Climbing up Mt. Palay-Palay (Pico de Loro)

One of my friends from work, Jo suddenly had this idea of going to Pico de Loro. Initially me and another friend Alfred were hesitant due to no budget for trips (were both getting married). Well we also thought that she was referring to Pico de Loro the resort...apparently it was the mountain that she was talking about. 

The original plan was that she will be joining one of the package tours and when the kuripots (me and Alfred) knew about the price we just flat out said "No". Although I remembered seeing that you can actually complete the climb without the package at a reasonable cost. 

After endless research, we found out that you can spend about PHP 550 in one day for the day hike. That suddenly puts me and Alfred back in the plan. If we rent a van however, it will be more convenient but we need the numbers (about 10 people). Another friend from work, Ice decided to join. Then came Jossa who will bring her brother along with her. We still lack people though so I decided to find other friends outside work. I asked my friend Anj whi was wanted to go for a long time already. When her sisters found out they also wanted to join and they brought their friends with them. There goes our big group!

We left Manila around 5 am for Ternate Cavite (original plan was leave at 3am--of course someone was late!). We reached Ternate around 7:30 am and paid the registration fees at the jump off point. After a few minutes we started our trek.

The trail was pretty steep but the good thing was it was full of trees and were were getting some shade. Almost near the campsite, we stumbled on a few sari-sari stores and decided to get a water break--okay fine it was a halo-halo break! They offered us a guide and Jossa negotiated with Kuya on the fees. We had some extra funds as there was more of us and saved up on the cost for the van.

After a few more minutes we reached the campsite and posed for a few pictures. We met other friends who was also doing the Trek that day with Travel Factor.  Soon it was time to go up the summit. That was just hard.  The ground was pretty dry and a few times there were loose rocks that almost hit me--it was from others a few meters above us who were not careful enough during their descent.

The trail was pretty steep as well...but we made it! The view from the top was rewarding and when you look down, you feel that sense of achievement. For the others, they were not satisfied. Half of us decided to scale the Monolith, a vertical rock that from the looks of it required strength. I passed on the opportunity that day, my legs were still aching from a football game two nights prior our trek. Here's the second group on their way up the monolith.

When they got back to the summit, it was time to descent to the campsite. Going down the summit was harder in my opinion. The ground was really loose and slippery. 

When we reached the campsite, we ate our packed lunches in one of the shaded areas. I ended up sleeping right after while they all posed for more pictures.

Then we descended back to the jump off point. Kuya stayed in the sari-sari store with the halo-halo while we continued our descent.  It felt like a long time going down. Everybody freshened up before boarding the van back to Manila.

Our Itenerary:

3:00 am - Meet Up McDonald's Ortigas (Emerald Ave)

4:30 am - Departure for Ternate Cavite

7:30 am - Arrival at Ternate Cavite and Registration

8:00 am - Start of Trek

11:15 am - Reached campsite

11:30 am - Start of trek to Summit

12:15 pm - Reached Summit and for the others start of trek to the Monolith

1:00 pm - Descent from Summit then Lunch

2:30 pm - Descent

4:30 pm - Departure for Manila

Expenses:

Van - PHP 4000 (for the whole group including toll fees)

Registration Fees - 50 PHP

Guide - 300 PHP (plus extra tip)

We spent around 550 PHP that day including food.

***Pictures were grabbed from everybody.