rhythmic, wave-like motions when the wind blew. At around 11:30 AM, we reached the campsite at the mountain’s shoulder.  Mang Ed and his sons were already tending to their store, which is beside another store tended by a woman.  Even on this mountain, the spirit of healthy competition lives on.   The campsite, Makulot’s main attraction, is actually a small clearing on the cogon-covered shoulder.  We explored a small trail through the cogon grass leading to a clearing with a marker installed by the PAF. 

The fog-covered peak

Here, we were presented with an impressive view, the best I’ve seen so far, of Taal Lake, Lipa Point, Volcano Island, the surrounding towns and beyond it, Laguna de Bay and the sea. Over a knife’s edge is the 700-m. drop-off (500 m. of which are almost vertical).  Locals call it the “Rockies” after its American namesake.   We returned to Mang Ed’s store and I interviewed him about the mountain.  He said that Makulot has 14 Stations of the Cross frequented by townsfolk during Holy Week.  Trekkers and campers come here even in adverse weather conditions and peak days are Fridays to Sundays when up to 200 campers converge.  

View of Volcano Island

Mang Ed opens his store only during those peak days.  Set up with money borrowed from a “five-six” loan shark, the store offers cigarettes, bread, candies, soft drinks in cans, real buko juice and, only on request, cooked food.  When provisions run low, he quickly sends his sons down the mountain for supplies.  Prices are high, but understandably so considering the labor involved. Mang Ed, being an elected barangay tanod, sees to it that the campsite remains clean. He frowns on campers who leave their rubbish behind.  Just the same, he and his sons gather the trash and carefully burn it.  They also assist in bringing down badly injured campers on a stretcher and advises climbers not to go beyond the Rockies. In 1994, a woman fell to her death (some say it was a suicide).  In 1997, another man fell but survived.  He was evacuated by helicopter.

Eduardo Jr. guided me 100 m. down the mountain to a bukal (spring) where potable water can be had.  As can seen from discarded shampoo sachets, campers frequently bathe here. Also in the area are four bat-and-bird-inhabited tunnels built by the Japanese close to one another during the war. Birds panicked and flew away as we entered one guano-filled tunnel.  It is said that campers caught by storms seek refuge here.  The fifth and longest tunnel is located a distance away.  A Japanese expedition had tried to enter it but retreated. And it remains unexplored to this day.

Upon our return, Mang Ed invited me to a late lunch, and we feasted, kamayan-style, on tuyo, fried egg and rice, washed down by mountain spring water.  We left the campsite at around 2:30 PM.  The descent was faster and less tiring, but slippery and harder on the joints.  Along the way we passed and conversed with two groups of backpackers on the way up.  Peak season has just began.  We reached the Mountaineer’s store at around 4 PM, snacked on crackers and soft drinks, changed our clothes and left for Manila, passing by Lipa City and the towns of Malvar, Tanauan, Sto. Tomas and Calamba City before entering the South Luzon Expressway.  We were home by 8:30 PM.