Mt. Binacayan of Rodriguez, Rizal: My Year-end Climb

It hasn’t been that long since the Rooster crowed and the new year began, but I bet some of you are still remembering some of the good (and not-so-good) things that happened in 2016. See, I think that’s one of the great things about going out and experiencing things: you get to reminisce them later on, and you get to still feel grateful, no matter how crappy the rest of the year was. It’s the rule on offset at work. Oh, and Happy New Year. 

Personally, I don’t think I had a crappy year, but I think that is largely because I was never the type to do any introspection at the end of the year. Life is much too short to dwell on stuff like those. Why not climb mountains instead, eh?

(Disclaimer: All pics are mine, unless otherwise indicated on the photos.)

So this was a trip that was 6 months – give or take – in the making. And this particular day trip was actually just a SIDE TRIP. The main purpose of this trip with friends was a visit to the Masungi GeoReserve in Baras, Rizal (and I will talk about that in a later post). Then we thought it’d be such a waste to travel all the way to Rizal just for that one stop, then go right back to Baguio afterwards. So we allotted another day for a twin hike to Mt. Binacayan and Mt. Pamitinan in Rodriguez, Rizal.

Rizal has become quite the destination for adventure-seekers and weekend warriors from the City, and the fact that it’s just less than a couple of hours away from Manila definitely helps. Of course, it’s a different story for us, who are coming all the way from Baguio, because that’s more than 6 hours spent on the road.

From Baras, we arrived at Brgy. Wawa in Rodriguez mid-afternoon of Saturday, and turned in early because we had to get up at dawn the next day for the assault up Mt. Binacayan. This was the plan: reach the summit of Mt. Binacayan before 7am, then go back down to go up Mt. Pamitinan next.

Mt. Binacayan, briefly…

Mt. Binacayan is one of the three oft-hiked mountains in Rodriguez, Rizal. Hardcore hikers do a day hike of all three (they call it “Trilogy”), going to all three peaks of Mt. Binacayan, Mt. Pamitinan and Hapunang Banoi in 12 hours or less. Moderately ardent hikers do a “duology” instead, visiting only the first two, since they’re pretty much side by side. Leisurely hikers, on the other hand, just pick one a day, take their time, and reserve the other peaks for another day.

Mt. Binacayan is, IMO, mostly limestone. Which is typical of the terrain in Rizal, it seems. It was similar to the ruggedness of Mt. Daraitan (read about our Daraitan quick hike in this post). At 424~ MASL, it is considered a small mountain. The challenge is in the terrain, because it’s steep. Personally, for me, the real challenge was on my shoes. Haha!

They pegged the level of difficulty for this mountain at 3/9. Considering how quick it is, and how the trail was mostly limestone rocks, I’d have to agree.

It’s The Climb…

A few minutes after 4am, our 13-man group, with two guides, set off from the Barangay Hall of Brgy. Wawa, with just our flashlights, water, trail food, and cameras/phones. We passed by several houses until we got to a rocky trail, which was a constant upmountain (hey, it’s a mountain and not a hill, so.) climb.

It was dark, so we had to rely on our flashlights, and taking photos was not really ideal unless you have the right camera for that. Which we didn’t.

Navigating the trail was not as difficult, because the surfaces of the rocks provided just the perfect amount of grip for our footwear. The ground was also dry, so no muddy and slippery patches.

You kinda lose track of the minutes as you go up, and an advantage of the steep angle of the climb was how, when you stop for a bit, then look down, you’d realize that you’ve actually climbed pretty high already.

We were hoping for a glorious golden sunrise when we get there but, at close to 6am, we realized there won’t be any of that sighting (LPAs are a b*tch, I know), so we just decided to slow down and take our time reaching the summit.

We decided just to start taking pics now that the light is starting to allow us.

There were a series of “lesser summits” before we reached the real one and, one of them, we stopped to take photos. By this time, we realized there were other hikers who went up ahead of us, probably starting their climb at around 3am, because we already started spotting some of them from afar.

Mt. Binacayan offers you a view of the Wawa River… and if you’re lucky, a sea of clouds. We were only rewarded glimpses of a potential sea of clouds, more like wisps, as we were going up.

I call this our “album cover” shot. Haha! Somewhere along the way we handed our cameras to our (50+ year old, *le gasp*) guide, so he mostly did all the honors.

From what our friends who have climbed Mt. Pamitinan before, between the two mountains, Mt. Binacayan offered more and better opportunities for taking daredevil photos.

Here’s Lorei having one of her “moments-on-edge”.

We were just having a blast climbing up the rocks. The steep angles, and the long and obviously painful drop can give one quite the shivers, but the rocks provided enough grip on your shoes and hands (oh, by the way, it is advised to wear gloves) kinda stabilizes you.

By the way, the rocks and boulders also reminded me of Mt. Kalugong in my hometown of La Trinidad in Benguet. Check out the post here.

When we finally reached the (real) summit at close to 7am, there were already a number of people having their photo-taking sessions. So it’s a matter of taking turns and awaiting yours. Good thing there were other spots and vantage points to take photos during the wait.

The guides were actually very encouraging about us taking these photos on the edge, but they keep reminding us to be careful the whole time. 🙂

On the other side was probably the favorite photo spot of Mt. Binacayan. Look at various blog posts about this mountain and you’re bound to see photos taken at this spot.

We just had to do the same, with some coaching by our guides.

Here are some BTS (you have no idea how much I love that word, haha!) of the above shots. Thanks to the other guide who took command of my phone. XDD

It was quite liberating, sitting there for a few moments. Sure, your butt’s kinda perched on the edge, and it doesn’t feel like the safest thing, but that pales in comparison with the sense of how high up you are.

I honestly can’t remember what was running through my mind that time… or if I was even thinking of anything even remotely deep or important. I think I was having a Morpheus Free-Your-Mind moment. XDD

Since there was quite a crowd at the huge rock that marks the summit’s highest point, that meant we got to spend quite a long time playing around taking photos.

I was at the mercy of the guide, telling me what to do (and for how long). Yes, I can be obedient when it suits me.

And there is Manong Guide, making a special appearance in this photo, going for the candid this-shot-was-stolen angle.

Finally, we got to have our moment on the huge rock!! XDD

Times like these, it’s great to be in a huge group composed of like-minded individuals. This was a really good group, and I’ve met three or four of them for the first time during this trip.

You can also see Ortigas (that’s what I’ve been told) from afar. And Mt. Pamitinan’s peak a little bit closer.

Climb every rock, I say. As long as there is one.

Oh, and bring company with you, coz it might get lonely, haha!

At 8:45 am, we started our descent. It was getting kinda gloomy.. and there was a bit of a drizzle going on. Which meant some parts of the downward trail was getting slippery.

The descent, for me, is always the more challenging one, because it takes toll on your knees and, for me, my arms, because when going down rocky ledges, I use my arms to take some of the impact on my legs. To each his own, OK?

There was a pit stop where you can sit down and drink fresh coconut juice from a gentleman climbing coconut trees and chopping buko for hikers. I think I got to drink a whole buko, and shared in another’s. Soooo refreshing!

We arrived back at Brgy. Wawa at 9:45am… where our companions decided we cannot go up Mt Pamitinan as originally planned, because the previous drizzle, which became quite strong to qualify as a mild shower, has likely rendered the trail slippery already.

It was a bummer, but we knew it was quite dangerous for some. And part of me knew my shoe won’t fare too well on slippery trail. On rocks, yes, it probably could, but I’m not too sure if there’ll be much traction on a muddy surface. Yikes.

I guess that meant we just have to come back for Pamitinan, eh? And maybe Hapunang Banoi, too? (Shoutout to Ka Gerald!!!!)

So we just bought some fruits (the pomelo was DA BOMB) to bring back home. Showered, packed up, had lunch, and set off back for Baguio.

WHAT A WEEKEND. THREE THUMBS UP.

Wrapping up…

Most estimates had a Mt. Binacayan hike at 2 to 3 hours. I think we did it in less than 2, and even had photo-taking sessions during brief intervals. The good thing about hiking so early is that you don’t have to suffer through the heat of the sun, plus we didn’t have gear weighing us down.

Our shoes.

OK, if you’re going up here, make sure you have sturdy shoes. I had on my Merrel Lunars, which had seen better days, and I was wondering when they’d retire from high-impact activities… this hike signaled that.. XDD

Along the way we spotted soles of shoes strewn about, some even with Adidas and Nike marks on them. We came by a group with one of them having just had experienced the sole of her Skechers separated from her shoe. Oof.

So, yes. Wear good shoes. I swear if we proceeded to Mt. Pamitinan next, I think my soles would have really thinned out already. I can still use it, but mostly for urban walks. Meaning just a stroll in a park or something. 🙂

That means I will be better prepared if we do Pamitinan next. *crossing fingers*

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