Cape Engaño Lighthouse - Palaui Island

Located in Palaui Island just off the Northeastern Horn of Luzon Island, and within the jurisdiction of Sta. Ana, Cagayan, the Cape Engaño Lighthouse offers a short and simple hike that nonetheless offers the best views that one could ever imagine.

Cape Engaño Lighthouse

The Faro de Cabo Engaño is situated atop the summit of a hill, 92 MASL, and thus provides an unobstructed view of and the Babuyan Islands, Dos Hermanas Island (Two Sisters), The Pacific Ocean and Engaño Cove.

From the white sand beach of Engaño Cove, the registration area is located on the left side. It is mandatory to secure the services of a guide (although it really is not required as the trail is really visible and there are no technical aspects during the climb) at Php400.00, which is good for a group of up to 4 persons.



Cape Engaño

From the registration area, the hike will commence and pass through the trees until you reach the open space where the Welcome Sign is located. Follow the trail up to the concrete-stairs, which will go on until the middle part of the hike. Halfway, the concrete stairs shall give way to a dirt path that will ultimately lead you to the summit where the lighthouse is located.

Mt. Pamitinan and Mt. Binacayan - Twinhike

Deciding to keep our next hike close to Metro Manila, we opted to do a twin hike of Mt. Pamitinan and Mt. Binacayan in  Rodriguez (formerly known as Montalban), Rizal.

Considered by many as twin mountains, Mt. Pamitinan and Mt. Binacayan are located in Sitio Wawa, Brgy. San Rafael Extension, Rodriguez, Rizal. These mountains are regarded as the home of the legendary Bernardo Carpio. Legend has it that Bernardo, a young man with unbelievable strength and power was supposedly trapped between these two mountains. He used his bare hands to push the two mountains apart from each other, thereby making a gap between the mountains in the process. The gap formed is allegedly the spot where Wawa Dam is found.

The Arch in Sitio Wawa just before the Multi-Purpose Hall and the Tourism Office

Km Post

As climb of the month (May 2015), Gani and I decided to do a twin dayhike of these "twin mountains" as they have aroused a lot of attention from both mountaineers and casual hikers since the start of the year.

We left McDonald's Eton Centris at 0520H for Rodriguez, Rizal via Commonwealth Avenue. We arrived in Sitio Wawa at 0630H, where we saw a number of hikers already on their way to Mt. Binacayan. We parked our vehicle near the Multi-Purpose Hall (cum Brgy. Hall) and immediately prepared our gears.



Nearing Sitio Wawa

At the local office of the DENR, we paid the registration fee of Php2.00 per/pax and P20.00 parking fee. The DENR also required us to sign a waiver and they likewise assigned us Alvin Dalida as our guide (He turned out to be a gem of a guide in the end). And after a few more formalities, we commenced hiking at 0730H.

Registration here is also required

The Waiver...at the Office of the DENR