- Anonymous -
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| Mt. Lubog and its rocky peak |
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| Mt. Lubog: taken from the jumpoff |
"Manong, bakit naman ngayon ka pa umikot ng Morato at E.Rod kung kelan napakaluwag ng EDSA? Timog hanggang Aurora, nakailang traffic light tayo?"
Okay, that was me badgering the taxi driver who was obviously trying to rip me off by inflating my taxi fare in going to our meet up place in Cubao. Haahaa...fast forward.
As we were five (5) in our group and another group of four (4) hikers joined us in the fx, we decided to just pay for the last slot instead of spending time waiting for a chance passenger to arrive. It was a rather smooth ride through Commonwealth, and Litex in Quezon City, until we finally reached the Total Gas Station in Eastwood (Rodriguez, Rizal), where incidentally a 7-11 convenience store is also located and where we are set to meet our habal-habal driver.
It was still dark when we left the Total Station and went through the different subdivisions in Eastwood, until we finally reached the concrete road leading to Brgy. Mascap. Before reaching Mascap Proper, we however turned left towards Sitio Macaingalan and sooner than we think, we were already traversing an unpaved and bumpy road.
I actually lost count of the number of times that we had to alight from the habal-habal, push it, or just hike until it is able to negotiate the steep and/or difficult portions in the road. We passed by the local chapel and even the so'called Ark (similar in intent and purposes as the Noah's Ark) that was featured in news reports some years back. As we continued to ascend the dirt road, we reached the concrete structure that the locals refer to as "Simbahan" (concrete house with inscriptions in its wall...and what I remember is something like "Paraiso ni Diyos Ama"). After the next Station of the Cross along the road, our habal-habal again encountered difficulties in negotiating the dirt road that is obviously in a severe state of disrepair. Hence, we had to hike (to our surprise) at least 500 meters of continuous uphill climb until we reached the remains of what was supposed to be a "Welcome Arch".
That was actually the longest (but not the last) among the hikes that we had to take.Huffing and puffing, it felt like I already hiked a good deal of peaks even before we actually reached the trailhead.
Our butts definitely took a beating in this roller coaster-like and bumpy ride into the midst of the Sierra Madre. Good thing, our habal-habal had rubber straps for seats. It therefore is Newton's Law simplified, "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction". More so, the view of the vastness of the Sierra Madre, and the Metro Manila skyline, somewhat made up for the grueling ride. To tell you honestly, we were actually enjoying at that time.
