A DAY HIKE AT PICO DE LORO 664+ MASL

Ternate, Cavite - Nasugbu, Batangas Traverse
Major jump-off: Magnetic Hill, Ternate
LLA: 14° 12.855 N; 120° 38.785 E; 664 MASL
Days required / Hours to summit: 1-2 days / 4-5 hours
Specs: Minor climb, Difficulty 3/9, Trail class 1-3

Mt. Pico De Loro is 2 1/2 hour travel time, it was very accessible from Manila. Its a popular hiking site both for amateur and newbie mountaineers. The place is a part of protected forest in Ternate Cavite, called Mt. Palay Palay and it is the highest peak in Cavite.

Few weeks ago, a friend invited us to join their open climb.. and since i had nothing to do on that day and Tsunami in Japan was still on the headlines and our company outing was 50/50 based on the tragedy happened in Japan. So i decided to join the climb up to the last minute, I left the house at 3am going to Baclaran, we met at Baclaran McDonalds facing Roxas Boulevard besides RCBC bank at 4am which is our assembly time. It was nice to see again my old friends, some of them are my old time fave travel buddies and some are freelance mountaineer from Cebu. While we waited for Vernz' friend we ordered our breakfast and packed lunch at Andoks and McDonalds.

It was 5am when we took the Jethro Liner Bus that will take us to Ternate town proper, bus fare was Php75.00 per pax. From Ternate town proper we hired a tricycle that will take us to DENR, fare is Php75.00 per pax. At the DENR we prepared our things and we paid Php20 for the registration fees.

Then we started the trek at the jump-off point 5minutes walk from the DENR. Thank God that he granted us a very good weather condition during the trek. It wasn't too hot and it also didn't rain, which was my worry because it rained on the past few days.

It took us 2 hours when we reached the base camp 1 and it was an easy trail, At the Camp 1 there are houses and comfort rooms, chairs and tables in case you want to eat and spend a long time on the camp. This is also where your tents can be set up and buy some refreshing drinks like softdrinks, except water.. they don't have it.. it's always better to bring at least 2 to 3 liters of water. We also paid Php20.00 per pax for additional fees and we ask the caretaker if we can hire some guide that will lead us on our descent to Nasugbu and were lucky that we got our guide, Kuya Topher, Son of the caretaker. Then we started the trek. As we get nearer to the summit the climb is getting more difficult, trail was very steep but with ample bamboo to hold on while the wind was blowing so hard and we need to crawl just to make sure that were able to get to the summit safely. Finally we reached the summit Peak 1 at 10:30am and it was really awesome as it offers a 360 degrees views. All of us was too excited to take photos. After 15minutes of resting, we went down on the steep path to make our way to the famous peak. We're 24pax in a group but half of us pursue to be at the famous so-called Parrot's Beak..and yes we did it despite of having a problem on the rope w/c is a bit short.. I'm grateful to be with my fellow climber who always there to help us whenever we feel that we can't make it. And yes, it was a nice feeling being on summit of peak 2 and were lucky because not all of us made it.. that's why were thankful to them for giving us a nice photos at the Parrot's Beak.

We took our lunch at the foot of Parrot's beak, then we start our traverse at 1:30pm, nasugbu trail was not that easy as we needed to trek in different moves and four of us was lost for 10minutes due to wrong trail that we went through..and thanks to the locals along the way that they lead us on the right trail. It was 4:00pm when we finally arrived at the Nasugbu highway.. we took our rest and waited for the jeep that we can hire but since some of the locals were overpricing the fare rate we decided to walk at the highway until we found a jeep that gave us a very good deal that will took us to the Nasugbu Bus Terminal. We chose to try topload (Yan, Vernz, Jet, Jay and Me) and it was fun since the view was very relaxing and the road is not rough. Then 5:30pm we arrived at the Nasugbu Terminal and had our dinner at Mang Inasal as requested by Yan.. it was my first time to eat at Mang Inasal, Chicken Inasal never tasted that good as i was so hungry on the descent. We left Nasugbu at 6:30pm, most of us slept on the bus and woke up when we arrived at Pasay Rotonda 9:30pm.

Overall, it was really a nice and fun-filled climb and i miss every moment of our climb experience. Thank You so much to Marje for inviting us. :) ITINERARY 0400 Baclaran, Board Bus going to Ternate/Maragondon 0700 ETA Ternate Town, Ride Tricycle to Magnetic Hill 0745 ETA DENR / Pay Registration 0800 Start Trek. Jump-off point 10mins walk from DENR 0845 ETA Base Camp 1, Rest, Pay another registration 1130 ETA Summit. Lunch 0130 Start Descent to Brgy. Papaya, Nasugbu 1630 ETA Sitio Hamilio, Brgy Papaya, Nasugbu, Rent Jeep going to Nasugbu Terminal 1800 Nasugbu Terminal, Dinner @ Mang Inasal 1900 ETD Nasugbu to Manila 2100 ETA Manila