Mt Batulao on a Sunny Day

I consider myself lucky for having been able to climb Mt Batulao in Nasugbu, Batangas both in rainy and sunny weather. Mt Batulao's rolling trail is mostly open and exposed. Closer to the summit are grasslands on its flowing slopes, while in the lower hills are farmlands tilled by the local farmers. 

On beautiful sunny weather, the trail can be hot and scorching. The cool Tagaytay wind makes up for the heat but it's enough to give anyone a nice tan. On rainy days, the trail gets terribly muddy because the same lower part of the trail is used by farmers in transporting their produce on horseback. While the higher parts of the trail are not frequented by livestock, certain parts are steep and can be very slippery.

For this hiking destination, I decided to make two blog entries- one for the rainy hike, and another for the sunny day. Rain or shine, Mt Batulao is always worth the trip.

View from the trail

In October of last year, hubby and I decided to take two American friends, a newlywed couple, on a quick dayhike in Mt Batulao. It was sort of a double date and a chance for us to show them our neck of the woods since both hubby and I grew up near the Tagaytay area. Mt Batulao was a perfect destination for us since after a quick hike, we could also do some sightseeing and go on a quick food trip in Tagaytay City.

The early drive to Tagaytay was easy, and we were blessed with nice sunny weather. We started our trek at about 9:00 AM. It was to be my third time in Batulao; it rained during my first and second time. Both times, the trail was muddy. This time, the trailhead was comfortably solid and it did not take long for us to get to the start of the assault that led to the rolling hills of the scenic Mt Batulao.

On our way up, we stopped once for buko juice- a Batulao hike would not be complete without it. There were several rest stops along the trail where one can enjoy buko juice, halo-halo, even goto and lugaw.

We met a few groups who were on their descent after having spent the night in the mountain's campsites. We even ran into other mountaineers whom we have hiked with in the past!

We took the new trail on our way up and on our way back. Since we packed light and the weather was nice and sunny, we were able to trek at a comfortable pace that took us to the summit in less than 3 hours. Our friends were an athletic couple and I occasionally had to push myself to keep up.

After the final ascent where we had to do a bit of scrambling, we arrived at the summit before 11:30 AM. Finally I got to see the view from the top- the land formations, the rolling hills of Batulao, the neighboring Mt Talamitam and the Nasugbu coastline, among others. 

By then, the sun was at its hottest and since the summit was bare, we decided to start our descent and have our lunch at one of the rest stops. Hubby and I chose not to eat our packed lunch and instead have goto lugaw. By 2:00 PM, we were back at the jumpoff and have hiked about 10km in 5 hours. Not bad for a sunny day. 

After washing up at the jumpoff, we drove towards Tagaytay City. Made a quick stop at the Taal Vista Hotel, had coffee at Bag of Beans, and a snack at Josephine's. We had to put off dinner at Antonio's for another time. 

It was a fun dayhike with new friends. We had good conversation in the trail and over coffee and snack and it's always an enriching experience to be spending time with couples who lead interesting lives. 

We were back in Manila by 7:00 PM, we still had enough time to rest and prepare for another week of work and mundane routine.

Related Post: Mt Batulao: A Dayhike in the Rain