^ some of that food looks nearly edible; Katie must know the special places...
Can someone pls repost #323 & #324 too? Thanks!
@docmartin - thanks for the reposts
@betty - it helps that I'm a local and I know what to order. If ever you visit PI again, contact me & I'll hike with you up that mini volcano. Just takes 1 hour. Maybe even less, now that you're in an intensive fitness programme.
ooops Doc beat me to it.
Katie, looking at the first shots across the lake to the island you hiked it looks enormous, the volcano must have been huge.
@docmartin - thnx for the reposts
@toot - yes, the older volcano must've been massive. The towns surrounding the lake are all part of the collapsed crater. The smaller, newer volcano is still active & rumbles every few years.
There's a seismology observation tower on Mt Maculot, a nearby mountain that I climbed last year. I think pics of that hike are in the earlier pages of this thread.
Here's a Google maps pic of Taal Lake, showing the inner crater lake.
Thanks D48!
I searched through this thread and saw that I did post pics of my Mt Maculot hike last year (I wasn't sure if I did). At the top of Mt Maculot, you can see Taal Lake and Volcano/ Volcano Island.
.
Going to the summit, you'll pass by a volcano monitoring station.
Pls allow me to pat myself on the back - I've seen the lake & volcano from above, and now I've hiked the volcano itself. Woohoo!
Cheers and thanks to anyone who will repost.
Update to the thread...
Last weekend, I hiked with friends to Mt. Amuyao in Barlig, Mountain Province. Mt Amuyao is part of the Cordillera mountain range in the North, where there are lots of indigenous peoples. From Manila, it took us around 10H on overnight minivan to get to the jump off point. It's classified as a major climb, 6/9 difficulty and 2,702 meters above sea level. It took me 6.5H to reach the summit (sweeper group). The lead group - guys who are athletes and/or gym buffs, took 5H. We were 14 in our group and 5 in the sweeper team (sweeper team was composed of office ppl, haha). It was a 2-day hike, carrying full packs (not day pack only) and we stayed in bunkers at the summit. It was also my "birthday climb" since I celebrated my birthday a few days prior to the hike.
On the afternoon of the 1st day (ascent), it rained, making the trail more muddy & slippery. On the 2nd day, during the descent, many of us fell/ slipped on the muddy slopes. I fell 6 times and on the 3rd fall, injured my knee a bit. Now my knee still pains and I walk with a slight limp. It's a bit frustrating, but that's life. I'll have to rest my knee in the coming weeks/ months and will have to evaluate my condition before signing up for a hike again.
My group was supposed to hike Mt Pulag Akiki trail (7/9) & 2,900+ meters, but the local Dept of Envt & Natural Resources (DENR) office closed the trail/hike one day prior to the event because of a storm affecting the Western side of the country. As such, my group's plan B was to hike Mt Amuyao, which was on the Eastern side. Some parts were very steep and exhausting - I found it tougher than Mt Napulauan (7/9) last February, because of the muddy trails.
Depending on how my knee heals, I won't probably be hiking anytime soon. Sigh.. that's life...
Update to this thread:
My knee is healing nicely, but I still fee the occasional twinge sometimes. I've signed up for a minor /easy day hike (3/9 difficulty) in November to get back in the game, so to speak. My hike mates from the past climb are hiking later this month to Mount Pulag, the 3rd highest mountain in PI and a 7/9 diffficulty. I'm a bit sad that I won't be joining them, since I like that gang. But I don't want to stress my knee badly and I've some personal/work stuff to attend to during the scheduled date. I still intend to climb Mt Pulag the tough trail, all in due time. I also want to hike Mt Pinatubo again, but this time, climb it using the harder trail (around 6H hiking one way). I've gone to Mt Pinatubo before & made a thread about it, but it was via the 4x4 ride and only 1 to 1.5H trek.
Mt Pinatubo thread, for those who missed it
https://teakdoor.com/philippine-forum...eb-2016-a.html (Mt. Pinatubo trek Feb. 2016)
Some pics from the past Mt Amuyao hike. Mt Amuyao is 6/9 difficulty, takes 2 days for a hike (overnight) and is in the northern Highlands - Cordillera region.
Sunrise at Mt Amuyao summit, 2700 m+ above sea level
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^bunker & tents at the summit
Last edited by katie23; 06-10-2019 at 09:46 AM.
It was quite cold (~10 degrees?) at the summit during night/ early morn, so it's good that I was able to borrow a puff jacket.
Summit views
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Going down the mountain
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Town of Barlig, Mountain Province
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I've watched a few of this couple's videos. They're British and hiked up Mt Taal (Taal Volcano) - which I did a few months ago. They found the hike difficult, but for me it wasn't tough then (July). I prolly would find it tough now since I lack exercise due to my healing knee. The hike takes 1-2 hours, depending on your pace. Bring lots of water if it's a hot day. I enjoyed watching them, since it brought back good memories. Cheers!
Katie23 ^ ^^ I can't retrieve those images for you ... they don't show (for me) in your posts.
Invalid Attachment specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator
@david - thanks for the note. I'll fix the link later.
I've watched a few vids of this vlogger couple, the juicy vlog. They're Brits too and did the Mt Pinatubo 4x4 adventure together with the "making it happen" vloggers. I did a Mt Pinatubo thread some years ago.
I hope to do some serious exercise when in Phil next week. Am thinking about walking from the ferry terminal at Batangas to the ferry! I did consider a Taxi but thought what the hell, I can do with the exercise. I should get enough exercise for the year with my "tour guide" showing me the sites of Manila for a few days first. Davis on hearing of my impending arrival in Batangas no doubt will be replacing the razor wire on his property and starving the rottweilers for the next week.
Last edited by Hugh Cow; 07-10-2019 at 09:01 AM.
^cheers, Hugh. I hope you enjoyed your PI visit.
Time to update this thread. After a 3-month hiatus from hiking due to an injured knee, I got back into it last Nov. 24th. The mountain was a relatively easy mountain, Mt. Ayngat in the village (Barangay) Cayabu, town of Tanay, Rizal province. It took around 3 hours to get there from Quezon City - mostly paved roads until one reaches the village, then it's mostly bumpy and dirt roads.
Mount Ayngat is classified as a minor hike, 3/9 difficulty. It took me around 2H to reach the summit; I was in the middle group. The lead pack took around 1.5H. At the summit, our group had to wait for our turn to take pics at the viewpoint. We were told during orientation that each person only has 30 seconds at the viewpoint for photo ops - they regulate the time, else everyone will take forever to pose for pics (especially since millenials like posting on FB, IG, etc). We had to wait ~1.5 hours for our group's turn. At the summit, there's a small white board where the guides write their names & the number of ppl in the group. It was all quite organized, which was good.
However, the disadvantage of hiking in minor mountains near Metro Manila is that there are loads of people during weekends. It's a "sea of crowds" not sea of clouds. In major/difficult mountains, since those need more effort, then there are fewer people. A major hike is also nice, but it takes more time, effort and resources, since it's usually overnight and it's up north in Baguio city or surrounds - the northern Highlands. It also takes more preparation on my part (more jogging) to condition myself for the climb. Since my knee is still recovering, I didn't want to put undue stress, so I chose a minor hike.
I was a joiner in this group, and the organizers have become friends, since I've become a regular joiner. The organizer fixes stuff like guides, transport (minivan), entrance fees, etc., so it's convenient on the part of the joiner. Lots of hiking tours/ groups on FB.
Pics on the next post.
Last edited by katie23; 02-12-2019 at 11:37 AM.
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