#mt. makiling

[emmanuelbagac]

Sto. Tomas, Batangas and Los Banos, Laguna

Entry point: Sitio Jordan, Brgy. San Miguel, Sto. Tomas Exit point: UP College of Forestry, Los Banos, Laguna LLA: 14.13°N 121.20°E, 1090 MASL (Peak 2) Hours to Peak 2 / days required: 1-2 days / 5-8 hours

Specs: Major climb, Difficulty 5/9, Trail class 3 with roped segments Features: Roped segments, rocky face, limatik, rattan, tropical rainforest

The Makiling Traverse (which we first referred to as "Maktrav" in 2008), invented by Sky Biscocho in the early 1990s, is still a well-liked dayhike. The height of Mt. Makiling is 1090 meters above sea level, or 3576 feet. It provides climbers with a thorough view of the Southern Tagalog mountains, including Mt. Banahaw, Mt. Kalisungan, Mt. Cristobal, Mt. Obabis, and Mt. Prinza, from the summit.

According to Dr. Jose Rizal’s writings in the year 1890 about the story and myth of Maria Makiling: Once upon a time in a place called Makiling, there lived a god and goddess couple. They have a daughter named Maria. Maria is a very beautiful maiden or fairy. Her beauty is captivating and any young man will be charmed by her porcelain complexion and shining eyes. Their family is known to be kind and helpful to others, especially those in need, which is why the people around them love them so much. In those days, the gods were given the power to mingle with the people. One day a charming young farmer saw Maria one day, and upon seeing her beauty, he fell in love with her. Since then, he has always looked forward to it. The young farmer is the envy of his fellow farmers since, thanks to Maria Makiling's care and protection, neither plague nor bugs have harmed his crops. The young man thus always ascends the mountain to meet and be with his fairy lover. They quickly developed a romantic relationship, which the girl's parents learned about. Because a goddess cannot fall in love with a mortal, Maria's parents promptly cut off contact with that man.

[crstnjnblr]

April 19, 2025. Make It Makiling!

[zeennnn]

Mt. Makiling - Los Baños, Laguna

[offofwolfff]

when everything went well...

[ask-emilz-de-philz]

MAKISIG: "Alright, you have the go signal, but only hunt if she's around to observe you."

SOME HUMAN: "T-Thank you, stranger! How did you convince her?" MAKISIG: "I can be very persuasive. " (( X'DD ))

Note:

-Makisig is a Tamawo

-Maria Makiling is the well-known Diwata of Mt. Makiling

#philmytcrea

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[jerardeusebio]

The Funeral Run

I feel ambivalent about naming inanimate objects. For one, it feels counter to non-attachment, a Buddhist philosophy I’ve embraced and committed to practicing to the best of my ability. Another reason is the implied materialism of such an action. Again, it feels incongruent with the narrative I’ve created about myself. But a few weeks ago, the "death" of my five year-old running watch surprised me. I know this sounds bizarre, and the strangeness starts with its intensity and climaxes in the way I responded to it.

I bought the most basic running Garmin in 2019: the Forerunner 35. This was about a week after my iPhone 5S, which slid out of my running shorts, got run over by a tricycle. Intimidated by the price of iPhones, I decided to buy an Android. What I saved from settling on a more affordable phone would allow me, for the first time in my then nine years as a runner, to buy a running watch. Since moving back to my home campus a year prior, I had renewed my commitment to the sport and was logging considerable miles. A GPS watch made perfect sense.

One fine Sunday, after several days of research on running watches, I marched into the Glorietta 5 Garmin store and bought the thing. I wore it for the rest of that day at the mall. I caught myself glancing at it, trying to catch the minute turn, checking to see how it looked on my left wrist, preening in the mirrors and windows I passed, happy to have assumed this new self. Before the purchase, my vision of who I was and what I did was clear: educator, writer, and runner. Now, I was still all three, except now I was a runner with a GPS watch! In an effort not to name my things, I simply referred to it as “Garmin.”

That day at the mall, there was just no way of knowing what was to come. By my best estimate, Garmin had accompanied me to about a thousand runs since its purchase. Not just this: it had seen me through two falls (the scars from which have already faded), the COVID-19 pandemic (and my shortlived shift to cycling), my tenure, four heartbreaks, countless lectures (both given by me and given to me), classes, students, faculty meetings, committee meetings, meetings with big wigs, awarding ceremonies, speeches, and a whole lot of firsts that would be impossible to contain here. Garmin has monitored my heart rate, informed me every time I hit my step goal, and congratulated me—six times in the past year—when I breached the half-marathon distance.

Garmin stopped working on the morning of June 9th, 2024. My family was in Taal for my parents’ 37th anniversary celebration. Confident of its durability and the many instances I’ve swum with it, I wore it to the pool, ignoring the peculiarly intense scent of chlorine as we approached the water. My guess is that it suffered undue pressure, being caught in between my arm and my mother, whom I lifted from the water as a dare. The high chlorine concentration must have ruined the already worn-down waterproofing. When we got back to our room, I was distressed that it no longer showed the time. I held on to hope for a few days. I buried it in rice. Left it under the sun. Wore it to work for two days despite its uselessness. When I was convinced it was safe, as my last try, I charged it. I left it in an upright position on my bedside table. It still didn’t work when I checked it after an hour. And my heart sank when I saw a little pool of water right where I had picked it up.

What ensued was an intense week of mourning. My attachment to Garmin was such that on the day I accepted its death, I decided to run with it for the last time. One for the road. I ran a kilometer for each year it had spent with me/I had spent with it. At kilometer three, looking at its blank screen and remembering our years of togetherness, a lump began to form in my throat. Cooling down, I held my left wrist up before me, Mt. Makiling in the background. As I studied Garmin, my now really dead inanimate running watch, I whispered a thank you. I then pressed it to my right cheek. It stayed there for a while, as the tears rolled down my eyes.

Back in my room, I placed it in a rectangular black box, where my other old dead timepieces were. Each of them displayed their time of death, clear and final. Only Garmin had a blank screen, its time of death a mystery. Later that night, I stared at the ceiling, awake in the darkness, wondering about my strange behavior, my absurd response. And in the end, I understood the things I was grieving for and over: unrecoverable versions of myself, time and distance past, and the end of a story that brings with it the excruciating, inescapable start of another.

[thejustinestuff]

Umakyat ako ulit bundok hehe 'di pa ako nag-uupload nung Mt. Makiling at Magarwak may dagdag ulit. Hibernate muna ako mga isang linggo.

[machunaraja]

Mt. Makiling Afternoons

[emmanuelbagac]

Cuenca, Batangas

Major Jumpoff: Mountaineer’s Store, Brgy. 7 “Siete”, Cuenca Exit point (traverse): Brgy 5 (to Grotto), Cuenca LLA: 13°55 N; 121°2 E; 706 MASL (Rockies) / 930 MASL (summit) Days required / Hours to Rockies / summit : 1 day / 1-2 hr / 2-4 hr

Specs: Minor, Difficulty 3/9 (Rockies); 4/9 (Traverse) Trail class 1-3. Features: Scenic views of Taal Lake, rock formations, forests

One of the top hiking spots in the Philippines is Mount Maculot. It provides sweeping views of Batangas's neighboring towns and the renowned Taal Lake. The top of Mount Maculot is 930 meters (3051 ft) above sea level. Mt. Maculot Rockies, on the other hand, is 706 meters or 2316 feet higher than sea level. Despite being less than 1000 meters above sea level, Mt. Maculot may be viewed from Puerto Galera and several locations in the province of Northern Mindoro.

Mt. Maculot is located at the heart of Batangas which is in the municipality of Cuenca, Batangas. This mountain attracts a lot of hikers and mountaineers on weekends and during the summer because of its proximity to Metro Manila. Today, Mt. Maculot is a significant tourist site, a dormant stratovolcano that is ideal for a day hiking excursion for hikers of all skill levels.

Mt. Maculot has a rock formation on top that overlooks the entire Taal Lake, including the Taal volcano, as well as the plains of Batangas, is situated next to Taal Lake. From a distance, Mt. Makiling and the Tagaytay Highlands can be seen on opposite sides. You can view Mt. Halcon in Mindoro if you continue south along Batangas Bay and pass Maricaban Island. It can take less than an hour for expert climbers to reach the Rockies, but it can also take up to two or three hours at a more leisurely pace. Due to the trail's popularity, some enterprising residents would offer drinks at the rest spots along the relatively steep trail, including buko juice.

[crstnjnblr]

April 19, 2025. Make It Makiling!

[ang-makata-ng]

Trail run list, Summit to Jump-off

Mt. Makiling

Mt. Arayat

Mt. Kabunian

Uulit pa ba? Parang hindi na haha hirap recovery ng legs ehh hahaha

[akocvonskie]

Here is the list of DeMolay Alumni Chapter as of Nov 2024.

Feliciano Iñigo DAC No. 1

Agusan Valley DAC No. 2

Zamboanga DAC No. 3

Escudo DAC No. 4

Gen. Douglas MacArthur DAC No. 5

Mt. Matutum DAC No. 6

Diego Silang DAC No. 7

Dr. Roman L. Kamatoy DAC No. 8

Fidelity DAC No. 9

Dagupan DAC No. 10

Garde Du Corps DAC No. 11

Jose Abad Santos DAC No. 12

Loyalty DAC No. 13

Dad Macario R. Ramos, Sr. DAC No. 14

Espada DAC No. 15

East Visayas DAC No. 16

Baja Knights DAC No. 17

Cebu DAC No. 18

Bulawan DAC No. 19

Baguio Centennial DAC No. 20

Rio Grande DAC No. 21

Cotabato DAC No. 22

Makiling DAC No. 23

Teodoro R. Yangco DAC No. 24

Cagayan Valley DAC No. 25

Iligan DAC No. 26

Mt. Apo DAC No. 27

Maayad Ha Sulod DAC No. 28

Katabay DAC No. 29

Werner P. Schetelig DAC No. 30

Far East DAC No. 31

San Pedro DAC No. 32

Dalisay DAC No. 33

Honorable Sire Guild DAC No. 34

Acacia DAC No. 35

Bicol DAC No. 36

Kalilayan DAC No. 37

Panggilak Sagdagan DAC No. 38

Novo Ecijano DAC No. 39

Desert Knights DAC No. 40

Dad Felimon S. Pajares DAC No. 41

Tatlong Krus DAC No. 42

Desert Chevaliers DAC No. 43

Leon Kilat DAC No. 44

Jolo DAC No. 45

Filipino Demolay Singapore DAC No. 46

Sultan Kudarat DAC No. 47

Sesinando Bugarin DAC No. 48

Royal Guardsmen DAC No. 49

Kalikasan DAC No. 50

Kingdom Knights DAC No. 51

Dad Kosain Maranda, Sr. DAC No. 52

Rinconada Oragon DAC No. 53

Datu Sikatuna DAC No. 54

Mt. Musuan DAC No. 55

Bataan DAC No. 56

Riyadh DAC No. 57

C.M. Sabulao DAC No. 58

Chevalier Rene I. Culasino DAC No. 59

Zanorte DAC No. 60

Nabingkalan DAC No. 61

Polaris DAC No. 62

Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo DAC No. 63

Maharlika DAC No. 64

Quirino DAC No. 66

Villaverde DAC No. 67

Sayap DAC No. 68

Desert Shield DAC No. 69

Mayon DAC No. 70

Kundangan DAC No. 71

T. De Leon DAC No. 72

Maktan Sugbu DAC No. 73

Bahrain UD

Bontoc Ato UD

Urdaneta UD

Bulacan UD

Tirad Pass UD

[reeekyoo]

My first Hiking experience at Mt. Maria Makiling.

On May 4, we had a Mycological Fieldwork at Mount Makiling. Our task was to look for the macrofungi (mushrooms) that can be found on the dead branches of trees, forest floors, tree barks, etc. To begin with, what's exactly these "macrofungi"? According to Lu et al. (2020), macrofungi are commonly members of the phylum Basidiomycota and Ascomycota of the Kingdom Fungi. As the name suggested, these can be seen by the naked eye. They are also noticeable since they have fruiting bodies and are diverse in colors, (look at the photos below).

As mentioned, Kingdom Fungi (one of the kingdoms in the domain of eukaryotes to which the animal and plant cells belong) is a complex cellular organization. They can be either multicellular or single-cellular and heterotrophs (can not make their own food like the plants). Fungi have a crucial role in the ecosystem as stated by Lu et al. (2020). They can import nutrient cycles, that can break down organic matter to release as an essential element (carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, etc.). In some, studies fungi can be used as sustainable materials such as textiles, as well utilized as bioremediation to control the pollutants in water or soil. Moreover, fungi are also used in medicinal and drug development. Did you know? The first antibiotic introduced (Penicillin) was made from mold (fungi) named Penicillium notatum. Added to that, fungi have secondary metabolites. These metabolites are often used to make pharmaceutical drugs as it turn out to have function against bacterial/viral infections and even to fungal infections.

Aside from the fungi, we also see the "lichens". Lichens are neither fungi or protists (Britannica, 2024). They are formed by the symbiotic association of fungi (usually macrofungi) and algae (or cyanobacteria). It also stated that lichens can be found in the exposed rocks, biological soil, and bark of trees, but in my experience, I observed that lichens are usually seen in the bark of trees in Mt. Makiling. Some researchers used the lichens as a source of medicine and dye. According to Busch (2024), lichens can be used as indicators if the air is polluted. They only thrive in clean air due to the lack of their epidermis they only absorb beneficial and detrimental airborne. In other words, if there's lichen growth in particular areas such as Mt. Makiling, it just only indicates that the air quality is fresher and cleaner in that area. So, it is no wonder why we can't see any lichens in urban areas such as Metro Manila.

My experience in this mycological fieldwork was tiring since we had to walk to reach the summit. Although, I didn't make it to the top (I only ended up at the 20th station over the 30th station - peak). As far as I remember, the total distance of Mt. Makiling is approximately 18 km, so, more or less 15 km I walk if I evaluate my walking distance. This is my first ever experience of doing an extreme thing, which is "hiking", kind of challenging for me but happy at the same time, I guess? I met new faces during our fieldwork and learned about Mt. Makiling. I might give it another try, who knows I might reach the top next time. Overall, it was fun and exhausted experience, so, for those people who want to try it, my advice is to have a good stamina and endurance and it is a worth it to try a new things and learn.

Reference:

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2024, April 27). Lichen | Definition, Symbiotic Relationship, Mutualism, Types, & Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/lichen

Busch, M. J. (2024). What’s to Like about Lichens? (Research). Department of Ecosystem Science and Management. https://ecosystems.psu.edu/.../what2019s-to-like-about...

Lu, H., Lou, H., Hu, J., Liu, Z., & Chen, Q. (2020). Macrofungi: A review of cultivation strategies, bioactivity, and application of mushrooms. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 19(5), 2333–2356. https://doi.org/10.1111/1541-4337.12602

Hyde, K. D., Xu, J., Rapior, S., Jeewon, R., Lumyong, S., Niego, A. G. T., Abeywickrama, P. D., Aluthmuhandiram, J. V. S., Brahamanage, R. S., Brooks, S., Chaiyasen, A., Chethana, K. W. T., Chomnunti, P., Chepkirui, C., Chuankid, B., De Silva, N. I., Doilom, M., Faulds, C. B., Gentekaki, E., . . . Stadler, M. (2019). The amazing potential of fungi: 50 ways we can exploit fungi industrially. Fungal Diversity, 97(1), 1–136. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13225-019-00430-9

[shirobagus]

MEMOIR

I grew up in Los Baños, Laguna, a town renowned for its hot springs and lush landscapes. From my window, I could see Mt. Makiling, the mountain that seemed to bring a mystical aura to our town. Each morning, the breeze was fresh, filled with the scent of trees and plants.

As a child, my friends and I often roamed the University of the Philippines Los Baños campus. Among the expansive gardens and serene pathways, we discovered the beauty of nature and frequently played hide and seek among the trees. We found joy in being close to nature and experiencing freedom.

One of my favorite places was the Pook ni Maria Makiling, a park with a unique atmosphere and quietness. The stories about Maria Makiling always intrigued my mind. My visits to this place with my family left me with memories of discovery and adventure.

But it wasn't just the natural wonders that made growing up in Los Baños special. The vibrant festivals, such as the Bañamos Festival, brought life to our community. From the parades to the traditional games, I learned how to celebrate the treasures of our town.

In Los Baños, I learned the importance of caring for nature and the joy of living simply and close to the environment. My memories of this place give me strength and inspiration as I face the future.