Mount Purro Nature Reserve

Mount Purro Nature reserve

10-Sep-2016

We were excited for this trip, especially me, because I kept all my trip plans on hold for long time. Still we were not able to finalize our destination for two day getaway.
After consulting few of local friends and research on internet, finally we, a group of 5 friends, decided to make a trip to "Mount Purro" just 50KM away from Makati, 2 hour ride in public transport.

Mount Purro Nature reserve is a resort very close to nature. It is being maintained by a family and I must say that they were very friendly and accommodating.
The resort got an sports area, swimming pool, mountain hiking and lot of peaceful play in the lap of nature.

Walk out of resort and you can enjoy village cool relax air and kids playing around, sari sari stores for your small taste of local foods and culture.
We also found a local unlimited supply of liquor there. On small request we got calamansi and lemon drink supply which made our evening even great to awesome.

How to Go there:

Trip to Mount Purro

• We started early from Makati around 6AM and took a bus to Farmer's Market, CUBAO. 
• After quick shopping of fruits, we headed looking for UV express to COGEO.
• From Cogeo, we took Jeepney and got down KANTO VETERANS.
• From Kanto Vetrans, 2 trikes required to reach Mount Purro.

Travel expenses:
Since we took all public transport, it cost us around 150 Per head to reach there.
Costliest was two tricycle rides at the end.

What to carry:
Other than your general stuffs, swimming costume(for water fall), sports camera, mosquito repellent, sun screen(mountain hiking), hiking shoes, Jacket(night is colder).

Best part: 
No mobile network, you can have complete peaceful time.
Very friendly and accomodating hosts. you will no find any reason to complain.
Delicious and balanced food included in package.

We reached around 8:30AM which was still early while check-in time was 12 noon.
It would be better if you can book room in advance. Our plan was decided at the last moment(as usual) so we just took the adventure risk.

We sat in a nicely decorated dining hall of reserve early morning, couldn't resist taking photos of interior.

A light chit chat started with the owner, I guess he wanted to make us comfortable there.
We found that all rooms are full.
He requested us to settle down in a hall, big enough to accommodate 50 people, which was like a personal room for 5 of us.
Package he offered was 950 Per head which included Lunch, dinner and next day breakfast which we readily agreed.

Rooms were supposed to be ready by 12 noon, so we decided to go on mountain hike. Mount Purro provided guide for hiking but we were too confident and denied to get one.
Climbing up was full of fun and entertainment. All fun disappeared while returning, when we found that we lost our way. all plants and rocks looked familiar as if we crossed the path while going up.
After little of panic and much of re calculation we managed to get back to reserve. There was no network signal so couldn't ask for help.

Rooms were ready. After a tedious "treasure hunt" hiking, we took bath and headed straight for lunch. Lunch was basic but still a full contained meal.
They took care of food preferences of each members.

Evening time was more in sports room trying various games and sitting around campfire.
After a full awesome day, we decided to drink a little.

There was not much option available inside resort. It was 8PM. Darkness engulfed the village completely, unlike city where darkness is a rare thing.
We walked down to few small shops twinkling with small light analyzing the options there. Finally ended up trying local rice and coconut wine.
It was pretty nice drink. We sat on the benches in front of small store. Requested for lemon drink, calamansi and salt which was made available.
One of our friend turned bartender was up with his mixing skills. Chit chat and fun started warming. Dark night turned more and more beautiful with each gulp. That was one of the best drinking session.
every now and then village kids will appear holding 1 or 2 Peso coins in their small hands and leaving satisfied. That reminded us of those days when small money was enough to keep us happy all day.

It was 10PM when resort sent someone looking for us. :) we walked down to our room, took bath again and went in deep sleep hoping more fun next day.

All guests were ready to go for waterfall. We took our breakfast quickly. This time we decided to follow the guide.

It was quite  waterfall and view was amazing. We spent couple of hours till they started chasing us to go back.
We took lunch and spent few more hours in resort before heading back to Makati.
A perfect place for family getaway or for a group of friends.

Thanks to Mount Purro owner and their team for keeping the place very cozy, friendly and clean.

pamitinan mountain, Philippines

Two mountains, Mt. Binacayan and Mt. Pamitinan, kissing sky side by side is collectively known as Montalban Gorge or Wawa Gorge.  It is the best and the quickest one day getaway from the chaotic life of Manila, if you love mountain hiking.

We planned to go for Mt. Pamitinan hike.

How to go:

Getting at the foothills was a smooth trip. Take a bus or taxi going to Farmer's Market, Cubao. From Cubao, there are many van's(UV Express) running to Montalban which would be approx 1.5- 2 hours ride. 

UV Express service to Montalban

From here you can take tricycle which will take you to Brgy Wawa, almost foothills of mountain.

What to carry:

We relaxed for a while at Brgy Wawa, registered at the tourism counter for just 2 PHP, made sure that we have enough food and water. 

There are few small shops around this area where you can get basic required supplies like water, snacks, bananas, coffee and even fresh cooked burger as well.

Hanging Bridge

It is better to wear flexible and relaxed attire for mountain hiking. You should also carry a set of extra clothings to change once you are back from hiking. There is arrangement to take bath with 25P charge.

You will get lot of sharp rocks on the way to summit so if you like you can carry gloves. Gloves are also available there in shops. 

On the way, sharp rocks

Altogether, my recommendation is to travel light. I carried lot of food but brought most of the food back. There are 2 junctions to stop at and rehydrate yourself, although you may need to shed some extra bucks to get water here.

It is better to start early. We reached there by 7:30AM and returned almost by 3PM. We stopped for longer period on the way. you can also reach at summit and return within 4-5 hours if you want to finish it quickly. 

It would be challenging if you start late and sun is right up on your head. We were lucky because it was a cloudy day.

It was a fun climbing up till summit. you can see few village houses once you start trekking up but after gaining little height, you will be only with nature, greeneries all around and small path to walk on. Initial impression would be that this hiking is going to be easy and fun. 

We stopped at first junction grabbed some quick drinks, coconut water etc from the shop, and a short break and then started climbing again.

We can call it phase 2 which was tough, steep height and sharp rocks and mountains all the way. 

Make sure that you are wearing nice hiking shoes or good quality shoes which can survive these rocks.

Crawling, creeping and making sure that each step is firmly placed before we move our next step because one slip would cause a definite injury. from this point finding a flat place to sit was also challenging. Palm, foot and especially bum got proper acupressure and upto an extent of acupuncture that day. 

View from Top

We were already sweating and exhausted after stage 1 when stage 2 was giving us more challenges and difficult moments but we all were enjoying this.

After a good hike we found one flat surface for our bottom. Relaxed, rehydrated we moved again. Summit was close and now everyone was eager to meet the summit, share the beauty of nature together.

Summit1

It was a breathtaking view from the summit. Cameras and mobiles flunged into action. In between my decision of wearing jeans while climbing proved to be wrong when I found good tear right at the bottom. "Pant fat gaya mountain hiking me. lol.."

Somehow I managed to escape in bush and change my pant quickly to one relaxed sports pant. 

There was one more summit at another side, even higher, was waiting to welcome us. There was only one way to climb and not much space on summit 2 so we decided to take a break again.

summit2

After sometime we climbed on summit 2 to get spectacular view from the point. It was an awesome experience. Climbing down from mountain was quick but scary since it was tough to balance and station your feet while gravity was pulling you down.

Sharp rocks were adding fun while bamboo trees on both side was quite helpful to balance.

We managed to reach back at the starting point successfully unscratched.

It took us one hour to relax take bath and have quick snacks and coffee. Tricycle, UV express and bus brought us back to home. Every muscles and bones were happily enjoying the pain of mountain hiking while mind was fresh with the close encounter with nature.