Climb with Spelunking and Swimming

On 22 & 23 January.Sosyal Klaymers climbed Mount Manalmon in San Miguel, Bulacan... in the periphery of the Biak na Bato National Park...historic and fun place. Biak na Bato was where Emilio Aguinaldo took refuge during the uprising against Spain and where the Malolos Constitution was signed. The jump off point for the climb is Barangay Madlum. The trek is uneventful but the landscape makes up for it...pristine waters of the Madlum River...lush vegetation growing wildly by the peak-side...awesome rock formation, both by the river banks and at the caves like the Madlum Cave (where it is believed that that the statue of St Michael was found), Bayukbok Cave, Aguinaldo Cave, Bahay Paniki Cave, to mention a few. There are about a hundred caves in the area. To reach the trail, the group walked by the Madlum River then stopped at the foot of Mount Manalmon, attracted by its clear waters, reflecting a part of Mount Manalmon as shown by the following pictures.

The group took the trail to the top, by all accounts about 2 hours of relative ease, nothing of interest to see except for the vegetation along the way. Towards the end of the trail one catches sight of a mound that is the peak. Close by, they decided to set camp...

Trail to the Top

What awaits the Sosyal Klaymers upon reaching the top? It was breathtaking up there...at the western side one catches a view of Mt. Arayat and neighbouring Mt.Gola ,the surrounding is all greenery with the Madlum River zigzagging around the peak below.

View of Madlum River from the Top and the West is Mt. Arayat (background of the other photo).

The group set camp after reaching the peak for a restful afternoon...enjoying the group’s camaraderie...partaking of the food and its preparation...photo ops...looking forward to tomorrow’s itinerary...spelunking and swimming...but which cave to explore of the two caves in the site. Madlum River for swimming...clear waters and terrific rock formations by the river’s shore...is just the perfect place to relax before the trip back to the city.

Next day, off they went...to explore Bayukbok Cave...rather difficult passage involving climbing by ropes, crawling and walking through narrow apertures. This was spelunking and everyone explored and what they saw were awesome rock formations...maybe some could be limestone or even quartz.

and finally all made it inside...

After spelunking, the group was ready to take a dip at the clear blue waters of Madlum River...a relaxing way to end the day. The other facet of the Madlum...a part of its shores have the same white rock as the cave they had just explored.


There were more photos by both Mitch and Merv on facebook posted in the page of Sosyal Klaymers of this terrific outing at Mount Manalmon.