Mt. Ngusong Kabayo + 4 Falls: A new good destination

For the past several years, the security condition (insurgency) in Rizal improved dramatically. For this reason, being a mountainous province, lot of mountains in the area had been explored and open to tourism. 
One of most recently "opened" mountains are the ones located in Brgy. Laiban, Tanay, Rizal. They are not that high as it just stand roungly around 600++ MASL. The brgy is also well organized. The guides are knowleageable and they have IDs while doing guideship. The brgy also give receipts for the registration fee. Before the actual start of trek, the guide do a short briefing that includes the coverage of the entire trek plus a little bit of history of the mountains. 
Barangay Laiban is approximately 7KMS from the main highway. The road is very rough plus you have to cross 9 rivers. Locals ride "habal-habal" (a chartered motorcycle) for their travels but for us we hired jeepney. Being in a remote area, the village is sort of secluded that they dont have electricty. 

Natures best creation

The team doing stretching before the hike

The trail is gradually ascending and is not yet overused. The best time to climb I believe is around 7-9AM as this is the time clouds start to form in the nearby mountains that is overlooking on the trail. Memorable spots are the "Ngusong Kabayo" Peak which literally translates to Horses Snout. The place are rock formations with a prominent figure that resembles an animal. Actually for me it looks more like a tiger or a t-rex. My theory is that the locals does not know a lot of animals, which they name the formation to the closes which is the Horse. And the other one is the "Tangwa" Peak, which translates for Edge. It is the highest point of our  hike and has a 360 view of the surrounding. 

View along the trail

The gang in one of the pre-mark stations

One of the several rest stops made by the locals

One of the several rest stops made by the locals

Not just one, but all Traces!

Ngusong Kabayo rock formation

The Gang!

One of the good viewpoint. Its a long drop!

Tangwa peak

Yes we know Mon that you can do yoga!

Mary Poppins in Tangwa Peak

After Tangwa, its all descent. The trail now passes a river which consist of 4 cascading waterfalls distantly apart. The best water falls is of course the first one as the water in here is fresh from the mountains. But the best part to dip is the 3rd one albeit its not as clear as the first one. The other two is best for photo-ops. 

Tagpuan Falls. The cleanest of the four 

Mahangin Falls

Panat-In Falls. Here is where we took a dip. Water is very cold but refreshing

Kalaparan Falls

Water is almost dry as it is almost summer

Nearing the start of point. Beside here is another river (not on pic) which connects to the river of Mt Balagbag

So how did the hike went? I loved it! The place is still pristine as it was open to the public just 2 years ago. Plus the locals are kind and accomodating. They treat you as a visitor and not as a customer.