One Tough Experience Climbing Mt. Matutum

After long weeks of preparation, the time has come for us to climb the 2,286 meter Mt. Matutum. Everyone is excited, even though it was my second time to climb this mountain I can still feel the ecstasy and the exhilaration. My first climb in Mt. Matutum was actually a day hike only, and it is also my first major climb, but it carried me away to instantly like the mountains. The reasons, why I like conquer the thrill of great heights.

Climbing Mt. Matutum does not require technical skills or special equipments. However the challenge is not to be taken lightly, some mountaineers say that Mt. Matutum trail is more difficult than Mt. Apo.

Me and my buddies meet around 6:00am at TUPI Municipal Hall where kuya Jun Sanico is waiting for us, and provide us some short briefing before we climb. Kuya Jun, from the tourism office is the one in charge in securing our permits and provides us with one porter/guide who will assist us to our venture. We ride a “habal habal” motorcycle going to jump off; there are two passengers for each motorcycle, that cost us Php 150 or Php 75 per head.

Jump off point, for Matutum Glandang trail.

 Arrived at our first water source station, locales call it “bobon”.

Trail going to phase 1 of our venture.

Finally we reached the phase 1 from Glandang trail; we meet some mountaineers who started hiking at 4:00am.

After the phase one, there will be no more wide and nice path. The next trail will be full of challenge; you have to climb the rocks and the slippery roots of the trees.

Taking a rest after hours of hike to catch our breath, the atmosphere is foggy and cold.

We reach the summit at 3:00pm, where we socialized with other mountaineers who shared the same schedule of climbing with us. It’s a relief that you are now on top, all the tiredness and pains we went through is paid off.

We setup our tents; the weather is cold and rainy a perfect time for rest after a long and tiring hike.

Hey it’s 7:00am! Our wake up call, we prepare our breakfast and after we full ourselves time for us to do photo-ops.

Itinerary:

Day 1

06:00am - Assembly Time
06:30am – Travel from Tupi to Jump off site
07:00am – Start trek
10:00am – Arrival at Phase 1
03:00pm – Arrival at the Summit
03:30pm – We start our late lunch
07:00pm – Dinner
08:00pm – Lights Off

Day 2

07:00am – Wakeup call
07:30am – Breakfast
08:00am – Picture taking and exploring the summit.
10:00am – Start descent
01:00pm - Back at Jump off
01:30pm – Take a motorcycle back to Tupi

Mt. Matutum hike is an awesome and a nice experience for adventure. So make it in your bucket list, and be fascinated and rejuvenated by the exquisiteness of nature.

If you want to climb Mt. Matutum you may contact Kuya Jun Sanico of Tupi Tourism, thru his mobile number +63910 3894941.