Mt. Sembrano (Day Hike)
Location: Pililla, Rizal, Philippines
Elevation: 745 MASL
LL: 14°23′00″N 121°21′57″E Difficulty: 3/9
Hours to Summit: 3-4 hours
Budget: Php 600-700
My friend Kenneth, who's my teammate from the office, organized the day hike. He invited our other teammates and so I invited my friends. He's the one who created our itinerary for the hike.
Upon going there, he rented a van that cost Php 4,000. We were 10 in the hike group so we paid 400 each. We met in Makati at 4:00 AM, we ate breakfast and left at 5:00 AM. We arrived in Pililla, Rizal at around 6:00 - 6:30 AM.
The major jump-off was located at the Ynares Multi-Purpose Building, Barangay Malaya. It was in front the Elementary School. We registered there and paid Php 20 before we start the hike.
We started the hike at around 7:00 AM, we walked through the cement road first on the 15 minutes of the hike. We reached Manggahan, the camp site area, at around 8:00 AM. The Manggahan Falls is near the area with 5-10 minutes hike going to the falls. There's another registration that costs Php 10. The locals even sell Buko at around Php 20.
We reached the North summit at around 9:30 AM. It was sunny and windy at that time. We took some pictures, ate biscuits and chocolates and had few minutes of chitchat and rest until we continue to the South Summit. We continued at 10:00 AM and arrived at around 10:30 AM.
North Summit
In between North and South Summits
South Summit
It was extremely hot and a bit windy because the South Summit is higher than the North Summit. We went down at around 12 NN and arrived at Manggahan by 1:00 PM. We had our lunch there. I brought tuna paella in can, biscuits and banana chips. Since I was already full from the lunch I took, I tried the buko juice that were being sold by the locals. It was so refreshing, I even bought 3 of it since I didn't have enough water to drink for the trail.
Some went to the Manggahan Falls, and I didn't get the chance to go anymore since I've got big blisters on my right foot. It was really painful, I even tried putting alcohol and I was really screaming because of pain. Haha! It was worthy of experience though! #BattleScars
We started our trail again by 3:30 PM. Reached the cement area by 4:30 PM. There are houses where you can take a bath but you just have to pay Php 20. We arrived at around 5:00 PM at the Barangay Hall, some of us took the shower there for free.
Itinerary:
5:00 AM- Departure from Ayala Avenue, Makati
6:300 AM - ETA to Barangay Hall, Pililla, Rizal
7:00 AM - Start Climb/Hike/Trek
8:00 AM - ETA Manggahan camp site
9:30 AM - Summit Camp Site
10:00 AM - ETA North Summit
10:30 AM - ETA South Summit
11:15: AM - Descend to North Summit
11: 45 AM - ETA North Summit
12:00 NN - Descend to Manggahan
1:00 PM - ETA Manggahan Camp Site
-------- 1 hr lunch --------
2:15 PM - ETA Manggahan Falls
3:30 PM - Descend
5:00 PM - ETA to Barangay Hall
6:00 PM - ETD to Manila
8:00 PM - ETA to Manila
Group Photo (Taken at the camp site of North Summit)
Photo Credits to Rei Modesto for the group photos
It was a very fun experience and I'm hoping to climb/hike/trek more this year. There were even lots of hugot before, during and after the hike. Rey even tallied how many hugot lines were thrown and it totaled to 82! We even called the hike as Hugot Hike.
Some of the lines were,
'Kahit naman malalakas na tao eh napapagod din.'
'Ang layo layo pa ng tingin niya, andito lang naman ako.'
'May mga bagay talaga na kailangan mo hintayin at tiisin para worth it.'
Haha! So much feels. Thanks for the good company! I really enjoyed the whole event.
Until the next hike! :)
