Nature-ral High

Nature-ral High
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail

March 13, 2013

Mt. Dayungan Traverse to Silanguin Cove

 Mt. Dayungan
    Since my first Nagsasa climb, I had been eyeing a mountain around the same area. This mountain was also very noticeable when your on top of Mt Balingkilat. Mt. Dayungan -  was first explored by YABAG Mountaineers way back 2007, though no Itinerary was released and no measured height was published. The trail is not established except, for those which are used by local hunters. 


    The start of the trail is similar to those of Cinco Picos, except for the part when you reached the mining road you need to turn right instead of the other way. From here, its all up. As you goes higher the trail becomes steeper and the boulders gets bigger. The mountain as with the other around the area are exposed, we trek very early but the sun was still able to catch us at its zenith. The heat plus the weight of our packs due to several liter of water made the climb extremely difficult. I told the group that this mountain is like the LoTR movie, the movie has several endings, but this mountain has several false summits. When you think the the other side of the horizon is already the peak, turns out theres another one...... and another one. The summit is not as big as Mt. Balingkilat but will fit several tents. The top has a 360 view of the surrounding with the sight of Silanguin cove as the most grand. The summit measures approximately 890 masl. 


Mountain so far away




Start of assault




Mt. Balingkilat on the other side


Ridge


Bouldering




More Boulders






Mt. Cinco Picos (local name Tatlong Tirad)


Silanguin Cove
The group at the Summit (photo courtesy of MikeB)



Traverse to Silanguin

   Since this mountain has no water source, I believe the trek should be an overnight one. Given that we want to make the most of our time, we did a dayhike that will traverse to Silanguin Cove. From what I know this is the first time this was done. I don't recommend this kind of climb to this mountain if you don't have a guide that knows the area very well. What we did was actually trail blaze all the way down. Getting into dense cugon grass, sharp boulders and rocks. The guide even show us fresh deer tracks. We completed our trek after 12 long hours, with only minimal rest. Mainly because we dont want to trailblaze in the dark. 


Luckily saw this Orchid looking flower


Steep Descent








Nearing the Beach

Silanguin Cove


   After more than a year since I've been to Silanguin Cove, much had change. The center part of the cove has now several resorts, to my dismay. The beach is also not as pretty due the recent typhoon that affected it. Several trees had been uprooted and the sand has been pushed towards the land. The pretty lagoons landscaped also changed. But still worth staying into, specially if you can find a secluded part.









Dayungan from the Beach, 2nd peak from the right is the Summit


Uprooted Trees




A parcel for sale????








Sphinx


Final Words
  The mountain for me is the most difficult to climb around the area. Lengthy approached of Mt. Cinco Picos plus the steepness of Mt. Balingkilat. Include also that there is no water source. I would like to thank MikeB (www.mikeb.info) and Kuya John of YABAG Mountaineers (www.yabag.org) for helping us out in doing this climb. I rarely post itineraries, but this one was an exception since I promised them to promote the place.




Mt. Dayungan Itinerary

Day 0
11:30PM - ETD Victory Bus Terminal Pasay  to Olongapo

Day 1
02:30AM ETA Olongapo, buy breakfast and lunch
03:30AM ETD Olongapo to Subic via Jeep
04:30AM ETD Subic to Cawag via Trike, Register, Settle guides and permits.
05:30AM Start of Trek, Cawag Settlement
06:00AM ETA Pinaglabanan river
07:15AM BAyukan River / Breakfast
        Start of assault, last water source
09:00AM Ridge, connects to other trails around the area
10:30AM False Summit
11:30AM Summit ~890 MASL


edit 03/16/2013


According to MikeB, Jimmy Ablong is not anymore the chieftain. The locals have elected 

a new one. Please see below for new list of contact persons in Cawag.

- 0939 837 8265 - Chieftain Juanito Balosbalos (updated cell# 02/10/2017)


for more info on registration and guide fees click here