Mt Marami (New Trail)

taken atop the boulders 1/15/11

Blogger's note: Due to the inquiries flooding the blogger's mailbox, he has decided to create this itinerary. You can still refer to pinoymountaineer.com for more information. This itinerary is based on the blogger's most recent climb in Mt Marami. The photo IT he created may complement the information contained here.

DAY 1
0800hrs	Assembly @ Liwasang Bonifacio (Lawton). Buses bound for Naic are beside the Post Office (P70+). (More Naic-bound buses pass by Baclaran P60)
0830hrs	ETD for Naic
1000hrs	ETA Naic. Upon getting off at Petron gas station in Naic, take the right side road and walk about 100 meters. The terminal of jeepneys bound for Magallanes is beside BPI. (P30) There’s a grocery store on the way. You may do some shopping while waiting for the jeepney.
1030hrs	ETD for Magallanes.
1115hrs	ETA Magallanes. Log in at the PNP station. (no fees)
1130hrs	Lunch at a carinderia near the PNP station. You don’t wanna start trek at noon. It’s ideal to have your lunch before you start trek as the water sources in the mountain are unreliable. But the water is safe enough for cooking.
1230hrs	Get a tricycle. Tell the driver you’ll get off at the ‘tanke’ (water tank) or ‘Councilor Filing’s house’ (P60/trip). He’s no longer a Brgy. Councilor.
1300hrs	ETA ‘tanke’. The current Brgy Captain’s house is right across Tay Filing’s. You register at the captain’s place (P10). You may hire guides here. This one's reliable 0909 602 0130 / 0912 501 2736. They charge P400-P500 (a bit high) per climb. The guide may take along another companion if there are a lot of you. Stick together as one group. The trails are really tricky.
1330hrs	Start trek. Or you may start at 1400hrs if the sun is still high up. The heat is really dehydrating. Observe water discipline.
1345hrs	First river crossing. Follow the foot path crossing the river. Right before a makeshift wooden bridge over the river, follow the trail on the left and going up. Stick to the clearest trail. This trail will take you to giant mango trees and banana orchard. Then you’ll meet a wall. The trail then ramifies but becomes one again beyond the wall. The continuation of the trail should be uphill and the wall should be on your right. Then when you encounter a fork, take the left. There will be a lot of forks. Just follow my photo IT and never take the trail which leads far to the right and going down. This will take you to the valley. The valley should always be on your right!
1430hrs	You reach the dirt road (wide trail). [Look back and you’ll see a bamboo arched over the trail and a pile of stone on the exit of the trail. This should be your entry point off the dirt road on your way back. If you don’t take note of this, you will have a hard time deciding which point to enter the woods again the following day.] Make a left. Follow the dirt road until it cuts through another wall. If you go straight beyond the wall, you’ll reach the chapel (Nuestra Senora de Pigo del Oro) after 3 minutes. You are now walking the OLD TRAIL. But I recommend the new trail. river crossing after the wall If you wanna take the NEW TRAIL, take the trail that veers to the RIGHT around the wall (off the dirt road) before you reach (or even see) the chapel. After two minutes, you’ll have to cross a stream which you’ll have to cross two or three more times. You’ll see a big tree in one of these river crossings. Around this area, there are locals from whom you can ask directions. But the trail is really clear as this is the trail that the loggers take.
1515hrs	Last river crossing.
1520hrs	Take five before the open assault
1600hrs	You reach the dry river (not-so-reliable water source at the root area of a big tree). Across the dry river, there’s a hut. Follow the trail.
1605hrs	Until you reach another hut surrounded by trees and at times, dogs. DON’T follow the trail that leads down beyond the hut. Make a LEFT. This time you’ll be treading on a trail along a cliff
1615hrs	Then you reach the last hut. Take five. It has a neighbor a little below it. And below this hut is probably the last water source. The owner of this house (Tay Pilo) gets drinking water from this water source. Just follow the trail downward at his backyard to reach the water source. It’s very near.
1620hrs	Resume trek. After a few minutes, you’ll have to go through a bamboo fence/gate. To open, just push the bamboo poles to the side and remember to put them back. This keeps the cows from straying away.
	Follow the clearest trail. When you’ve reached the ‘talahib’ trail, this IT can’t help you anymore. The cows have made a lot of trails that crisscross this area. Rely on your instincts and be sure to distinguish the mountaineers’ trail from the cows’. One solitary tall tree marks the assault to the ‘talahiban’. Somewhere in this talahib pastureland, you’ll reach the campsite. This campsite is wide enough to accommodate around seven tents. From this campsite, you can see the boulders on your left beyond the little valley. On your right is the “Mataas na Gulod”. This is higher than the boulders. You may wish to continue trekking. Find the trail that leads to the boulders on the left. After this you’ll have to go INTO the bamboo forest. After less than 3 minutes, you’re out of the bamboo forest. The main trail should be on the slope (cliff). A lot of trails would lead down to the left. Ignore them. NO steep descent in this area.  The boulders are very visible now so just head for it! Move fast to catch the sunset!
1730hrs	There’s a little campsite right before the assault up the boulders. This could accommodate around three tents.
1735hrs	The summit is just five minutes away. Around three tents can be pitched here. But beware of the strong winds at night!
DAY 2	Kelangan pa bang i-memorize yan? Tandaan niyo na lang ang mga dinaanan niyo paakyat.

Altitude Profile (Brgy Ramirez-Nuestra-Boulders)

My track logs

Brgy. Ramirez N 14˚ 11.029’ E 120˚ 43.647

Elevation: 724 fasl

Mt Marami Summit (boulders) N˚ 14 11.917 E 120˚ 41.164

Elevation: 1957 fasl