Pico De Loro
Last year, my friends and I ran a race in Nasugbu, Batangas and some of them decided to climb Pico De Loro the day after the race. Unfortunately, due to the lack of time and proper equipment, I was not able to go with them. After a year of waiting and planning, finally, I can now say that I can cross Pico De Loro off my bucket list and I can now move on and reach the summit of other mountains in the Philippines.
Pico De Loro, also known as Parrot's Peak, is one of the areas visited by many people who love nature and adventure. It's strategically located in Maragondon, Cavite and Nasugbu, Batangas, and you can choose whether to jump off in Cavite and return back or exit to Batangas or you can also do it the other way around. It's 663 meters above sea level, it is Cavite's highest point. Once you reach the summit, you will have scenic views of Cavite, Batangas, South China Sea and the island of Corregidor.
We began our journey to this infamous location by meeting at Coastal Mall where most of the buses going to Cavite and Batangas are located. Most of us lacked sleep but that did not stop us at all. One of us, ate Abby, even had a slight fever the night before our trip. It was a good thing that she felt little a better during the day of the trip and she was able to join us. We waited for the one and only guy in the group, Albert, for almost 30 minutes, and he was the one who said that we should all meet by 4:00 AM sharp. The good thing about him being late is that he treated us to bulalo after our hike. Food is indeed a good compensation especially if everyone is a foodie. Going back to our itinerary, the bus going to Ternate / Maragondon was already filled with people and was about to go when we asked the conductor when the next bus was coming. We had no choice but to stand for about 15 minutes while en route to Cavite. While on our way, Nirel and I just talked about Game of Thrones for the whole hour and a half until the sun was already up to keep ourselves awake. We finally reached Gina's eatery, where most of the jeep (yes, there's only one) and tricycles going to the DENR Station were located. Since there were four of us, we decided to ride the jeep, it's 100php per head. The trip to the DENR station reminded me so much of our province, Ilocos Sur, how it smelled like freshly burnt leaves and gasoline. The road to the DENR station was not a bumpy ride unlike what I expected, it's well-paved with just a few areas being constructed. When we reached the DENR station, we decided to eat breakfast and prepare the necessary stuff needed before the climb. The place now has a bathroom for guys and girls payable at 5php per person. The place also has 2 small restaurants where you can eat breakfast and lunch, they even sell t-shirts, hats, trekking gloves and arm sleeves.
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| Longkalog - Longganisa, Kanin at Itlog |
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| Hotkalog - Hotdog, Kanin, Itlog |
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| Cornkalog - Corned Beed, Kanin, Itlog |
Each person must pay 25php and register their names at the table area at the beginning of the trail.
The first part of the trail is a forested area with a river on your right side, surrounded with tall trees with roots sticking out of the ground, some trees are marked with red ribbons as trail markers. The difficult thing about this part of the trail was the the air was warm and heavy. The wind was not even present at most times while we were hiking this part of the trail.
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| The water level was so low because of the extreme heat. |
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| Ate Abby |
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| Nirel and Albert |
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| Red ribbons tied on trees will be seen during the start and middle of the trek to guide you until you reach the area close to the summit. |
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| Tres Marias |
While on our way up, we usually took breaks between 15 - 20 minutes or every after uphill assault. Don't be fooled by their sweet smiles. I'm pretty sure they were already thinking of how to murder me when I took this photo of them resting because I was able to convince them to come with me. I'm just kidding, these girls love me, they love me so much that they come with me on my adventures.
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| Have a break. Have small gummy worms. |
The trail was not that physically challenging for those who have been climbing mountains as a hobby or as a living. Based on our experience, the most difficult thing to deal with was the heat. There were a lot of people who already went ahead of us and there were still others behind us. It was a very busy day at Pico De Loro when we visited. There were even those who were going down while we were on our way up. There were some hikers who passed us by and were courteous enough to say "Hi!" or "Ingat po sa pag-akyat" and we respond the same way. However, the thing I hate the most when a lot of people are climbing mountains is the amount of trash they leave. I mean, come on, how hard is it to keep a candy wrapper or a water bottle inside your bag? In the next photos, you will see Albert holding a plastic bag full of trash by other people. |
| Foreground - Ate Abby. Background - Nirel and Albert holding a plastic of the trash we collected on our way up. |
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| Background - Ate Abby. Foreground - Nirel and Albert |
We kept on walking up until we saw manong who was selling ice cream. It was such a relief knowing that we were on the right track and that we were almost at the camping site. We decided to sit down for a while, rest and eat some ice cream and take some photos.
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| Manong only sells ice cream during the weekends because he drives a tricycle during the weekends. He does this to support his family. I hope a lot more people are like him, properly working to earn a living. |
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| First group selfie of the day under the scorching sun! |
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| Where are you looking at Albert? |
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| This was the view behind us from the previous photo. |
After resting for about 10 - 15 minutes, we decided that it was time to finish what we started and we immediately went on our way. |
The start of the descent going to the summit which is shown in the middle of the photo. |
After walking downhill and then uphill again for almost 30 minutes, we finally reached the Summit Campsite! And you can see, there are a lot of people taking refuge behind the small bushes along the ridge. It was hot and windy at the campsite but nothing can stop us from celebrating the moment by taking a group photo. At the campsite, there are several vendors who sell cold drinks and halo-halo. However, they are only there during the weekends.
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| Second group selfie at the summit camping area. |
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| We were arguing if everyone's face will be in the photo, I said "Yes/Maybe" and they said "No", so I guess I win. |
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| View of Parrot's Peak from the Summit Campsite |
The next few photos was the 5 minutes assault up to the summit. This was the area where all the dust and wind decided to team up and make our experience more difficult than it already was. I was never a fan of goggles but having them during this time could have saved my eyes from all the dust irritating my eyes.
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The was already a huge number of people who were at the summit when we arrived. They were already lined up waiting for their time to go to the monolith. It was quite difficult to find an area where you can position yourself to at least take a good photo without someone's arm or head unknowingly photobombing the photo frame. It was even much harder looking for an area to sit down and rest without you thinking about your impending death by falling off a cliff.
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| Group Shoe Selfie! |
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| The view of the ridge from the summit. |
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The monolith and the people behind us. |
Once again please forgive our vanity, for the next photos will showcase our faces.
The amount of difficulty we had when we went to the summit was tripled when we were already going down. But, we all survived!
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| Halo-halo with extra ice for only 45php. |
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| Dandelion-like seeds scattered on the ground. |
Reaching the DENR station was such a relief because it meant that we were not walking downhill anymore. Nirel and I were one hour behind ate Abby and Albert which says a lot about our pace. But, we really could not go fast without feeling extreme pain. We all got together and decided that it was time to eat since we were not able to eat the snacks we brought during the climb because we did not really feel hungry, we only felt exhausted from the heat. We ate at Dabok's Bulaluhan at Tapsihan and I really enjoyed their place which was so rustic, they had these old stuff displayed around the restaurant and their food was authentic Filipino food like their Kare-Kare which had real ground peanuts.
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| Toys from the 80's and 90's |
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles |
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| Classic clothes iron |
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| Kare-kare with ground peanuts |
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| Black / Dark bagoong |
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| Bulalo! |
The trip was definitely worth it. I'm happy that I can finally cross it out of my list. It's more fun if you're with family and friends and it's even better if you go on a weekday when there's only a few people so that you get to enjoy the place to yourselves and take lots of good photos.
Additional Information:
From Metro Manila Area to Pico De Loro
Take cab or bus to Coastal Mall
- bus is preferred if you are on a tight budget at 30php per person
From Coastal Mall to Maragondon / Ternate Cavite
-bus leaves as early as 5:00AM
-81 php per person
Drop off at Gina's Eatery to DENR Station
- 100 per head for jeep
- 75 per head for tricycle
Jump-off DENR Station, Magnetic Hill, Ternate, Cavite
- eat breakfast and prepare for the trek
- 25 per head for entrance or environmental fee
Water
Trail Food
Bug Spray
Cap / Hat
Wet Towelette
Trekking Pole
Trash Bags
**For more detailed information if you would like to go to Pico De Loro, please go to this link.
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