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Showing posts with label Bulacan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bulacan. Show all posts

1/10/2012

BULACAN | Exciting Activities at San Miguel!

Bulacan's exciting activities.
Here's a rough sketch of my Bulacan adventure!

1. Mt. Manalmon Hiking 
JUMP-OFF: Sitio Madlum Brgy. Sibul San Miguel Bulacan, Philippines TYPE: Minor climb
TERRAIN: Terrain minimally steep, fall hazard possible
REQUIREMENTS: Hiking shoes/sandals, some sure footedness.
Check-out more of Mt. Manalmon here.





2. Madlum River Swimming
One side trip after Mt. Manalmon Climbing is plunging you selves into waters of Madlum river to freshen up. More of Madlum River can be seen here.







3. Monkey Bridge Cross
One of the exciting side trip of Mt. Manalmon and Mt. Gola climb is Monkey bridge crossing. It is approximately 20-30 meter long of solid wire securely tied around two boulders. Check this activity here.






4. Bayukbok Caves Spelunking
Bayukbok Caves are one of the historical places in Bulacan which can be found at the territory of Biak na Bato National Park. Based on Philippine history, these were hidding spot of guerrillas from Japanese colony. Later you'll realized how they put their selves in the narrowest and the darkest holes of the caves just to hide and save their lives. More this found here.




5. Madlum Cave Traverse
Anyone who's planning to climb Mt. Manalmon or Mt. Gola will definitely pass through this part of the Madlum Cave. More of this here. 6. Zipline Another Exciting activity here is approximately 20 meters made by the locals.





6. Zipline
Last but not the least, the man-made zipline!

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BULACAN │ Madlum Cave

Outside Madlum Cave.
Anyone who's planning to climb Mt. Manalmon or Mt. Gola will definitely pass through this part of the Madlum Cave. First, From the Jump off you have to cross the Madlum River via "balsa" (bamboo raft) or Monkey bridge.
Station-of-the-cross-like area
Other end of the Cave.
It was really dark upon entering the said cave, I advise to use your headlights and flashlight to keep you safe walking especially in the middle of the cave until you reach the end. Also, be careful stepping on the marble rocks because it's really slippery esp. when wet, like during rainy season, water drips down the cave from it's ceiling.
Huge dripstone on our right side.
Heading out the cave.
Basically, this Cave was very easy even for beginners. Just open your eyes, lamps and your cameras! Whether you like it or not, you will pass through this cave if you are planning to have Mt. Manalmon and/or Mt. Gola climb.
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BULACAN │ Expoloring Bayukbok Caves

Bayukbok Caves are one of the historical places in Bulacan which can be found at the territory of Biak na Bato National Park. Based on Philippine history, these were hidding spot of guerrillas from Japanese colony. Later you'll realized how they put their selves in the narrowest and the darkest holes of the caves just to hide and save their lives.
The Map.
Legend in English: Daanan:way, Yungib:Cave, Bahayan:Residences, Tulay na Kable:Cable Bridge, Palanguyan:Swimming Area, Piknikan:Picnic Area. As you can see here at the Map there are lots of "Yungib".
Crossing Madlum river  (left) and entered forested area (right).
After Mt. Manalmon climb, we crossed the river, entered forest and climb rocks just to reach the entrance of the cave.
Sedimentary rock climb.
Then we climbed up on these rocks..Actually, I slipped here because of wet marble portion I stepped on. haha. Thank God someone catched me :) After here, we went to the cave entrance and given orientation about the rules for the activity. 

Looking around make me then realize that the whole area was totally submerged in water billions of years ago because of the sedimentary rocks around. Would you imagine that the whole Bulacan Philippines wasn't existed before? Amazing!
Biceps activated to descent.
After 5-10 minutes of walk, we reached our first challege, to descend 20ft. high boulder using a rope. Slipperiness due to rains made this a little difficult. 
The Music Room.
We entered small holes, climb up on rocks and crawl just to see nice limestone formation. After 15mins, we reached this amazing spot, the "Music Room". Entered approximately 2 meter area after entering 20-inch hole.

After descending using a rope, crawling under the stones and went through small tunnels we never knew how we went out of there, now here's another challenge! Simple yet enjoyable.
Were like fell on a trap here!
Oh we're not like fell on a trap here! There's a small opening at our lower left side, about 50 inches in diameter. The guy who's wearing black with orange stripe is actually assisting others to enter the area, but unfortunately we were almost full there, so everyone should climb up one by one to have enough space.
Amazing limestone rock formations.
There are two segments of the cave that you can explore. The first one I described above was just a warm up. But if you want a real adventure like in movies finding treasure and chased by their enemies, you should try this one. Your guides will ask you if you want to have just one or both. According to our cave guides, this second one requires a lot of endurance and bravery! It has lots of cliff, smallest holes and openings compared to the first one. 
The sedimentary walls of the cave 2.
In this picture, this was the moment we saw the light  after sight of darkness from cave one.
Bouldering.

This is one of the hardest part. You have to climb here carefully because of the cliff around you. Just a wrong step and die from falling from like a 5 storey building.
High cliff on our right.
There it is, a very high cliff on our right side and still stayed beautiful in this stressful moment.lol. Our cave guide said that this area is just like the seen from the "hidden treasure" movie. :)
After bouldering.
Descent via "baging" (vine)
Then you will be at the "baging" or vine area where you can swing through on that long vine and move like Tarzan. haha.
Cave's walls.
Compared to first cave explored, ceilings and walls were quite different. Here they' were smoother and much brownish in color maybe because it's the uppermost part amongst caves and water drips from here.
The narrowest hole ever entered!
This is the narrowest and the hardest hole I ever entered among the caves. Its like about 12 inches in diameter. Weew, would you imagine how he able to get out from there? look at the evidence from his shirt and you will know.
Cool stalagmite pillar.
After that cool hole, we were having a break. Our guide "Tatay Tunying", the one who's wearing orange was checking if that upward path is easier or can be used by that time. Well unfortunately, "kuya Mel" said that that area was too slippery that time (because of rains due to Typhoon Bebeng) so they decided to choose to another path.
Finally out!

Due to kinda wet stones and floor, our guides look for a better way out. One suggested to climb to the adventurous wall of rocks but unfortunately it was slippery even if they'll put a rope to assist, so we tend to choose much safer path. Because we came from a higher part of the cave, we descended from a flight of rocks.
This is the last area where you have to dock underneath the bamboos and crawl under a gigantic rock. A piece of cake compared to what we did on the caves.
Huge rock blocking our way out.
After the last challenge of the huge rock, went off to the jumpoff and took our lunch. Going there isn't difficult, just follow the trail and you will reach the Madlum river and jumpoff safely.
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1/09/2012

BULACAN │ Bayukbok Caves

Bayukbok Caves map.
Legend in English: Daanan:way, Yungib:Cave, Bahayan:Residences, Tulay na Kable:Cable Bridge, Palanguyan:Swimming Area, Piknikan:Picnic Area. As you can see here at the Map there are lots of "Yungib".

Spelunking started from crossing the Madlum river and entered forested area after our Mt. Manalmon hike. However if you just came for this exciting activity, no need to cross of course and just ask locals for guide. 
The Music room.
The Bayukbok Caves are one of the historical places in Bulacan which can be found at the territory of Biak na Bato National Park. Based on Philippine history, these were hidding spot of guerrillas from Japanese colony.
Music room bottom view.
Because of its formation, locals named some part of the cave with unique features like the "Music Room", where one can percuss it's longitudinal columns on the side which can produce different tone of sound.
A coral-like limestone formation
Bayukbok caves have so many rock forms to offer, from sedimentary to limestone. Its slippery ground and small opennings made cave explaration more exciting, revealed by lights from lamps striking it's rays on sparkling minerals.
Cave's ceiling, looks like a scene in heaven.
From cave 1, we went to another cave, much harder, steeper and narrower. We had to rock climb and entered again forested area just to get there. After continuous darkness from the first cave, light was finally seen upon start of the second.
Sedimentary rock from cave 2
If you are observant and differentiate the two caves, you will notice the difference from it's ceiling; rougher and tree roots are all dangling above.
Cave 2 cieling.
Rough limestone from second cave.
Size of a hand spider silently watching us from a corner.
Another unique feature in a certain part of this second cave is scattered snail shells all over the ground, not to mention that it is several meters higher than the first one, which signifies that waters flowed along that area before.
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BULACAN │ Monkey Bridge Over Madlum River

Crossing the monkey bridge.
One of the exciting side trip of Mt. Manalmon and Mt. Gola climb is Monkey bridge crossing. It is approximately 20-30 meter long of solid wire securely tied around two boulders. It is free of charge for everyone, just guts required.

You have to go to the side of the river where cable is located, slightly elevated and slippery area to start. Upon reaching the area and conditioning thy self, I hold on the wires up, stepped on and started my small steps. At first, the upper and lower wires were firm and closer to each other. My elbows and shoulder were bent 90 degrees. However, as I get closer to the center, I felt that my arms were stretched all up and feeling of wire under getting slacked. My arms were getting tired that made me move slower to have a little rest. As I continue to move towards 1/4 end of the line, the feeling of firmness were got back.
Monkey bridge view from the other side of the river.
This activity is easier for tall people like 5ft. above who can hold on to the wires  comfortably especially when you reached the middle. As I said earlier, wires there are slack and you might have in trouble if you disregard this. Well you can just jump into the waters if you can't continue anymore. hehe.
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BULACAN │ Madlum River

Monkey bridge over Madlum river.
Madlum river is the first thing you will notice as soon as you arrive Sitio Madlum Brgy. Kamias San Miguel Bulacan. It is the starting point for cave exploring and Mt. Manalmon and Mt. Gola climbing.
Viewed from before crossing the river.
Even those who are not into those activities just went for a cold plunge, sweet escape from humid weather. Also, another exciting activity can be found were Monkey bridge crossing over the river and zipline.
Rocks over one part of the river after exciting Madlum cave.
Madlum river's view doesn't stop there. It continues and go along with us from Madlum cave exit and trails.
Amazing rock forms
Looking on it's rock forms made me realize that the whole area was totally submerged in water billions of years ago. Majority of them were sedimentary rocks where commonly seen along beach fronts and Islands.
Last part of the river to cross going to Mt. Manalmon.
I was also surprised when I saw the river from Mt. Manalmon's summit, which surrounds the mountain.
Madlum river seen from Manalmon's Peak.
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BULACAN | Swimming at Madlum River

Dive in to the refreshing Madlum River
If you have plans to climb Mt. Manalmon, you have to go to the other side by crossing this part of the River. Locals will help you cross via "Balsa" (bamboo raft in English) for free. But if you want something exciting, you can cross using the Monkey Bridge which is also free.
Children fishing the day after heavy rains.
Children were fishing for "tilapiang tabang", ("St. Peter's Fish in freshwater"). This was the view from other side of the river. It was was not clear then because of typhoon "Bebeng". Waters from the mountain, hills and forest are all directed to the the said river making that muddy color. However the residents assured us that it'll be clear as soon as the rain stops and the sediments settle.
Madlum river viewed from other side of the river.
Moreover there are tables and seat near the river if you want some place to put your things and eat for P50/table. Be sure to use only ones you are going to pay  and do not leave your things on other tables if you don't want to end up paying all of those, like us!hehe.
The all around sari-sari store.
I named this store as "all-around store" because of it's duties. Well first, you can buy anything you need here such as toiletries, food and drinks. If you want to rent a "balsa" in your swimming, you can just pay it here for P100/whole day and likewise for comfort room or shower usage, for P10/use. Oh, just in case you want some homey food to eat, you can also ask them to cook it for you. But of course the price will be doubled due to extra charges like for transpo and catering service. Plates and utensils are included. Basically, they served us well and gave us the list of all the ingredients together with the amount.
Swimming...swimming...
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1/08/2012

BULACAN | Mt. Manalmon Itinerary

Mt. Manalmon's peak.
I T I N E R A R Y
600H         ETD Cubao; Near MRT station.
815H         ETA Brgy. Kamias San Miguel, Bulacan
845 H        ETA Jump-off Sitio Madlum
900H         Start trek
1100H       Summit
1200H       Back to Campsite
1245H       Back to jump-off
1400H       Jump-off
1430H       Bayukbok Caves Spelunking
1700H       Swim at Madlum River
1800H       ETD Sitio Madlum
2030H       ETA Manila

C H E C K L I S T
Attire
     Long sleves/jacket
     Bandana/cap
     Shorts/trekking pants
     Leggings (optional)
     Hikking shoes/sandals

Equipment
Individual
     Water 3L/person
     Head lamp/flashlight (even for day hikes)
     1 mess kit (plate, spoon and fork)
     Toiletries (Wet wipes, tissue, toothpaste and tooth brush)
Group
     Cook set
     Stove
     Condiments
     Tents

Meal
     Packed lunch
     Canned goods each meal (for overnights)
     Noodle/cofee (for overnights)

E X P E N S E S
P228.00     Manila-Bulacan-Manila
P400.00     Tricycle to and from Sitio Madlum (P200/tricycle, one way)
P  60.00     Mountain guide fee
P  40.00     Bayukbok Caves Spelunking (P20/cave per person)
P115.00     Ordered Lunch from mini store (Sinigang and Tilapia with rice)
P100.00     Zipline
P    0.00     Balsa and Monkey bridge
P  10.00     Toilet use
P  50.00     Table rent
P100.00     Extra food/Snack

* They also have optional balsa rentals, P120.00 for the whole day on your river swimming.




T O T A L  S P E N D I N G S
P1103.00 more or less
* Pasalubongs are not yet included 
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