Scaling Halcon: Mangyan Tribe’s sacred ground

With the majestic 2586 meters above sea level, Mount Halcon is one of the toughest mountains in the Philippines, situated at Baco, Oriental Mindoro, Halcon is the highest mountain in the Mindoro Island and of course in the Oriental province.

This Mindoro’s great giant is also a home of two Mangyan tribes; the Alangan tribe are concentrated at Barangay Lantuyang, which also serves as the trail heading up to the mountain and the other tribe is called the Mangyan-Iraya, situated at Barangay Bayanan, the alternative jump off heading to the summit.

Our team lead by Sir Mark John Montehermoso accompanied by Maam Arc Ricafort of Team Karen headed the do-it-yourself climb at Halcon with 4 days super chill itinerary plus one day buffer day for climb permit processing.

Day 0:
Viva! Mindoro

Mindoro Island is located off the southwestern coast of Luzon and northeast of Palawan it is the 7th largest island in the country which divided in to two: Occidental Mindoro and Oriental Mindoro.

After a short bus ride from Manila to Batangas City Port, we secured our tickets and boarded at Montenegro Lines, from there we need to cross the sea for about 2-3 hours depending on the current condition of the water.

Sunday at around 7 am we reached the Calapan City Port, our jeepney service is already there waiting. From Calapan Port we headed to the nearby public market, secured our food provisions for four days. After roaming around the city for about 2 hours finally we went to Baco, delighted ourselves with their local cuisine for lunch then processed our climb permits. The Municipality of Baco were very strict in terms of their climbing policy, for security of safety purposes.

As per the tourism record of Baco, we will be the first group that will go through Lantuyang Trail this year since it was closed last May 2017. Lantuyang is longer than Bayanan trail, both trail will meet at the junction heading to Dulangan River.

Its 04:17 on my watch when we reached the community, there will be a gigantic board saying that you are in Barangay Lantuyang. A long metal hanging bridge will lead you to the small and peaceful barangay, sweet smiles from the Mangyan-Alangan tribe will welcome you as you entered their tribal domain.

Since it’s been a long, tiring and sticky day (because we traveled by water and dusty dirt road heading to Lantuyang plus sweat of course!) we bathed at the nearby river, just below the long-metal-hanging bridge.

Thereon, we feast our dinner and we pre-cooked our meat. We need to preserve our chicken and pork meat till day 2, because we are planning to have a sinigang and macaroni soup when we reach the Aplaya Campsite on second day.

Day 01: The Road Less Taken

It’s Monday and finally, this is it. After securing our guides and porters we started with a quick briefing and prayer. By 06:30 AM we hit the trail. Lantuyang is a long gradual trail with a few minor ascents as we passed the community and the farm land, at 367 MASL the view of the community shines under the ray of the sun, luscious green rice field from the distant farmland give us an awesome view to start with.

Since we are the first group that will pass through this trail we already accepted that it will be a bloody one. We all know that Halcon is a limatik infested mountain (and majority of the Mindoro mountains do) we prepared our anti-limatik-solution. Thanks to Naturetech!

Rich flora and fauna can be seen along the wet and muddy trail. Wide variety plants were visible plus the vibrant and colorful flowers and insects.

After several hours of long and gradual trail, we passed the junction where Bayanan and Lantuyang met. The trail is wet because we were surrounded by the stream arteries coming from the falls from the higher elevation. At 01:12 we had our lunch at the nearby stream.

Few meters after the stream, we passed several boulders similar to Mount Apo. Philippines wild raspberries are abundant along the trail.

At 04:13 PM we reached 1463 MASL, from there we were amazed by the grandeur of mighty Halcon. Several falls can be seen from afar. This dramatic landscape from the view deck gave us motivation to climb higher to achieve more.

The trail going to Aplaya Campsite is open. Lichens, ferns and sun dews are abundant. Its long and gradual rolling trail leads to a wide plateau with the gargantuan mountain range at the background. Its 04:58 when we reached the camp, and it’s getting cold.

We pitched our tents and hanged our hammocks. The setting sun gave us a vivid view of the distant forest canopy, creating a poetic scene. A perfect scenery while we are warming ourselves with a cup of coffee.

After we cooked our dinner and breakfast we had a great time hearing the stories of our guides and fellow mountaineers, the weather is great, thousands of stars appeared on a clear sky. The cold breeze of the night gave us chills as it enters our nostrils. The team need to rest to regain the energy because tomorrow is another leg-day-battle.

Day 02: A hard way to summit

Our second day starts when my phone alarmed Tuesday at exactly 03:30 in the morning, I prepared the coffee for the team, cooked the rice and pre heated the pork adobo and packed for lunch. Had our breakfast and decamped. As per our guide Tatay Andres, the trail from Aplaya to Summit is hell. The trail is much steeper and harder than yesterday and approximately 8-10 hours on a regular group pacing.

From Aplaya the trail is steep going down to Dulangan River. Our headlamps serves us well till we reach Dulangan after 45 minutes of breaking in the middle of darkness. Lucky that we are able to manage crossing. The ankle-to-thigh-deep current is tolerable but the water temperature is freaking cold, and yes we need to do that till we reach the last river after a long gradual slopes.

The last part of river is a bit narrower than the first one, to spice up crossing the river we need to cross using the fallen log. We had our lunch at the last water source before heading to summit. The continuous steep upward climb drained our energy, we need to manage our pace, take quick pause and look after our knees to avoid cramps and muscle sprain. Upper body strength is required as the trail goes steeper and harder. Thanks to my trekking pole and useful ‘baging’ along the trail that helped the lead team to reach the 2107 MASL.

At around 4 PM the cloud became thick and gray, signaling that possible rain might happened. It was visible from the view deck.  The fog is thick and its cold when we reached and 2458 MASL yes it did, we are passing through the mountain edges that time when the sky poured out on us.

Its chilling when we reached the summit at exactly 05:21, braved ourselves through gusting cold wind good that we are able to pitch our tent and warm ourselves inside. Our bags and gears are soaking wet.

We covered ourselves with garbage bag to retain our body heat, then we put on our dried clothes, socks and gloves. We can’t cook outside because our food supplies are with our porter, together with Arc and Cris sweeping the team. Its 7 PM and still no signal or noise from outside. We tried to radio them but they are not responding, 8 PM when Mark John decided to locate them. They emergency-camped few meters from the summit, near the water source. Arc were injured.

That night we are hungry. Good that the rain stopped. No stars, no clear sky, no food. Still grateful for my one- cube of dark chocolate hiding on my belt bag pocket and to my 1 pack of 17-pcs-peanuts of sugo for dinner, Choi and Dennis had the same plus their energy drinks.

Day 03: Waiting Game

Its Wednesday six o’clock in the morning when we woke up. Nobody wants to go outside because it was freaking cold. Everybody from the lead team wants to stay inside their tents. The cold wind is blowing our souls out giving us a nerve shaking chills. At 07:15 the porter arrived at the summit, instructed us to cook for breakfast so we did.

Fog covers the surrounding. We already regrouped and had our breakfast and still waiting for a clear view, it was past 8 and still the white backdrop covers the area, Halcon is a bit shy to show its grandeur from above. It’s truly a waiting game. After the long wait (about 3 hours since the time that we wake up) Halcon exposed its stunning beauty. The massive sea of cloud formation was a perfect backdrop while doing some wacky or creative pose from its famous ‘diving board.’ At last! Halcon gave us this wonderful experience.

Right after we had our photos we started to break our camp and descended. Cirsium luzoniense are abundant. The view from above is magnificent.

We instructed them that if the time permits, the team will regrouped at Aplaya if not they need to follow us at Dulangan River. It’s around 4 PM when we reached at Dulangan. Choi, Dennis and Gerry wanted to push through to Aplaya and spent the night there. Because they need to be at Manila by Thursday night.  Tolits and I together with Tatay Andres camped at Dulangan River while waiting for the sweep. We only had 10 kilos of rice and a bottle of brandy on our re-provisioned supplies, lucky that our fellow camper shared their food with us thanks to Mawi Patatas of Penguin Backpackers and Sir Mot because they shared their dinner with us.  

Day 04: The Final Descent

Around 8 of Thursday morning when the sweep team arrived, did the usual routine: cooked breakfast, had coffee then packed our lunch.  We need to endure the 8 hours of descent for this final day of mountain adventure.

The cold stream of Dulangan gave us a refreshing splash. Its 10 AM when I and Tolits together with Tatay Andres started to descend. To play it fast forward we reached the community at around 5 PM, it was tiring, and long. Lantuyang trail is very long. Promise. After four days of no-bath experience, at last the nearby store allow us to take a bath from their outdoor shower for free.

The sweep team arrived at around 2 o’clock morning the following day. 04:19 we reached Baco, logged out at Police Station and had a nice breakfast.

Tips and Observations:

1.       Be prepared: Mount Halcon is a 9/9 mountain that requires proper training. Better to plan ahead and have yourself a training climb or a tune up climb to avoid possible injuries along the trail.

2.       For a multi-day-climb, better to pack and emergency food.

3.       The ‘knife edge’ is not that buwis-buhay part. I would suggest to call it as open ridge or mountain edge, the trail is still wide and there are a lot of shrubs.

4.       This mountain is technical but not-too-serious-technical. The multiple steep upward climbs, river crossings and open ridges make it technical.

5.       Its freaking cold and windy at the summit. Bring a lot of garbage bags for emergency, wear proper layer of clothing.

6.       Lots of cold water sources, bringing powdered juice is smart.

7.       Cover your skin. Avoid wearing sleeveless and shorts, Halcon is limatik infested mountain.

8.       Pack light. Group sharing for food and tent will do, this will minimize your load.

9.       Bring the original documents. Baco Tourism is very strict, they are requiring original copy of fit to climb certificates and climb/BMC certificate.

10.   Diving board is 100% safe. 

11.   Always start early.

Last note:

I would like to thank every person who are involved in this extreme adventure! To Sir Mot and Maam Mawi for adopting us on Day 4 and to our lead team Choi, Dennis, Tolits and Gerry. To our sweep team: Arc, Mark John, Dem Cris, Esca, Jazer, Jerome and Daniel. To our Mangyan guides and porter led by Tatay Andres.

Truly Halcon is an amazing mountain with a lot of biological treasures and anthropological gems. More than the experience the real spirit of mountaineering is alive! Thanks everyone.

Mount Halcon Itinerary

Time       Activity

Day 0

02:00     Meetup Jam Liner Cubao

03:00     ETD to Batangas Port

05:00     ETA in Batangas Port, secure RoRo tickets

06:00     ETD to Calapan, Mindoro

07:30     ETA in Calapan, Mindoro, market time

10:00     Call to the tourism officer, process papers

12:00     target time to be done with the paper processing, last minute shopping before heading to Baco

13:00     ETD to Baco (TBD depending on the starting point)

14:00     ETA at the jump off, set up resting place for the night

15:00     Preparation for the climb (food and etc)

19:00     Lights out

Day 1

03:00     Wake up call, prepare for breakfast, eat breakfast (assigned person), prepare for everything

05:00     Meet the guides and the team porter, prayer, last minute preparation

05:30     Start ascend

07:00     First stop, First community (basketball court), rest a bit, regroup

07:10     Continue ascend

07:30     First WATER SOURCE, refill water if needed, if not resume

10:00     Ambokod Village, regroup, pay the contribution to the community

10:15     Resume trek

10:45     Grassland, rest for a bit

11:00     Resume trek, entering the forest, be ready for the lotsa lotsa limatik, some river crossing

12:00     Lunch along open trail, regroup

12:30     Resume trek, WATER SOURCE along the trail (ask the guide)

17:00     Target ETA at Aplaya campsite, set up camp, prepare for dinner (assigned person), WATER SOURCE available 5mins away from the campsite

18:30     Dinner time

20:00     Lights out

Day 2

03:00     Wake up call, break camp, prepare breakfast (assigned person), breakfast

04:00     prepare to ascend, prayer

04:30     start to descend to Dulangan river

06:00     ETA at Dulangan river, rest a bit, regroup, WATER SOURCE

06:15     resume trek, start to ascend towards the summit

09:00     Second river, rest, regroup

09:15     resume trek

11:00     last falls, rest, regroup

11:30     resume trek

13:00     Karwayan, last WATER SOURCE, refill water, regroup

13:15     resume trek towards the summit

14:00     ETA at summit, setup camp

16:00     Prepare for dinner (assigned person), free time for others - photo ops and etc

17:00     free time

18:00     Dinner time

20:00     Lights out

Day 3

04:00     Wake up call, prepare breakfast (assigned person)

05:00     Breakfast, sunrise viewing, photo ops

08:00     Break camp, final preparation before descend

12:00     ETA at Dulangan campsite, lunch, regroup

12:30     start ascend towards Apalaya camp stie

14:30     ETA at Aplaya campsite, set up camp

15:30     Socials!, free time, more more rest , more more sleep

17:30     Prepare for dinner (assigned person)

18:30     Dinner time

20:00     Lights out

Day 4

03:00     Wake up call, break camp, prepare for breakfast

04:00     Breakfast, last minute preparation

05:30     Start to descend

09:30     Ambokod Village, regroup

10:00     resume trek

12:00     First community, lunch, rest, regroup

12:30     Start to descend

14:00     ETA at Jump off, Congrats! - Wash up, prepare to go home

15:30     ETD to Calapan Port

16:30     ETA at Calapan Port, secure RoRo ticket

17:00     ETD to Batangas Port

19:30     ETA at Batangas Port