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. 

    

Return to Mt. Pulag - Lightning Strike Twice

          The last time I was in Mt. Pulag the weather was not at its best. Consistent rain battered us through the middle until the end of our hike. So after few years, I decided to comeback using the same magnificent trail of Akiki-Ambangeg. Exactly the same time last year, we completed a very successfull Mt. Ugo climb with a very good weather. But this time, according the the ranger in the akiki trail entry, there are lots of rain in the summit of Mt. Pulag.  This coincides with the international forecast I have been verifying before leaving Manila. There was also a Low Pressure Area (LPA) that had been brewing in Mindanao, and for some reason is affecting the northern part of Luzon. But according to the forecast, we will have a fair weather on the third day (Saturday) of our hike, this made us decide to proceed with our climb plus the fact that this had been planned several months back.


            On the first day of our climb, the weather was still good, probably because the rain clouds was well above us. We were able to camp comfortably in Edet river (1300 masl). As you might have already know, Akiki trail was also known as the 'killer trail'. This because from the Edet river it was all assault climb until you reach the summit, an elevation gain of around 1600 masl. This had become more killer for us due to the rain, it rained when we reach the height of around 1500 masl. The weather was so cold that we can't rest stop for long or else chill will get the best of us. We reached the summit after around seven hours of hiking almost non stop. The rained continued until the next day and only let up for a while when we were cooking dinner. My watch registered 10deg celcius inside our tent when we were sleeping. We trek back to the Ranger station on the same weather condition. No sunrise, no sea of clouds.... but there was serenity. We almost had the mountain all by ourselves. Plus the feeling when your in unlimited pine trees, the grassland after exiting the Mossy forest.... Majestic -  Mt Pulag is still a beauty. But I could’nt say the same on the Ambangeg side of the Mountain, I was in disbelief so see how sorry the mountains states is. The are four lane trails, muddy campsite... according to the DENR, 400 climbers (or tourists????) are camping that weekend. Ranger station was like a market place, we met 15 jeep loads going down......but I want to write about this some other time.

       For now I am disappointed yet happy. Disappointed that I have not settled the score with Mt. Pulag, Happy that we have climbed this mountain safely,  and that I have discovered that the Itinerary for the Mt. Pulag via akiki-ambangeg can  bedone in two days instead of three.

Vans can now be hired due to better roads

Sacred Burial Ground

Big part of the lower portion of the Mountain was affected by forest  fire.....

....which made the trekking more dangerous

Edet River Bridge

First day Camp

Serene Mt Pulag, summit is on the opposite side of the pic

Freezing Rain

More water, if you look closely rain can be seen

Mt. Maculot New Trail

I can now confirm that a new trail has been created in Mt. Maculot. The existence of the old traditional trail, which had been there for decades or maybe ever since the mountain had been open to the public....was no more. The reason according to the locals, was that landslides had occurred making the old traditional trail very dangerous. An fatal accident almost happened last week in one of the climbers, this prompted the local government  to act swiftly and create a new one. The new trail is very fresh and was shy of two weeks old. 



The trail per my assesment is not suitable for beginners, at least for now. We learned this the hard way last weekend when we brought a bunch of newbies. Its a good thing me and my group went via traverse trail, the other half of the group was not so lucky. 

Hopefully as time passes by, and more climbers use this trail. Will make it more sturdy and not loose as is it is now.

How it is now (sorry I dont have pic of the old  one)

Nevertheless the view is always mesmerizing

Dampalitan Beach

       I took a two week leave last holiday season. But of course I don't want to spend my vacation just for shopping and eating. We chose to spend the last days of the year unwinding in a remote beach. The beach is  called Dampalitan island in Quezon.

The island is also within the vicinity of Kwebang Lampas. The beach here is much longer but I think the other is much finer and so is the water.  When I was snorkling I saw lots of broken corals, effect of dynamite fishing? probably? A short and calm boat ride from the main road is needed to reach the beach. We were actually planning to stay in the island for three days but due to an LPA (low pressure area) we had to choice but to shorten it to two. But this also came as a blessing in disguise, since we were the only guests on the beach... this island was all for ourselves (except for the locals ofcourse). We had a very good sunset, we drink under the light of an excellent fullmoon... on the beach with very calm water. All I can say is what a way to end the year. 


Edit: 1/22/13
  The place is somewhat reminiscence Anawangin since there are pine trees along the beach. The beach goes around the island, and on the northern side has several mangroves. The fish we grilled are fresh catch bought from the fisherman along the area. 

Sunset

The Usual Suspects

The Camp

The beach

Gianne acting as a judge for a group who came after us