Mt. Daraitan

April 30, 2015

Part of our Labor day getaway adventure featuring Mt. Daraitan + Tinipak River and Cave + Batlag Falls + Daranak Falls

A year after climbing Mt. Pulag, I spontaneously invited a close friend of mine to join my attempt to climb Mt. Daraitan in Tanay, Rizal. I stumble upon the image of Tinipak River in facebook and upon searching, I found out that it is actually near Mt. Daraitan and one can do a traverse from the mountain to the river and the cave.

About Mt. Daraitan

"Ancestors from ages ago called this Daraitan which when translated to the local tongue means rendezvous point, “kitaan” or “tagpuan”...A rendezvous point of people and also of nature where mountains, river and caves meet." - Carving That Niche

Highlights

▫The lush-green trail with lots of assault.
▫The striking display of rocks at the summit. Most hikers find it a great spot for taking death-defying (buwis-buhay) shots overlooking the beautiful Tinipak River and the Sierra Madre range. I do not recommend it for the faint of heart though.
▫The clean, clear, blue-green water of the Tinipak River. It is noted as the cleanest inland body of water in Region IV. The astounding form of limestones make it more beautiful.
▫We had a chance to have the cave all for ourselves for a moment despite the number of people on queue to enter the cave. Travelling in smaller numbers really do have some perks sometimes. The water was cold and refreshing!

From blogs that I've seen, there were no bridge before and one should rent a boat to cross the river specially during rainy season. The bridge was probably built to ease the access to the community and to shorten the travel time for the tourist as well. That time I would actually love trying to cross the river by boat.

Rock balancing as an art.

My second topload experience.

A "just-got-lucky" ride for us. We arrived earlier than the scheduled jeepney bound to Sampaloc, Tanay. Good thing, there was this group of mountaineers who rented a jeepney going straight to Brgy. Daraitan's Barangay Hall (also the registration and Jump-off point). For some, it seems unfortunate for us that there were no vacant seats available inside the jeepney. Actually it is what we've really hoped for. It's one thing off our bucketlist to ride topload-style together.

And later on I realized that I'm not - I'M NOT READY.

I thought all trails were like Mt. Pulag's Ambangeg trail! I never would've thought that there were lots of assault on the trail to summit. It was definitely heart pounding to the point that I could hear it beating out of my ears. We have to stop every now and then to catch our breath and taking pictures were just an excuse to rest. For someone who haven't climb for a year and with quite sedentary lifestyle that time, I almost gave up. But I didn't. Our guide told us that we're quite fast. If it's just a compliment to boost our confidence, well he succeeded. And there is nothing like looking down from a hiking trail and realizing you are closer to the top than the bottom!

A shell on the trail. Take nothing but pictures.

A woman is like a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water. - Eleanor Roosevelt

She believed she could, so she did!

There's no need to rush. It's okay to stop and appreciate the beauty in front of you for a while.

The Sierra Madre Mountain Range is the longest mountain range in the Philippines. A vast majority of this mountain range is still unexplored and Mt. Daraitan is also a part of it. Mountains in Rizal we're being opened for climbers/mountaineers to boost tourism and increase sources of income for the locals as well.

Finally reaching the summit after three hours!

Looking back, I realized how slow we were in reaching the summit (binobola lang pala kami ni Kuya guide). But we were able to finish our hike to the summit with a smile on our face. That satisfaction of completing a challenging hike is quite powerful.

Orange flag - summit marker

The amazing rock formations and astonishing views of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range at the summit of Mt. Daraitan

From the summit, one could also see the meandring Tinipak River.


The Tinipak River features marvelous boulder of limestones which we haven't got any decent photo. The trek from the summit to the river took us four hours to finish including our stop-over at a mini store to eat halo-halo which were about an hour or so.



I noticed that the trail towards the river were longer than the trail from the jump off point to the summit. Our guide told us that it is also an option to go straight to the river and set up camp there instead. We reached our goal around 1PM and there were lots of people who were already enjoying their cold dip in the river. After looking for a spot to leave our stuff, we were off hitting our way to the river and cave exploration!

I wouldn't deny it. I am one of those novice hikers who use Jansport as my hiking bag and running shoes as trekking shoes. I learned my lesson well.

How refreshing it was to swim in this river after a tiring "walk in the park" lol

The beautiful Tinipak River.

How beautiful? One must go there to find out.

Inside the cave was a natural Jacuzzi. There were beautiful rock formations as well.

Ours for a while.

I look forward in revisiting this mountain, river, and cave some time soon.

Take-aways

* Never underestimate the mountain. I thought this climb would be easy for me because I've been to Mt. Pulag already but the trail of Mt. Daraitan is really different from the Ambangeg trail of Mt. Pulag. I recommend taking a closer look at the trail specs and difficulty posted in Pinoy Mountaineer.

** Travel with someone you're really comfortable with. Specially on spontaneous activities like this.

*** Be friendly and act with courtesy with other people as well.

**** Research. Research. Research. Even though this is a sudden climb for us (sudden because I invited her 2 days before the climb), I've already done my part on our itinerary and even research about estimated budget for the climb.

- credits to Princess for the photos.

Babalik ka rin - YAK HANE!