Rizal, a province just a couple of hours away from the heart of Metro Manila, is proving to be a worthy competitor to the southern province of Batangas when it comes to quick day hike destinations. For a short-and-sweet trip, I tried a “combination hike” in the form of a mountain-and-waterfall hike with local hiking company Trail Adventours (trailadventours.com) as we took on Mt. Batolusong.
Philippine Day Hikes – Mt. Batolusong with Trail Adventours
Mt. Batolusong is considered a “beginner’s mountain”, with just two to three steep sections that are more than manageable for anyone with an active lifestyle. As it was relatively near our meet up point in Ortigas CBD, we headed towards Tanay, Rizal (where Mt. Batolusong is) at a bit after 4am.
We reached the jump-off point shortly before 7am, and as we were a large group of over twenty hikers, our lead Trail Adventours guide Kim Orticio hosted a get-to-know session with everyone, as well as an important briefing on the LNT (“leave no trace”) principles – something that is standard with Trail Adventours but not necessarily so with other hiking companies I’ve tried.
After gathering our day hike bags and leaving our extra gear in the vans, we set off for Mt. Batolusong!
