Montalban Rizal has always been the "to-go" mountain of beginners, quick mountain hike and budget travelers. Being famous for its trilogy and other mountains beyond the trilogy. Aside from landscape, they also boast for good sunrise with bonus of sea of clouds if the weather permits. Want to try one of its picturesque karst Mountain, we've decided to go for Mt. Binicayan (known as Binacayan). heading towards to Montalban as early as 4am we were surprised by a handful number of hikers at the Brgy. registration area. Good thing that most of them were also in different mountains to trek. There was only about 2 groups ahead of us for Mt. Binicayan.
After securing 2 guides for group of 7 (1:5 guide rule), environmental fee and Brgy. Reg. fee. We were about to start our trek 5:00am. It was all steep uphill climb of 10-15min on a paved road then start of real trekking up to the first peak. When the sunlight starts to show up, we also started to notice the sea of clouds. We were not yet at the summit but we were already rewarded with a good view.
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As we continue to make our way to the summit. Trails are more difficult as we go farther, the rock formations and karst are more dangerous and getting more sharper. We have passed to another summit and resting area where we were greeted by the meandering river of wawa. It was such a perfect view of sunrise, river and stones. You can really feel the earth within.
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Arriving at the landmark of the summit, We have to wait for the first group to finish their photo op before climbing the rock formation of the summit. Good thing there were hand gloves to buy at the jump off. Gloves are much helpful every time we arrive at the peak. After our turn at the summit, we hurriedly go down because the heat is getting exhausting. We take a different trail of going down since the guide told us it was much faster than the later but it was much steeper than we thought. We have to take double precautionary measures. Sharp stones might be dangerous if unnoticed. Before Reaching the jump-off, we stop by a make shift store where we bought some refreshments like fresh buko juice/ shakes and some snacks.
Having a day to a nearby province and accessible from the metro was a great reward. It was a quick escape from the real world we lived in. Still in Pandemic, Oil prices starting to shoot up, Election is in a chaotic mode already. The World is too loud that we seek some quiet time with nature. I thought that mountains in Montalban would be a crowded experience but I was a little surprise that I still get the peace and quiet time that I always seek with the mountains. There were plenty of People when we reached the river area but not set to go in the mountains. Now, there's more reason to go back and climb the other mountains in the area.
