Good to know
Mt. Manalmon is located at Sitio Madlum, Brgy. Sibul, San Miguel Bulacan. It is part of the historical Biak na Bato National park that is a protected area. Mt. Manalmon stood at 196 MASL and best training ground for newbies who love to experience mountaineering. And because it is accessible from Manila that requires 2 and a half hours only via private transportation it became a quick escape place of city dwellers. If you have a private car you need to pay 50 pesos for car entrance and 100 pesos for parking fee. Even Mt. Manalmon is merely a hill, all adventurers are required to get a guide. Guide fee is 300 pesos for a group of 10 persons and 5 pesos each for the registration fee. If you want to experience spelunking which is a MUST to complete your Mt. Manalmon 5-1 adventure, you will need to pay the guide additional 40 pesos per head for Bayukbok Cave 1-6 and another 40 pesos per head for Bayukbok Cave 7-8.
The Hike
To reach the jump-off point of Mt. Manalmon where you need to register and secure a guide, you need to cross the Madlum river by riding a bamboo raft and pay 5 pesos for the ride. But in our case, the locals advised us to walk across in the lower and shallow part of the river because there was noone will help us to paddle the bamboo raft at that time. On summer months March - May, Madlum river has less water and it flows so slowly.
After registering and getting guides, our adventures for the day had begun. We were required to get 2 guides because we were group of 15 persons. We paid 300 pesos for each guide. The trail going to the summit is easy to normal, the only difficulty we encountered was when we passed through the Madlum cave. I think we were very fast because including rest and photo ops on the trails it only took us 1 hour of trekking until we reached the summit .
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| Before the adventure - fresh and clean :D |
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| On the trail |
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| Group picture at the summit of Mt. Manalmon |
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| Mt. Gola in the background |
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| With one of our guides, Kuya Mario |
The Swimming and Cliff Jumping
We were under the heat of the sun and we couldn't just wait and resist to plunge the inviting pristine water of Madlum river beneath the summit. So after the photo ops we headed in to the Madlum river instead of going back to jump-off point. There were other adventures swimming in that part of the river when we got there. Others even pitched tents and did camp beside the river the night before. Our guides said that the water is deep and for a non-swimmer like me, knowing that they have a small life saver ring for rent it was heaven for me. For only 20 pesos I got the chance to enjoy the water for hours.
The water did not disappoint us it was so cool and refreshing. I don't know how it started but afterwards I found myself being encouraged by the group to jump from not so high cliff, merely a rock in to the river. Plunging in to the water was really fun as always. I did jump once with the assurance that they will handed me the life saver ring the moment I'm into the water and they will rescue me if things gone wrong. Yeah I'm OA, but what can I do, I'm no swimmer.
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| Happy with the life saver ring |
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| That's me, being encourage by the group |
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| enjoying the water |
Spelunking
There are several caves in Manalmon that is worth to visit, one of whick is the Bayukbok caves. After swimming and having lunch near the river, we headed back to jump-off point. We had a quick briefing before spelunking the do's and don'ts, mostly the don'ts and our guides told us to left our bags and brought the valuables. Our two guides, Kuya Mario and Winter, got another guide to help them in assisting us with no additional fee. The ratio was 1:5. From jump-off point we crossed the Madlum river by riding the bamboo raft. We were divided into three groups because the bamboo raft could not carry a heavy load.
The Bayukbok caves is divided into 2, the Bayukbok cave 1 that has six chambers, sometimes they call it Bayukbok 1to6 and the other one is Bayukbok 2 that has 2 chambers and sometimes they call it Bayukbok 7to8. From Madlum river it took us 2 hours to complete the spelunking of Bayukbok caves. We first entered the Bayukbok 2 and followed by Bayukbok 1. Comparing the two caves, it's easy to navigate inside the Bayukbok 2 than Bayukbok 1 but it is much cooler inside the B1 and more stalagmites to see. At the entrance of Bayukbok1, we rappelled going down the rocky way. Strength of your arms and legs will be put on the test. Inside the B1, we crawled a lot, rappelled, and squeezed our bodies to fit in to the small hole. I can say that It was a fully-packed caving experience.
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| Entrance of Bayukbok 2 |
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| Entrance of Bayubok 1 |
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| After 2 hours of spelunking outside Bayukbok 2 |
Crossing the Monkey Bridge
The locals built the two cable wires above the river on the purposed of crossing it when the river swells during rainy season and they called it "the monkey bridge". The first wire is to hold on to and the second wire is to step-in your feet while crossing.
At first it was scary because in one wrong move you might fell in to the river. But I cannot just go home without trying it and know how it feels to cross the monkey bridge. So instead of riding the bamboo raft again to go back to jump-off point, I crossed the river by using the monkey bridge. The difficult part in crossing was when I was already in the middle the wind constantly blew. I hold on tight and slowly but surely I made it.
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| Crossing the monkey bridge |
Our Mt. Manalmon adventure was really a fun-filled thrilled day. In just a day we did and enjoyed a lot. It is great to explore with your friends preferably 10-15 persons so that you can share the cost.
If you need assistance to organize you and your friends' Mt. Manalmon Adventure, feel free to comment below and I'll be at your service. -
rednails April 6, 2014
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