JUMP-OFF POINT: Sitio Madlum, Brgy. Sibul, San Miguel
SPECS: Minor climb, Difficulty 2/9, Trail class 1-2
CLIMB DATE: August 28, 2011
The four-day long weekend went in vain as the typhoon ruined all sorts of plan for eco-trip enthusiasts. Many mountaineers got stranded and were not able to climb their planned destinations because of road blocks caused by landslides and flooding. It was not the same thing for me. I had long organized a climb to Manalmon because I thought that I will be reunited with my Chuck Norris Team. As the date neared, however, many of them canceled their attendance and only Lloydie, whose birthday fell on the climb date, confirmed. Technically, it was his birthday climb as well. Some were still decided to join despite the weather and even though I was downhearted myself, I decided to push through with it should the rain stop. I have asked the guide, Tatay Carling if it was safe to continue with our plans and he assured me that it was.
Saturday night and I was still halfhearted, I gave the rain an ultimatum... I informed all who were attending that we would abort the planned climb if the rain didn't stop at 12mn. Luck was on our side, perhaps, because the rain stopped just 15 minutes before midnight and I was happy to inform everyone that we were pushing through with it.
We met up at Cubao bus station and boarded a bus to San Miguel, Bulacan at 4am. We arrived at the Brgy. Sibul a few minutes before 6am. We had breakfast at Burger Machine. We then rented two tricycles that charged us 60 per head and brought us to the jump-off point. When we arrived the place, I noticed that my globe number couldn't get any signal. We also noticed that the water at the river was cafe latte brown...
After putting down our bags in a store near Tatay Carling's kubo (nipa hut), we headed for Mt. Manalmon with Felix, the guide that Tatay Carling assigned to us. The way to the mountain was a short trek, a little river crossing, and a short uphill. We passed through some rock formation that formed like caves and took pictures of ourselves in them. The way up and down on the path that first had concrete stairway then later became a muddy pathway was dangerously slippery that I had to remind everyone to be extra careful with their steps. In less than an hour, we were already on top of Mt. Manalmon. After enjoying the scene from above, we decided to go down, have lunch at the jumped and ready ourselves for yet another adventure: caving!
There was a wire that served as a hanging bridge for the locals to get across the river. I first attempted it with my sandals on but when it seemed too slippery for me to handle, I decided to take my sandals off and walked through it barefooted. The wire was hurting my feet, I was only able to cross halfway and went back to the base. After lunch, I again tried on the monkey wire and was able to get to the other side. It was so much fun that I found myself going back and forth.
We went caving after. The cave was super muddy due to the rain the night before. It made it harder for us. Mumai wanted to go back at the entry point. I didn't allow her to. I encouraged her into continuing on. And she did. Around 4:30pm, we were back at the base, washed up and left the place around 6:30pm.
