Rodriguez, Rizal: Wawa Trilogy

posted on Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Ling planned a twin day hike for our second climb this 2018 with Jeff, who is also a core member in our mountaineering group, Horizon Extreme Adventure Team or HEAT. The wives are reunited once again after our Mt. Pigingan adventure last February 2018. We were joined by Mam Roxanne, who was also invited by the couple.

We assembled at exactly 4 am in front of Farmer’s Plaza, where the terminal of vans bound for Rodriguez, Rizal is situated. After riding a tricycle from the municipal proper, the whole trip to Barangay Wawa only took us around 30-45 minutes. And though we arrived quite early, the barangay hall was already packed with hikers. The barangay registration was very well organized that after paying the registration fee of P50/person, we were assigned to our guide, Mhar Cruz. Guide fee is pegged at P500/mountain.

Mang Mhar belongs to the Indigenous tribe of Dumagat Remontado. He is one of the 300 local guides in the barangay and he started guiding at the age of 46. Aside from offering a prayer, he also pointed out during our briefing that we should respect the mountain trail at all times.

We started ascent of Mt. Hapunang Banoi at 5 am. It is a minor climb with 4 out of 9 level of difficulty. We reached the summit past 6 am, after a dozen photo ops in several viewpoints along the way. Banoi is the Tagalog word for eagle and literally, Hapunang Banoi means ‘place where eagles come to dine’. We were lucky to have swallow birds as photobombers in some of our photos taken in the summit.

We were at the junction going to Mt. Pamitinan at around 7:30 am. We recharged and ate breakfast before heading up our second mountain by 8:30 am. By this time, we were expecting less foot traffic. But we weren’t spared as we waited half an hour before going up the summit. This was expected but what was disappointing was when we inhaled cigarette smoke while waiting. It was at this point that our guide, Mang Mhar, talked to the younger hikers not to smoke within the area as this could lead to grassfire. Mang Mhar frustratingly said that if the younger guides can’t control the irresponsible actions of hikers, who will? I hope not when it is too late. =(

To reach Mt. Pamitinan’s summit, hikers had to endure going up a rope. That is perhaps the essence of its name, as we literally had to hang while ascending or in Filipino, bumitin. The summit view was, undeniably, worth the wait!

We were back at the junction by 10:30 am when we decided to conquer our 3rd mountain of the day: Mt. Binacayan. We had lunch first at the second rest area and rested until 1 pm before continuing our climb. Mt. Binacayan, like Mt. Pamitinan, is a minor climb and a level lower in difficulty compared to our first mountain. We took the longer trail up, with several viewpoints along the way. We reached the summit by 2 pm and stayed there for an hour of photo ops. ;P In our descent, we took the shorter trail with several 90-degree rock formations. It was challenging because of the summer heat but still bearable. We were back at the barangay hall at exactly 4 pm.

Tip: If you’re planning to do a trilogy, climbs usually start at 4 am. I also highly recommend Mang Mhar as guide because he deeply promotes responsible tourism. You can reach him at this number to schedule climbs: 0996-612-0352.

See also our climb up Mt. Apo, Mt. Ayaas-Mt. Espadang Bato, Mt. Oro-Mt. Sipit Ulang, Wawa Trilogy 2, Mt. Arayat, Laiban Trilogy, Maynuba Circuit, Mt. Batolusong, Mt. Binutasan, Nagpatong-Mt. Masungki, Mt. Balagbag and Mt. Tagapo.