Another day hike to add up on my list of adventure and this time, my friends and I headed south. It was the first day of the month and despite the weekend holiday, it was a hassle-free commute. It has been a tradition in the Philippines to visit the memorial and cemetery on this weekend. Thus, it was a Trek & Treat day for us. The climb was not that toxic since it was only us and another group who climbed the mountain that day.
It was slightly overcast the whole trek which was really an advantage on our part. I couldn't imagine how it would be a fun trek if it were raining hard or if the sun was shining brightly as its best. I heard and have read a few review about it, it seemed to be traumatic for a few. This trail though is used for trail runs and indeed a good practice area especially for those who wants to train for rough terrain.
Mt. Marami is at Maragondon, Cavite; 14°11'55" N 120°41'10" E, standing at 548+ MasL. It has a class trail 1-3 and with rated of 4/9 difficulty. As its name suggest, "Marami" tagalog term for Many, there are many trails, many cows, many horses, many complains, many mountains, many hours of walk and a lot of things you can think of. There are many stories about hikers getting "lost" too. That's for you to all find out. The summit of Mt Marami is known as the Silyang Bato. This is the uniqueness of Mt. Marami.
The Commute
Bus bound to Cavite is your transport to Maragondon. Head to Coastal Mall Terminal in Pasay and ride the bus at Bay 14 bound to Naic. It is the same bus when you go to Pico de Loro. It is 2-3 hours travel. Alight the bus at Magallanes. There are a few options how to get to the jump off. In our case, we rode a tricycle from Magallanes to Brgy Ramirez. It took us an hour to get there. It was a but farther than I thought.
The Climb
The jump off is as at Brgy Ramirez in Magallanes, Cavite. From the barangay hall, you meet up your guide or secure one if you have not contacted before hand. The way up to Mt Marami is not steep. We were very blessed to have enough sunshine, overcast hovering and gust of winds blowing all through out the trail. They say the trail during the wet season is a unbearable as its really muddy all throughout. There a few river crossings but it hardly got us wet since we hopped from one rock to the other. The river hear can go from knee deep to waist deep during wet season too, or maybe higher than that. The trail is well establish and easy to follow though what makes it complicated would be the "other" trails. There are areas that you would seem to be stuck at some forks. Most of the time, you would end up choosing going right. Best to ensure you are close to your guide to avoid getting lost. There are instances that you feel like you are close to Silyang Bato but then again next thing is it's out of sight again. This happened countless times. You'd definitely know the feeling of being close yet so far being on it. It was a very long trek what seem to be like forever. But what's good about having companions? It was still a fun trek with all inside jokes and contagious laughs.
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| the mandatory selfie on the summit( Mt. Pico de Loro in the background) |
Sidetrip
If time permits, you can go to Tagaytay as it just less than 2 hours travel time.
Suggested Itinerary
400 ETD for Magallanes, Cavite from Coastal Mall Bus Terminal
600 ETA at Petron Gas Station
615 ETA for Brgy Ramirez via tricycle ride
715 ETA at Brgy Ramirez, brgy hall
730 Start trek to the Jump off
930 ETA at the Jump off
1130 ETA at Silyang Bato
1200 Lunch at the Summit, Photo Ops
1300 Start Descend
1430 ETA at the Jump off
1630 ETA at Brgy Ramirez, brgy hall, wash up
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1700 Manila Bound, Pasay **option side trip to Tagaytay
Suggested Expenses
to be followed
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| Beyond the fog is the Mt Pico de Loro |
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| Overlooking the Cavite and Batangas on the far end |
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| Hasta La Vista, Mt Marami! |
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| Mandatory group pic |
Photos are taken with Nikon D5100 and SonyActionCam AS200VR. Thanks to Jay and for my friends who took turns in taking the photo. The view was just magnificent.
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