Conquered: Mt. Ayaas

Just another mountain conquered, Mt Ayaas. The highest mountain in its area where its name came from. As quoted from Kuya Emman, our guide "Kaya tinawag siyang Ayaas ng mga matatanda kasi ito ang pinakamataas na Bundok dito." (translation: It was called by the old folks Ayaas because it is the highest in this area.) Mt Ayaas is situated in Rodriguez, Rizal. Mountains nearby are Mt Haponang Banoi, Mt Pamitinan and Mt, Binacayan. A view of Mt Balagbag and Mt. Lubog are also visible. Scenic view of Sierra Madre's tail end is visible as well. Mt. Durumi, which is one of its mountain stand mighty.   

Located at  14°45'3" N 121°12'28" E, Mt. Ayaas is at an altitude of 617+MaSL (2027.20 FT). It is 3/9 difficulty and has a class trail 1-3. 

Summit of Mt. Ayaas with the three neighboring mountains in the background

Panoramic from the summit of Mt Ayaas, overlooking Eastwood Subd, Mt Balabag and the tail end of Sierra Madre

The jump off is at Brgy. Wawa, Rodriguez, Rizal. As soon as we arrived, we registered at DENR's and looked for our guide, Kuya Emman who I contacted beforehand. After registering at DENR's office, we then proceed to Local Tourism office. You also need to enlist yourself. 

Local Tourism Office, right next to DENR's office

From the tourism office, we walked our way crossing Wawa River. From the first house, which so happen our guide's house, is a 2.5-3 hours trek to the summit. We simply followed the river trail upstream. Our guide told us that this river is abundant with water on rainy seasons which is actually hard to climb ones the current is strong.  

a local fetching some water

treading upstream

It is a long walk all throughout. Half of the trail is passing trough the river and hopping on to some rocks, and of course it includes a few climbing to big boulders. The almost dried up river is mostly composed of rocks which are slippery due to the presence of moss. We passed by 4 or 5 houses before we started major assaults. At that time, we settled in appreciating the bird singing and the shades of the trees. By the time we saw a tower from a far, it was a sign that our river trail was about to end and breath catching assaults were about to start. 

electric power transmission tower

In time we reached the tower, it was just an hour left before we reached the summit. We climbed over two fences. There were three assaults before you get to the summit and a winding steep path comes along with it. The shades of the tall trees were now substituted by the 5ft tall wild itchy grasses. The gentle breeze were hardly felt due to the direct sunlight heat. Quails are all over the place which one can hear them sing.

Bocaue along the way

Narras are all over the place

But after all the hard work, determination and occasional panting, we made it to the top. That is the only time i believed that this mountain is indeed the tallest among the nearby ones. 

Mandatory Selfie on the summit with Rjell (first time hiker) and our guide Kuya Emman

The weird thing about the summit are the dug holes. We were told that these holes were from World War II. It used to be a place were Japanese hid and explosions were still heard days after the war has ended. Wild grasses and a few cogon flower sprang are all over the summit. The view of the nearby aforementioned are vividly visible.   

Cogon Flower

Mt Paminitan and Mt Binacayan 

Mt. Balagbag

the darker shade is Sierra Madre and the twin peak is Mt. Durumi

Eastwood of Rodriguez Rizal and the smoggy Metro Manila

The sky view

Conquered Mt. Ayaas 06/07/15

After 30 mins of enjoying the summer breeze on the summit, we decided to start our descend. Kuya Emman gave as an option of going to a different route avoiding the river. Since in my case I am fond of traverse I agreed. We headed the same way back to the tower and from then on we started to tread a different way. I was not able to notice it until the next few minutes I noticed that the path seemed different. Plantation of bananas, pineapples and a few more crops were the next things I saw. The descend was mostly steep slope which only took us two hours. Along the way DENR officers were having their team building and asked us to join their boodle feast. We were too polite to refuse so we dig in. After a sumptuous meal and a cold water we thank them and went back to our guide's house and freshened up.

***PS. update as of 9/27/2015, climbing to Mt Ayaas has a increased its reg fee to P50.  I will definitely update this detail once I get back to Rizal. 

Side trip:

Take a deep in Wawa River

Enjoy the rushing water of the Wawa Dam

Bedazzled by the remarkable beauty of Montalban Gorge

Suggested Itinerary

0400  ETD Cubao Farmer's, ride an fx going to Rodriguez, Rizal
0500  ETA Eastwood, Rodriguez, Rizal then ride a tricycle to Wawa
0515  ETA Brgy Wawa DENR office for reg and proceed to Tourism office. Secure a guide
0530  Start Trek
0545  Way Passed Wawa River
0900  Summit
0930  Star Descend
1200  Wawa River, Lunch and take a deep

Expenses

P50 x 2   FX fare

P10 x 2   Tricycle fare

P400       Depends on your negotiation and number of hikers   

Reminders

2-3 Liters of water

Extra clothes

Toiletries

Camera

Willful spirit

Guide
Kuya Emman 09493956589 

P.S. All photos used were owned by the blogger unless stated otherwise. Photos are taken with Nikon D5100, SonyActionCame AS200VR and Kata M2..

"Keep Climbin' and Enjoy Philippines"