Pinnacle to South Peak - Mt. Arayat

At the back is The Pinnacle.

This is my first ever blog. Yehey!!! and I am sharing with you the experienced I had when I conquered my 18th summit -- The Pinnacle to South Peak of Mt. Arayat.

Upon learning that The Pinnacle is already open to climbers my group and I decided to conquer this beast immediately, since there are rumors that they will be closing it again.

CLIMB DETAILS: Entry/Exit point: Brgy. Juan Bano, Arayat, Pampanga LLA: 15.2067N, 120.7441E, 1030 MASL Days required / Hours to summit: 1-2 days / 5 - 8 hours Specs: Major climb, Difficulty 7/9, Features: Tropical forest, scenic views of Central Luzon

ITINERARY: (DAY HIKE) 05:00AM Aurea Vill., Subic, Baliuag, Bulacan 05:30AM ETD to Arayat, Pampanga 06:30AM ETA Brgy. Juan Bano, Arayat, Pampanga 07:00AM Jump Off 10:00AM View Point 1 (The Pinnacle) 10:30AM Summit (The Pinnacle) 12:00PM Arrival South Peak-Visit the viewpoint -Lunch 01:30PM Start descent 03:00PM ETA Jump Off / End of trek 03:30PM Wash up - Arayat National Park complex 04:00PM Red Horse time 05:30PM Leave Arayat 06:30PM Arrival - Baliuag, Bulacan

Bring with you the following: Packed lunch 2L to 3L H20 Trail food Clothes Toiletries

Gloves

Dry Bag

First Aid Kit

Head Cover - Scarf or Cap

Poncho

Trash Bag

and of course.......Camera!!!!

LETS GO HIKING:

July 9, 2017 -- We are back in this popular mountain in the province of Pampanga. My first try (The North Peak) was in December of 2015. I was just a newbie at that time. It was the second mountain I climbed when I started doing this stuff in the last quarter of 2015 (Mt. Maranat being the first). My friends and I met at the usual meeting place (Chef Jovan's Place) in our subdivision in Baliuag, Bulacan. (By the way we are a bunch of men in our late 30's and early 40's who are into biking and hiking........and drinking).

We left Baliuag at around 5:30AM, not the usual time for us to travel but since Pampanga is just an hour away we decided to leave a bit late so we can sleep and rest more as we considered Mt. Arayat a very challenging mountain, and by the way, the other members of our group are frequent visitors of this mountain, they did the Mt. Arayat Traverse last March without me and Bossing Ramil. We arrived Brgy. Juan Bano (also known as Banyo) jump off at 6:30AM. Albert and Jose the "suki" of this mountain immediately talked to Manang (I forgot her name) so we can park our van safely inside the church compound of Mt. Arayat National Park. Scattered around the area are group of bikers and joggers of all ages and it seems that we are the only group who will try to climb the popular mountain since majority of the climbers are ascending in Magalang, Pampanga to do the traverse.

Allan, our guide immediately assisted us in the registration. I remember the first time I climbed this mountain, we did not secure a guide, but now it is mandatory. Guide fee is a whooping PhP1,500.00 per guide for every 5 pax. We are a group of seven but luckily for us we were allowed to just have a lone guide. And also, you have to pay PhP30.00 as registration fee.

We started the climb at around 7AM. We are all doing fine at first, taking pictures, talking and joking but after passing the trail where indian mangoes are strayed everywhere and when the tens and hundreds of multi colored mosquito are starting to introduce themselves...... everything changed. It was a seemingly endless 90 degrees assault. We arrived at the first view deck at around 10AM, we thought then that we are already at the summit of the Pinnacle only to find out that the real Pinnacle is the tower behind us. Again, we climbed another non stop 20 minutes assault to reach the Pinnacle summit. It's pure assault, thank you to the hanging mighty branches and roots of the trees which serves as rope in climbing such. It was breathtaking up there... (GOD thank you for creating this)..... Frequently, the Pinnacle is only seen in photos as background while standing in the view deck of the South Peak summit.

The best part of the climb begins when we started descending for us to reach the South Peak. While standing on the Pinnacle view deck, there is no clear view as to how we will go down. It was nerve wrecking. That is probably the most challenging part of our climb. I remember Allan our guide telling us to make sure that all our stuff are safe and secured because if we loose it there are no chances of retrieving it. We had to go down rappelling one by one, using a single rope at a 90 degrees angle. After which you need to pass this monkey trail. Our guide tells us that they do not advise hikers to climb the Pinnacle during rainy seasons. Indeed it was really dangerous, I can't imagine ourselves doing what we are doing at that time under the rain. We even passed some dangerous cliffs and boulders of rock just to reach the summit of South Peak from the Pinnacle. We reach the South Peak at past 12:00 noon and ate our lunch at the campsite after checking the viewpoint where we saw the Pinnacle up-close.

We descended at around 1:30PM. It was difficult as well because we have to squeeze our way to the narrow forest trail and it was so damn slippery. I even hurt myself when I slipped and fell while passing through the boulders of rock. (I'm pretty sure my wife will kill me once she wash my so so so dirty clothes). After half an hour of descending, I was left alone in the middle pack, hardcores Albert, Jose and Ramil in the lead pack, Paolo is next, me and our last 2 companions Bernard and Joseph together with the guide were dealing with the cursing of our knees and I can feel my toe nails asking for help again (they've just resurrected after dying in Mt. Ugo). There are no water source available in Mt. Arayat and we are running out of water. The king sun is killing us as well. We stopped at this big Balete tree where candles can be seen. According to the guide, there are stories about ghost and other elements in this part of the trail. That story helped us I guess because after hearing that, no one dares to stop or wanted to be left behind. Fortunately for the seven of us, we finally reached a flat land. After passing by the areas where the locals made charcoals we are finally reaching the cement road again. We are so thankful that the weather is with us that..... no rain drops all day, otherwise it could've been hell.

Thank you Lord for guiding us all day!!!!