Mt. 387 plus chasing Aloha Falls…
Last February 10, 2018, Team Karen (Project Pixie) went to Nueva Ecija to hike one of the popular hiking destinations in the country, Mt. 387. Dubbed as the Chocolate Hills of the North, a.k.a Batong Amat, who would not want to see the beauty of this mountain? With an elevation of 724+ meters above sea level, recommended for people who want to try hiking for the first time. This mountain has a 387 hectares stretch, hence the name Mt. 387.
At the top, you will find the summit marker which says “Batong Amat” which also means “Ghost Rock” as the area is said to be the resting place of many Filipino, American, and Japanese soldiers during the World War II.
The organized event was led by yours truly, representing Team Karen – Project Pixie.
We were a total of 23 people. My sister and my best friends have also joined me in this climb. I have several beginners and few experienced hikers as well. We decided to meet in Greenfield Shaw – Open Parking on February 10, 12:30 AM. With a delay due to unforeseen circumstances, we left the meeting place at 2:10 AM.
To make the long story short, I know we had one stopover along the way, but I was so sleepy that time that I was not even able to get off the van to have a pee break. All I can remember was when I told the team to take their breaks then the rest is my sleeping history.
We arrived in Brgy. Puncan, Carranglan, Nueva Ecija at 6:10 AM. We had our breakfast, met our guides and had the usual briefing from Sir Roy. By 7:20 AM, we started to ascend. We were carrying small bottles of water for tree nurturing.
The trail started with a very gradual assault to a somewhat steep assault. Nevertheless, the trail is good for first timers as it is not a technical trail. This is my third time to climb Mt. 387 and I still enjoy the trail so much. Being the organizer of this climb, I was the sweeper of the group, hence, some of the pictures in this blog are grabbed from other people.
(credits to JP for this picture)
We did some tree nurturing along the trail. One good thing about climbing Mt. 387 is that you get to help with the mountain’s reforestation. During summer, each hiker is asked to bring a bottle of water to nurture the newly planted trees. During the rainy season, each hiker is asked to bring and plant seedlings along the trail, with the assistance from the guide.
(credits to the owner of the picture)
The sweeper group has reached the summit marker at 10:45 AM, I was told that the lead and the middle group arrived 30 minutes ahead of us, not bad. We had our snacks, took pictures and went ahead to the famous “Lover’s Tree”. We spent 30 minutes doing what most of us love the most, photo ops!
At 12:15 PM, I asked the lead and the middle group to start to descend, together with our three guides, they went ahead.
Jen had leg cramps so we stayed at the resting hut (near the Lover’s Tree) for another 15 minutes. At 12:30 PM, we started to descend too. We only did the backtrail, hence, no further notes to be added. To make the story short, we were back at the jump off at 2:35 PM. They were all done with their lunch and just waiting for us and the dump truck that would take us to Aloha Falls. We finished our lunch just in time the dump truck arrived. I was kinda disappointed with the dump truck ride going to Aloha Falls as we were “I think” overloaded. We are 23 in my group, plus two other groups who have joined us. All of us were standing with limited movements. Glad we made it safe on our first trip!
We trek for about 15 minutes going to the falls, the trail is mostly rocky and some river crossing.
Our teammates were already enjoying the water when we arrived, I am not really a fan of waterfalls, so I had no plan of dipping in.
(credits to Maam Cali)
At 5:00 PM, we started to trek back, good thing we had a bigger dump truck that time. All of us were seated as we drove back to the jump-off site.
(credits to Maam Cali)
We took our shower, and by 6:30 PM we departed to Manila. We stopped by one of the food stations nearby and had our dinner, we hit the road at 7:40 PM. By 12:15 AM (Sunday) we are back in Greenfield Shaw.
Here are some of the pictures I took:
If you wish to climb Mt. 387, you may want to contact sir Roy P. Manuzon. He is a DAR officer and is the one in-charge in Mt. 387 hiking activities. You can ask him about the logistics.
Thank you for reading.
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