Travel stories: Hiking at Mt. Batulao, Batangas

If you ever wondered what is it like climbing up and down the back of a stegosauras, hiking Mt. Batulao is the closest one you can get to experience this.

For a hiking novice, it was an extremely grueling hike. But it was all worth it because when we moved to Manila, hubby and I made the resolution that we must travel in the Philippines. We regretted that we didn't do more of this when we were in Indonesia.

We left Makati at 630am today for a 2.5 hours drive to Tagaytay, and started the hike at about 9ish. After slightly over 3 hours, we finally reached Batulao's pinnacle. Along the way, there was plenty of walking up and down numerous hills and valleys, which was pretty alright, until the last stretch for peak ascent. By this time, the sun was right on top of us, and I was so afraid I was gonna pass out from the heat! To give you an idea how hot it was, hubby and I could see heat haze, where the air was so hot that it kinda waved and shimmered right in front of our eyes!

My peak ascent picture just got photo-bombed by a cloud!

But the view at the top that greeted us, it was all worth it! Brilliant, unfettered view of Taal Lake and Batangas, as far as the eye can see.

Going down Batulao is the part that is akin to walking on the back of stegosauras. Up and down, and up again, and down again we went, until every uphill going filled me with dread because it meant there's a downhill ahead and feeling own bodyweight bearing down on me poor knees.

Walk the stegosauras!

An added challenge of Batulao is that the dry season made the trail dry and sandy, and thus, lacking grip in certain parts. While at the top, we shared our lunch with Melvin, our 14 year old guide, and that certainly paid off. On the slippery slopes, I had to rely him to provide extra support.  *blush* Strictly for the physically fit and certainly not for the faint-hearted.

As I'm blogging this, my knees are feeling the after-effects. It certainly brings back memories of climbing Mt. Kinabalu aeons ago and had to suffer achy legs and painful joints for a week after. However, it had been good fun, with friendly expats from the IN community. I am certainly looking forward to more adventures!