My Mother Mountain

Climbing mountain is one of my happiness, it keeps me sane. It's therapeutic, aside from the physical benefits that we can get in hiking, our overall mental health and well-being can benefit as well.

Hiking helps me a lot when I'm so burned out in my previous work. I was living being a zombie and robot most of the time when I was working in the corporate world. When I got promoted I was so busy that my social life slowly dying hahaha. Especially if there's an event, I even experience overnight work in the office even if it's my birthday. I was stressed out and decided to explore nature by hiking.

Mount Maculot is my mother mountain. Mother mountain is the term that mountaineers use to acknowledge the first mountain that they have climbed. Mount Maculot is located at Cuenca, Batangas. It offers the best view of Taal Lake. 930 meters above sea level with 4/9 difficulty. This mountain is one of the famous destinations for hikers at all levels. It just 2-3 hours away from Manila (depends on the traffic though). It has three prominent features: Rockies (706 masl), Summit (930 masl), and the Grotto (520 masl).

I've been there twice, years 2014 and 2015 but with different groups. If I were to choose, I don't want to go to the same mountain twice because there's a lot of mountains out there, but I want my friends to see the beauty of Maculot so I set a hike with them plus Mt. Maculot has an awesome view.

We always end up at the Rockies only because of its view. From there you can see already Taal Lake, the neighboring seas and mountains, and the greenies surroundings. And it's because we didn't try to go to Grotto and summit we never experienced to traverse in Mt. Maculot. If you want to go to Summit. It's the highest peak of course. It requires an hour or more (depends on your pacing) of a trek to reach the summit from the Rockies. You can find the mountain signage where photo-ops happen, as evidence that they've summited the mountain. And if you want to continue your trek to Grotto, it's accessible on the way down during traverse. You'll find there the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes. I don't remember what's the reason why after the Rockies we didn't try to traverse. Maybe we're tired already, or it only has the same view, except the grotto.

In the lead image, it took quite a lot of courage to have a pic at the edge of rocks. It's windy, plus I have fear of heights so I'm trembling. I want to conquer my fears, so I took the courage. My friends were standing at the edge, they're so brave. I want to but

I can't, I'm scared haha. After the picture taking, it's again my dilemma on how to go back. A friend pulled my shirt while crawling backward. I was so nervous. One mistake and it's the end of me haha. Climbing the Rockies was a bit hard because you’re climbing rocks. One wrong step and you might fall. We stay for almost 30-45 mins. for some rest while taking photos before we descend. I had a little regret that we didn't try to continue our trek to summit and Grotto. They said that there's an entity near the Grotto, a fairy I guess. Well, I love supernatural that's why haha.

There's a bathroom at the jump-off where you can take a quick bath. And don't forget to try their Lomi. It's worth it. That's the first time I tried the Lomi of Batangas. I just forgot the name of the store. They also sell merchandise like shirts and bagtags for a souvenir.

While typing this... I suddenly get sentimental. Memories keep on flashing. That's how much I miss hiking. When I was a newbie hiker, I even have a list of all the mountains that I climbed, I got excited every time I'm in the mountaineering and outdoor shop. Saving money for my hiking essentials was one of my goals before. We even invest in a cook set and tent. I wanna go back hiking, that's why I'm trying to exercise coz I want to prepare myself just in case. Hiking really soothes my mind and soul, aside from art, it's my therapy. When pandemic started, and I can't go out, there's a part of me that's missing, the adventurous part of me. I had to budget my finances well so I wasn't able to hike monthly like how I used to, but I can still hike if the schedule and budget permits, hiking and nature is the key to clear my mind and it's a big adjustment for an ambivert like me. Yeah, I have some introverted side in me and I feel that it's ruling me since the pandemic, I just miss my extrovert self, I need a balance. I hope that I can go back to hiking and be free again.

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