Monday, September 24, 2012

MT. CAPISTRANO: IT'S THE ROCKS THAT RULE

Mt. Capistrano is the most prominent among the small mountains visible in the highways of Malaybalay City. It humbly towers 609.6 meters above sea level. This lovely land form is crowned with magnificent steep, sharp rocks.




From the terminal of Malaybalay City, we took a 20-minute ride to Aglayan. A 15-minute habal-habal ride took us to the jump-off point in Sitio Binalbagan, Simaya.


Krisha, Gwen, Dax, Earl, Dave and I completed the final list of trekkers who were so determined to summit the mountain on a gloomy Saturday.

The very short walk from the sitio was never enough to warm us up. 


  
We started the ascent with concrete stairs.


 The abrupt change in slope caused us to run short of air.

After 20-minutes, Krisha got unpleasant feeling and decided to go down. One down…

 The 5 remaining trekkers advanced through the open trail.

Sweat came all over. Ricelands started to show.

Excitement filled the air when the rocky summit seemed to get closer and clearer.   

When we stepped on the shaded area, it was hard to further advance through a slippery trail with nothing to hold on to. We started to get mudded.

Gwen decided to stay and wait for our descent. 


Encouragement and a little extended hand convinced her to go on.

Surprisingly, she also introduced to us her very unique skill. Dave, without hesitation, adopted her skill of MOUNTAIN CRAWLING. Wahaha!

The team went on. The trek got more challenging on a rocky trail.

Shortly, we arrived at the bamboo area where we ate our trail snacks.

We continued to go up until we reached the big rocks. But that was not yet the summit.

With Dax leading the team, we further advanced through the uncertain trails until we saw other beautifully crafted rocks.

The sun joined us when we finally arrived at the awesome gigantic rocks in an open sky.


Dax
Dave

Earl


Tupe
Gwen
At the summit, we took pictures of every pose we possibly could.

My love and amazement of heights and depths triggered my boldness to step on the highest rock I saw.

I really love playing with depths. 


 My daredevil instinct even dictated me to hang on deadly cliffs.

My sanity, though, never allowed me to dare the jumpshot.

So enjoyed with the view, going down was not yet in mind until we saw the dark clouds bringing in rain.

The rain prompted us to go down through the same trail.

We, once again, experienced the same difficulty when we climbed up.

 With the slippery, wet trail, Gwen once again surprised me with her other skill--- MOUNTAIN SLIDING. Wahaha!

Earl and Dave later adopted her contagious skill.

Rain always disgusts me while in the mountains. The all-white view and the uncomfortable cold truly weakened me.

But my spirit came back to life with the very entertaining view of Earl, Gwen and Dave plowing the trail with their butts. Hahaha!

When we almost arrived at the base, I looked back at the clouded, rocky summit. My heart was so grateful for another wonderful experience.

We arrived at the base cold and all-wet, but kept warm by the climb’s challenging and funny memories. 


 Gwen then showed us the prize she got from mountain sliding.  

The fun not yet ended… Our hired tricycle back to Aglayan got a flat tire. And the driver accounted it to Gwen and Dave, who according to him, were the heaviest.

A hot smoking bulalo soup at Jaslyn's Bulalo and Seafoods was a perfect treat to the tired and hungry trekkers.

29 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. anytime... we can even do it half-day

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    2. yeahhhhh so nice adventure giod na sa among place :-)pwede namo post tanan pics nga inyo kuha sa Kapistrano ?COZ amo post sa simaya website .kami man gud nag developed sa website sa simaya (take a look @ this www.barangaysimaya.net

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    3. yes, sweetymoosi. let's further spread the good news... God Bless Simaya!

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  2. Hahahaha....galing ng kakaibang skills nila ni earl, gwen and dave....:-). gayahin ko din ito peh...

    @Mervz. Punta ka na dito.....samahan ka namin...

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    1. bon, you should have showcased your skill too. still wondering what would this be. hehehe!

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  3. hahaha! starring jud akong short! :D

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  4. Very interesting! Wanna try this early next month. :-)

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    1. Indeed, I enjoyed the trek yesterday. I was running out of breath going up as we started with sun already up high, but everything's worth the effort the moment we reached the summit and see the stunning view of Bukidnon's vast rice fields and surrounding mountains. I'll surely conquer the neighbouring mountains the next time around. :-)

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    2. good for you, stella. the view truly compensates all the sweat, heat and heavy breathing. God bless your future climbs.

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  5. Good pm sir, sino po ang dapat icontact kung plano naming pumunta ng mt capistrano

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    Replies
    1. hi, phillip. just look for any barangay officials. i heard there's already an entrance fee of 20.00. enjoy the climb...

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  6. yes to mountain crawling! hahah my friends said I looked like I was lying in bed when I was going down the steep trail. I sat on my butt and started holding everything I could hold on to. :D

    Congrats for reaching Mt. Capistrano! :)

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    Replies
    1. haha! isn't it fun doing mountain crawling? and plowing the trail with butt? much more during rainy season.

      i'm sure your climb was all worth it.

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  7. Hi,
    Were you required to present a Barangay Clearance when you climbed Mt. Capistrano? We need to confirm this before we start our trek.
    Thanks a lot.

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    Replies
    1. hi, jerson. way back 2012, we were not required of it. as of now, i heard they are already requiring a registration fee of P20.00. to be sure, just look for any official or local for inquiry.
      thanks for reading...

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  8. anong oras po kayo nag simula mag trekk?

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    Replies
    1. we started 7am and summitted by 11am. but during my solo trek, i made it 1.5hours.

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  9. nice post! :) we are planning to go there this september. ask ko lang if may tour guide na available if ever magclimb? :) thanks!

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    Replies
    1. hi, jam. tnx for dropping by. you can hire a local kid to guide your trek.

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  10. How much po ba ang habal-habal from Aglayan to Sitio Binalbagan? How much po ba lahat ng gastos ng transpo? :)

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    Replies
    1. hi, shin! thanks for reading. habalhabal fare is P35 each for 2 or more pax. for single pax, it's P60. Aglayan is P15 from Malaybalay via bus or multicab; and P20 from Valencia via bus or multicab.

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  11. ask lang po mandatory jud nga naay guide?
    if naa pila ang bayad 6-7 persons unta me plan magsaka..thanks!

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    Replies
    1. hi. yes, they made it mandatory. sadly, it's P500.00 for 15 pax and below. gansi gyud ang solo climber ug small group lang.

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  12. how much po ang lahat ng fare from cdo-malaybalay ,malaybalay-aglayan and aglayan to sitio binalbagan simaya? plan to do our trek this oct.thanks!

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