I have always wanted activities that make me sweat. I'm so glad I got invited at this mountain hike!

I have hiked and done caving before, but with easy trails. I was told that this hike is Level 4. I'm not sure what was the actual preference of the certain levels of a mountain hike is but I just said yes!

The goal: Mt. Daraitan Summit
The budget: Php 500.00
The company: 8 people
The target day: August 24, 2014

I will list the log of the whole day we had a little later but first I would like to list some points.

Mt. Daraitan is located at the province of Rizal. It's an hour and half jeepney ride from Shaw Boulevard. The mode of transportation at the province are jeepneys, boats, and tricycles that can hold up to 6 passengers (including the driver).

We had chosen to take just a day hike to the summit and we have not booked any package whatsoever from any group or agency. We just went there without any contact person.

Our meeting place was at McDonald's Crossing.

Ok. Here's how our whole day went:


[ 5:00 AM ]

• Took a jeepney ride to Tanay Rizal from Crossing 
• Jeepney Fare: Php58.00/per person

[ 6:30 AM ]

• Arrival at Tanay Market
• Php500 tricycle rental to Daraitan River 
• The tricycle can hold up to 6 passengers, including the driver. Though it's not advisable to fill the tricycle up to 5 passengers, the road to Daraitan River is suuuuuper rocky. We rent two tricycles for the 8 of us.
• There's a public toilet there too. I would advise you take a pee before the tricycle ride. :P

We had a couple of stops at that tricycle ride, to rest our muscles. lol. The road is super super rocky! I think it's the second rockiest road I have crossed next to our Sagada trip. :P

[ 8:30 AM ]
- arrival at Daraitan River
(Php5.00 for Boat ride to cross the other side)
- arrival at Brgy. Daraitan
- Php10/head for tryke to Town Proper
- Registration (Php20.00/person)
- Tour Guide Php 500.00 (max of 1 tour guide per 10 tourists)




When we got to the Daraitan River, a man approached us and negotiated with a ride back to civilization. :P We turned it down and decided to ride a tricycle back since it is always accessible. After which, we got approached by another man again (forgot his name) and welcomed us. I think he thought we were the group he was waiting for, maybe a bunch who booked a package. But yeah, you have the option to book a trip to go there an get assisted properly. For us, we just went there. :P


 After crossing the river, you'll need to have another tricycle ride (Php10.00/head) to get to the town proper. It's not more than a 10minute ride. Once you get to town, you would easily locate the Barangay Hall where you will log your names and register for the hike. On that same instant, you will need to pay for the Environmental Fee of Php20.00/head and your guide will be introduced. You can choose your guide if you want to and on that day we had Kuya Michael. :)


There are two ways to get to the summit; (1) Atboran Trail and (2) Tinipak Trail. The Atboran Trail takes 3-4hrs to the summit, a total of 6-8 hours to and fro. The Tinipak Trail is the easy one, you'll get to start at the River and the hike is estimated to take 4-5hrs to and fro the summit. The only reminder we were given was to bring two liters of water with us, for each person. The heck, I just brought 1 liter with me and the some of us didn't even had a liter with them. We were 'that' confident to conquer this one. :P




[ 9:00 AM ]
- Departure from Brgy.
- Agreed climb to the summit

    The first warm up we had was the super inclined paved road, the 'entrance' to our route to the summit. It was not long until we saw trees, tall grasses and wild plants. 



  [ 10:45 AM ]
- First View, Rest



Alas! Our first pit stop!
There's a nice view there and tied tree trunks to sit and rest on.


There is also a cave there that Kuya Michael said is not "hiker-friendly" yet. They tried going in at the cave but he said it was too steep and there were alot of snakes.

And so we rest for a bit. Catch our breathes and drank few gulps of our water.

Along the way would be the "crossing" of the two trails. Kuya Michael made us pick on whether to go down to the Tinipak River or stick to the plan and go to the summit.
With a little encouragement, we chose to go to the summit. We figured it would be better if we soaked at the river after the long hike. 


[ 12:00 PM ] -Camp site

The trail gets steeper and steeper, higher and harder. We crossed with groups of people on our way. Some came from the Tinipak Cave and some went camping from the summit.



The camp site was our 2nd stop. We rest there for a while even though Kuya Michael said that it's just another 30mins to the summit. We were just so tired~ :v

More people pass by us while we rest. We consumed half of the liter of water we brought. Yes! We survived.

 
[ 12:30 PM ]
-Summit
-Lunch!

And yes it was 30mins more until we got to the summit. There were a group who got there a few minutes earlier than us and they were taking photos at the very summit. As we wait for our turn, we ate lunch and rest for a bit.


Here are some of the photos we had at the summit!





We spent almost 2hours at the summit when Kuya Michael insisted that we start hiking down because it will be dark soon.


[ 2:05 PM ]
- Depart from Summit


Hiking down was easier, always. We reached the crossing to the Tinipak River but decided to just go back straight to the village instead. It was getting dark and we might not even see anything when we get there.


[ 5:04 PM ]
- Reached land


Yey! We got back from our starting point. We drank all the water and soda that we can! After we have settled ourselves and got breathing normally again. Kuya Michael recommended us at a little Lomi House where you can rest and rent room and have a nice good shower.


[ 5:30 PM ]
- went for a shower and rest at Lomi House
Php20/person for shower
Php35 Lomi (Extra Special)
Php20 Halo-Halo
Php100/hr for staying (got it for free)

We spent almost three hours at the Lomi House. We ate dinner, took shower, rest and fixed our things. 


[ 7:53 PM ]
- departure from Brgy. Daraitan
- negotiated with Jeep ride for 1k instead of 1,500 ü

Kuya Michael assisted us on getting two tricycles to get back to the river (same fair).
At the other side of the river, a jeepney is waiting for a group who cancelled and stayed overnight at the village instead (lucky us!). Yes, there were still tricycles that you can rent but after negotiating with the jeepney driver, he let us pay 1,000 for the jeepney ride instead of 1,500. It was 500 each for a tricylce, so it was a good deal for us.

It was less rocky with a jeepney ride and a lot faster.


[ 8:55 PM ]
-Arrival at Tanay Market

Once we arrived at Tanay Market, there are waiting UV Vans that travels straight to Cubao.


[ 8:59PM ]
-depart from Tanay Market
Php70 Van to Megamall (Van travel to Cubao) 

It was a fixed fair of Php70/person from Tanay Market to Cubao. The van stops at StarMall, where we all catch our second rides home.

[ 10:06 PM ] - arrival at Megamall

At Megamall, it was easy for us to catch our buses back home since it was a loading and unloading terminal. At 10PM, we were still able to ride a bus straight to Cavite (super lucky!) And I arrive home around past 11PM! ^___^

If you would sum it all up, our 500 budget was just right! It was a very well spent 500 and very well spent day.

Thank you for reading all the way through! Looking forward for another summit!