Conquering Mt. Batulao : My first ever TRAIL Experience

                I woke up at 4am, prepared everything and headed to the bus station at MRT Taft going to Batangas. From there, with my trail partner CJ Miles, we headed to Batangas (via Nasugbu) and stopped at Evercrest Golf Course in Lemery. In front of Evercrest are carinderias where you can have your early morning breakfast. The area also serves as a baggage counter for mountaineers and an after trail shower venue once you're done hiking.

     Going to the jump-off point, we hired a tricycle (P100 per trip) and a local guide (P250 for a day hike) to take us through the course.  Unfortunately, I didn't have a good experience going there because of the accident we encountered on our way. The rough road going there (approximately 5k) was a challenge. The tricycle is too low, when  the trike hit a bump, my head also hit the steel bar in front of the tricycle. My head, shoulder and leg were all injured. I was literally crying. It took us 5 mins to decide whether we will go on and continue or go back and go to the nearest hospital. I don't wanna set a negative vibe so we decided to continue our journey, after all I can still walk - brave enough to conquer the trails. 

     We started the hike around 7:30am - ascend on old trail and descend on new trail. We reached the summit roughly 3 hours after. Thanks to the buko juice I had in the summit, too bad lots of insects were flying or maybe celebrating cause of that first achievement. We finished before lunch, earlier than expected. We ran/walked on our way back, sort of post climb recovery too - no more tricycle ride because of what happened that day. 

     For a beginner and a newbie like me who doesn't have much trail exposure plus the fact that I was injured, reaching the summit was really something that I could be proud of. I know it's way easier to go on hiking at Mt Batulao (for first timers) but I believe this is just one baby step that can be a result of bigger steps in the future.