Hiking Diary Mountain #8: Mount Pico de Loro

Mount Pico de Loro (664 masl) achieved!

It's a day hike with all the single ladies.

The date was Nov. 21, 2015 and we were four girls who will climb Mt. Pico De Loro this day. This mountain is quiet famous. Maybe because it is just an hour away from Manila and I may say that its trail is easy so this mountain is good for beginners.

At 4 a.m. we assembled at Pasay Edsa-Taft, we then took a bus going to coastal for the bus terminal. At Coastal, we then rode a bus going to Ternate/Naic. As of this writing, bus fare (we rode airconditioned bus that time) is 81 pesos for one way. After an hour we reached the tricycle terminal at Ternate, Cavite. Tricycle fare is 85 pesos per head.

At the jump off, there's a registration fee of 25 pesos per head. It's a choice if you want to have a tour guide or not. Based on what I remember, tour guide fee is 1000 pesos good for four to five people.

We chose not to get a tour guide since there's already an established trail and we won't get lost. (Fortunately we didn't. Yey!) And also, there are a lot of hikers so we don't need to worry. A clear river welcomed us as we started to climb. It was only 6 a.m. when we started the climb and it's not hot since there's a lot of tree.

It was tiring but it was fun!

I think after more than two hours, we reached the base camp or I may call this as the semi-summit. A lot of stores were there!
We even bought halo-halo that instead of ube, it was caramel on top. It's yummy, I swear!
Photo op was then followed. The view was amazing!

By this time, we got a guide that will assist us to the peak and to the monolith. We paid Kuya Guide fifty pesos per head.

Reaching the peak is quite breath taking.

Photo op again!

Then we headed to the monolith.
Since there were a lot of hikers, we have to fall in line for us to get to the monolith.

It took us almost an hour for our turn. It was quite hard upon climbing the monolith wherein we have to do some rappelling. But it was worth it! The view on top was amazing! No wonder, Mount Pico De Loro is very famous.

We have to fall in line again to go down the monolith. Thank you to all the expert locals who assisted us. Thumbs up for you guys! You do have an amazing job.

We decided to do the traverse so we will be able to see the Kawa Falls. It was another two hours again when we went down and then had our lunch. After we ate, we headed to the falls. Tricycle fare per head is 150 pesos.

The tricycle will bring us to the falls then will wait for us and then finally will bring us to the bus terminal.
We grabbed the chance to swim at Kawa Falls. Now we know why it was called Kawa falls.

It was because of a big basin wherein you can swim. After an hour, we changed our clothes, freshen up and we're ready to go home. We even did pass through Kaybiang Tunnel.

As we go along the way, the scenic view at the both sides of the tricycle was also breath taking. Aside from the mountain ranges, there's also a long shoreline and we even saw some islands. Truly our country is a very gifted one in terms of water and land forms.
It was before sunset when we reached the bus terminal. Bus fare going back to Manila is also 81 pesos. After more than an hour, we were then back in Manila.
I therefore conclude that Mount Pico de Loro is really a must see and must hike mountain. It's worth the climb!