Return to Mt. Balingkilat and the Bees

  It had been 4 years since my last climb to Mt. Balingkilat. Though I had not set foot into its trail for several years, the mountain has always been on my horizon everytime I went back to Nagsasa Cove. "It is great to be back" as what they say. And I am glad to be back to this mountain. As expected the mountain was as hot and humid as always. The grass is taller and it blocks any breeze in the mountain which make the climb more scorching. Plus add to the peril was that I was down with a fever a few days before the climb. Nevertheless the view is always mesmerizing.Unlike my previous climb, we make sure to pitch a tent knowing that a storm was brewing. When the rain came, we where snuggle on the comfort of our tent. The last time I was here, we were not able to summit due to incremental rains. This time we where able to set foot on the 1,100 masl height but fog was present. Sadly the 360 degrees view was not there.

Dry River

Sitting  beside a cliff

Group who climbed before us

Stiff Trail

Camp 1, the fog starts to set in

Camp Socials

Camp in the morning

Balingkilat version of "sea of clouds"

Waterfalls at 1000 MASL

 As we were traversing the mountain the next day, another group went well ahead of us. From a distance we saw them as if having an emergency, hurriedly we rush down to offer some help. Little did we know someone from their group went off trail and have stirred a wild bees nest. As they are moving away, we were closing in to the nest. From three bees at a time it began to become a swarm. Attacking us like kamikaze dive bombers even far away from their nest, they attacked us for almost an hour. I never thought I could sprint in that kind of location. The traverse trail normally takes 3 hours and we did it in less than 2. I think around 5-10 bees got me, one even went inside my mouth. I was thinking of crushing it with my teeth so that I can exact vengeance but decided to spit it out haha. In my long mileage of hiking I thought I have experience everything, little did I knew.


We were only able to escape when a guide started a fire and created a smoke screen, sacrificing some stings in return. We when far away and safe, the adrenalin started to die down. It was only then that one of my buddy realized he lost his Rudy Project shades. Broke his pole when he fell down over me (almost pushing me to the cliff). We also lost his our appetite during our lunch, proof that we overworked ourselves. In any case, we were very happy we completed our trek without any injuries. 

This only prooves that we should always follow LNT Principles.  
Principle #2 says Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces - Concentrate use on existing trails and campsites.Getting off trail get us into lot of troubles. For complete list of principles - click here.  

Traverse Trail, a group went ahead of us

The commotion we thought needed help

The bee I found inside my shirt

Pinaglabanan River

Mt. Balingkilat Traverse

Rainy season is here, its normally off season for hikers. But that is like half a year of no climbing? I thinks, its still okay to continue climbing during this time given that there is no severe weather disturbance.
Thats why last July 24, even the weather being glommy we opted to go to the most popular hiking destination in the Aeta Cawag settlement. Mt. Balingkilat - short for "Bahay nang Kidlat" (Home of Lightnings).

From the jumpoff the trek starts passing by the aeta houses until you reachead the "kawayananan" pit stop. About two hours from the jumpoff, this place is where hikers have their lunch and rest a bit. After kawayanan is where the fun begins.... its the start of complete assault trek. Its hiking on a trail which is 70-80 degrees incline. The trail is composed of cugon grass, scattered limestones and I almost forgot loose soil! Opposite Balingkilat (early part of the trail) is a hill, which blocks the wind. You may compare this part to a valley. This also adds to the difficulty of the hike since the place becomes very hot and humid. I can't imagine climbing here during summer. The ventillation only becomes better when you reach the height of about 700-800masl. When your almost at the plateau of Balingkilat, the trail becomes more narrow and more dangerous. I was asking myself, why didnt the group who created the trail made it a bit easier (zig-zag) and not complete assault? Well, the mountain had eroded a lot (there is no trees here) and this is apparently the best trail to create.

The valley Like Trail

rest stop

Upon reaching the plateau after roughly 3++ hours hike, its just an easy walk or around 15 minutes to reach the campsite. But we choose to wait for our companions who were left behind [angry smiley]. Bad bad idea because after half na hour or so it started to rain. We pitched our tent under heavy downpour. The rest of the night rain was off and on. But early in the morning there was good weather. We took this chance to have a good look of the area, from the campsite you can see the nearby mountains in the area (nagsasa, etc) and the far away coves/beaches (subic bay etc). You can also see the summit only about 15 minutes away. One thing amazing about this mountain is that there is a river on top (beside the campsite), which is also the water source. We took advantage of the clear weather to cook and have our meals. And then the sky closed... and the weather turn bad to worse. It was raining so hard that we settle to cancel our summit assault. We were hoping to wait the rain to stop, but it just would not. Thats the time I decided to break-camp, and just move out from this rain cloud.




Subic Bay, summit view


river beside campsite



campsite, afar is the summit

Since the trail is very steep going-up, imagine how it is after this rain. This is also the time I decided to take the traverse trail. The traverse trail had been taken by other climbers a few times, plus the hunters. Its not yet established but I know its possible. With our guide leading we took this trail, early on my mind was debating If I made the right decision. The early part of the trail was very steep,grassy, full of twigs and has loose rock and soil. But after about 30% of the trail, it became for more level and just a bit rolling. I guess its still safer than if we took the traditional trail. After 2 hours of hiking down, we reached the Nagsasa ridge. From here its an easy way going back to the jump off. We also try to pass by Pinaglabanan river but it was overflowing, guess its better to dip here during summer. Next stop.. Cinco Picos.


the traverse route, summit view


traverse route


bundok Dayungan (cloud covered) and Mt. nagsasa (left partially seen)