#carranglan

As 2018 came to a close, I decided to hike one last time, and since I joined a hiking group, I wanted to initiate hiking as a regular hobby there by inviting my friends to one. After some polls, it was decided that we will go to Mt Batong Amat (387) in Puncan, Carranglan, Nueva Ecija. In the end, two friends decided to join: Abie and Jeff.

It was supposed to be a three hour drive to Roy Manuzon’s residence, the jump-off point, but it was lengthened by an hour due to the rain and wind. Yes, I forgot to mention that we hiked on 29 December 2018 at the height of TD Usman. This is going to be a hike of many firsts, and I was right.

We arrived at about 7 a.m., and it was freezing. My first mistake was forgetting to consider the rain and wind because I always thought of Nueva Ecija as a dry and hot place, as was my experience the last time I was there when I visited Mt Kaanducian on the shores of Pantabangan Lake.

We registered and was given a thorough briefing by Roy Manuzon, chairman of the Kalinga sa Kalikasan ng Puncan (Care for the Landscape of Puncan), the group of caretakers who adopted Mt Batong Amat (387) to develop it into an ecotourism destination as declared in House Bill 6481 of the 17th Congress. Mr Manuzon talked about the mountain’s history and their plans for the mountain and the area. There was also a relief map of the area with the trails, significant areas, and biomes all marked.

After the briefing, we met up with our guide and started the hike. The trail is well-established and the gradient wasn’t too steep. The hike up was mostly cool because of the rain, but we were mostly sheltered from the wind due to the trees.

It was only at the last part of the trail where the forest gave way to grassland, and that’s where the cold began to make itself known to us.

We reached the summit after two hours, but there wasn’t much to see afar because of the fog, so instead of taking a lot of photographs, we just snapped a few and proceeded to the Lovers’ Tree Campsite and chatted with the other hikers at the hut there.

We also enjoyed the only thing we can view from the summit: The Chocolate Hills of the North.

After resting and chatting, we proceeded to Aloha Falls. All throughout the hike, we had apprehensions about the descending trail as it was steeper, muddier, and more exposed than the ascending trail. So much so that it’s rated 4/9 whereas the ascending trail is only 3/9. However, we pushed through, much to our dismay. This was the last photograph we took before braving the descent.

The descending trail is characterised by some technical segments with stones and trees, but the most significant part of it were two fully-exposed segments with ~60° gradient. We were tackling these segments very carefully but we still slid down a few times. It was an exhilarating, albeit rather painful, experience. After what seemed like forever, we entered the forest again and turned left towards Aloha Falls. I was dying to take a dip, and the falls didn’t disappoint.

© Abie Pascual

© Abie Pascual

We ate our lunch near the falls then took a dip. The plunge pool was surprisingly deep, as you can see the colour change from brown to blue. This has got to be my favourite falls so far since the plunge pool is perfectly deep, and its size is just right. We then chatted for a long time since this was the first time the three of us met in person.

After recovering from our memorable experience at the descending trail, we walked back to the jump-off point. This trail follows the tributary from Aloha Falls to the tributary of the Talavera River. It was mostly flat but it had a number of river crossings. We then turned right to follow the bigger tributary towards the Pan-Philippine Highway (AH26) and finally back to the jump-off.

We left Roy Manuzon’s residence at about 7 p.m., had dinner on the road, slept in the car while parked at a petrol pump, and then continued the drive home. I thank bottled coffee and the music on my phone for keeping me awake.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this entry, this was a hike of many firsts, and here they are:

1. Hiking in the midst of a storm

2. Seeing ghosts (three, in fact) on a hike

3. Literally sliding down the mountain

4. Properly swimming in a waterfall’s plunge pool

5. Driving long-distance (200 km one way) to a hike location

At the end of the day, it was a memorable hike, and a good close to my 2018 hiking season.

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