Just 1 week from my motorcycle ride in Kaybiang tunnel last November, I was back in Maragondon, Cavite. This time I'm travelling by foot, and my journey will not be on the roads but on the mountain trails.
It was in April 2023 that I last hiked, and by November, I desired to be outside again. The place that I dared explore this time is Mt. Marami, a cliff within the Mt. Palay-Palay national park.
Standing at 405 meters above sea level, Mt. Marami provides a panoramic view of the beaches of Ternate, the Maragondon mountain range, and its neighbor mountains Mt. Pico De Loro and Mt. Mataas na gulod. It's stated difficulty is 3/9 and it is best for beginner or intermediate hikers.
In this hike, I'm accompanied by my friend Marc. This blogpost recounts our challenging-but rewarding-journey.
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Setting expectations
As every hiker should do, I did research on Mt. Marami to know what to expect on the trail: what are the features involve? How much time will it take to get to the summit? Browsing through articles and videos on youtube, one of the first things I learned was that the soil along Mt. Marami's trail is claylike, Thus it can get muddy-and therefore difficult to hike-during rainy season. (courtesy: adventureherbivore.wordpress.com)
I also learned that there are river crossings involved, though most of the time the water is only at ankle level. The trail passes through the Magallanes-Maragondon portion of the Mt. Palay-Palay national park and it can take 3-4 hours to get to the mountain's summit. (courtesy: Coby Sarreal YT channel)
Now you may wonder, why is it called Mt. Marami? I've read various reasons why they named the mountain Marami. There's the reason that the trail is abundant in faunas, fruits, and species of animals. Some says it's because of the lengthy walk to the summit, and some even accustom it to the muddy trails. Maraming halaman, maraming lakaran, at maraming putik. Hence, Mt. Marami.
Connotations aside, I learned that the word marami refers to the mountain's summit that look like stacks of stone arranged beautifully beside one another. Here's a preview of what it looks like:
Now that's a compelling sight. Enough to get me excited and curious on what it would be like on top those cliffs.
The hike starts
Mt. Marami is in Maragondon but the common jump-off point to hike it is through Magallanes, Cavite. From Las Piñas, it took us three hours to get to Magallanes via a service van.
In a span of another 30 minutes we had breakfast, readied our gears, and held a briefing led by our guide. Our guide informed us in advance that the trail will be muddy because it rained the night before. He told us to be cautious of stepping into some segments as they may be slippery, and it is very much preferred that we wear shoes instead of sandals.
After the reminders, we began the hike. We left our jump-off point at exactly 3 am.
The start of the trail immediately revealed what our guide was talking about. Thick mud quickly covered my shoes to the point where it they add weight on my soles. The trail was initially a straight walk but it soon involved a descent. We had to be careful because the mud on our shoes could make us slip into some rock segments.
In the early hours of the day, all I was able to see was what our flashlights could provide. Of course, there were a lot of trees, the humming birds, and the sound of us hikers talking. But I looked forward to seeing what our trail looks like in the light of day.
It was at the 1 hour mark in our hike that we passed the river segments. The water level was ankle deep on our visit, but our guide stated that it can turn waist deep during rainy season. Our guide also shared that natural water is sourced from the same river and into the neighboring barangays.
On a rest stop, I asked our guide how many hours will it take for us to get to the summit. He estimated that it will take another 3 hours; 2 hours at best depending on our pace.
The first light of day
It was about 5:45 am when the sun began to appear. At this point, we're now in a high elevation and the trail was unraveling itself. This is where I took the first photos of the hike. The neighboring mountain ranges were now visible, revealing to us our first sight of the Maragondon protected landscape.
The trail at this point was a series of ascent; the part of the hike that I considered most challenging. Though it wasn't steep, the long, continuous trek was a test on my cardio. I don't use trekking poles, so all the ascent was up to my core and leg strength.
On a later part of the ascent, our austerity was briefly halted by our first sight of the mountain's peak.
It was great to see the summit in actual sight. From afar, it really does look like stones stacked on top of each other. They also resemble a pile of mushrooms to me, especially as they are bask in the early morning sun that dyed them orange.
Now, it may look like we're nearing the end of the trail just because the summit was in sight. But no, even I who was actually there did not think so. In photos, it may look like it will now only take a few minutes of trek but from how I saw it, I estimated that it will still take another hour to reach the coveted summit.
As our ascent continued, fog began to cover the views surrounding our path. We passed by an interesting segment called bamboo forest where we have to occasionally duck to evade disbanded bamboo trees.
It was the last part of the trail before the summit.
At the peak
The time was now 7:11 AM and we have reached the peak of Mt. Marami. It took exactly 1 hour for us to get here from where we first saw it earlier. Our overall ascent on the other hand took 4 hours.
The peak of Mt. Marami is a steep piece of rock. There are no flat areas like those for example in Mt. Batulao, where they even had a food stall at the summit. In here, the only other feature is the silyang bato, a spot great for taking pictures.
Now, let's talk about the magnificent view. Seen in full splendor are the mountain ranges of Maragondon, the Nasugbu bay, and the nearby Mt. Pico De Loro (also called Mt. Palay-Palay). Some says Mt. Talamitam in Nasugbu can also be seen from this vantage point on a clearing.
The silyang bato, the feature of the mountain I mentioned, is located in an adjacent part of the summit and required a short walk to get to. It could be petrifying to sit-let alone stand on it- but I guess doing something challenging could well be a good part of the hike experience.
Once we're finished taking photos, we descended the summit at 8 am.
End of the hike
I did not expect our descent to be easier, but I expected it to take a lot of time as well. The view on the trail was better this time because of the noon light.
I think the daylight helped us descend faster because we were back at our jump-off point in just 3 hours.
By 11:30 am, we were now having lunch. The locals in the house we stayed commented on our fast pace, but we claimed that we owed it to our guide and to the experienced hikers on our group. Our day hike concluded as we left Magallanes at around 2 PM. Marc and I were back home in Las Piñas by 5 PM.
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Hike summary
Indeed, hiking Mt. Marami, involved a lot of experiences: maraming putik, maraming halaman, at maraming lakaran. Now, let me add to these connotations by saying that it also has maraming tanawin. The trail could be lengthy and challenging but consider them price to pay for the beautiful view that awaits at the summit.
The hike taught me to not underestimate any mountain regardless of its difficulty rating. As such, I hope that by reading through our journey, fellow hikers will realize the same, and have more enjoyable hiking experiences just like we did.
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