Mt. Manalmon : The Ultimate Outdoor Experience

Mt. Manalmon is situated at Barangay Kamias, San Miguel Bulacan. It stood at 196 MASL and categorize as class 2 in trail and best for beginners who would love to experience camping in the Mountain.

The said Mountain is famous for Madlum Cave, during the 18th century a relic was found at a certain spot inside the cave and in the present time a replica was place there signifying the rich history of Madlum.Parallel to Mt. Manalmon is Mt. Gola, almost the same height and features, beneath the mountain there flows the refreshing clean water of Madlum River with distinct rock formation along side. Fantastic

Fantastic Five | Credits to Arem Gelogo

Before crossing the river | Credits to Khai Aguilar

Having said some glimpse information about Mt. Manalmon, my friends and I set for a day hike adventure. Around 6 o’clock in the morning we’ve met at Jollibee (Ali Mall), Julius and Arem we’re eating when I arrived. Julius told me that his two other friends from high school will join us with our trekking and its fine with me, the more the merrier. Right?

Khai and Mark (couple) appeared in time; we took a bus bound to Cabanatuan and remind the conductor we’re off to Mt. Manalmon in San Miguel, Bulacan. After 2 hours of travel we've reached Sitio Madlum, we’ve tranferred via tricycle and stop over at the registration site to pay the fees.

Balsa | Credits to Khai Aguilar

The Madlum River welcomes us all with its vibrant clean water and the beautiful rock formation at a distance. Speechless

Oopps! We need to cross the river.

Enable for us to reach the other side, we've ride a man made bamboo boat for 5 pesos. Cool

We've all decided to eat lunch first before heading to the Peak of Mt. Manalmon. We've ordered instant noodles, bread and soda – solved

There’s local tourist/mountaineering guide assigned to our group for the whole day. His name was Tatay Bong.All throughout our climb, there’s no dull moment with him, he shared the “Alamat ni Juan ko” a local folklore in the place, about the development of the area, their protest in illegal mining and dreams for Sitio Madlum. Amazing Passion

Tatay Bong | Credits to Arem Gelogo

We've crossed the Madlum River twice, trekked in the muds, quite some time climb rocks and we've entered a cave. Easy

during the hike | Credits to Arem Gelogo

Off to the Peak | Credits to Arem Gelogo

Less than an hour we've reached the peak of Mt.Manalmon. Julius and Khai took pictures and uploaded it on Instagram. Wow! There’s a network signal

Instagram Photo | Credits to Khai Aguilar

Panoramic View, from a far you’ll see Madlum river flowing graciously in midst of Sitio Madlum, Mt. Gola in the other side and vast land of green plants and trees. Nature

At the Peak of Mt. Manalmon | Credits to Arem Gelogo

Just me | Credits to Arem Gelogo

Resting mode | Credit to Arem Gelogo

After 30 minutes we've decided to descend, next adventure CAVING!

Tatay Bong, get us head lights to be used inside Bayukbok Cave. The said cave is located at the other side; we need again to cross the river. Instead of riding the balsa, we chose cable rafting. Adrenalin Rush

waiting for our turn | Credits to Arem Gelogo

Fearless me | Credits to Arem Gelogo

Focus | Credits to Arem Gelogo

To be honest, I felt a sudden coldest all over my body. The mere fact that the cable raft is almost 30 feet elevated and the treacherous deepness of Madlum River awaits if you fall.

I am an adventurer! I must try this!

When it’s my turn to cross the river via Cable Rafting, I gathered all the courage I had to slowly but surely step forward. I managed to finish the course with no sweat at all. Yabang

After the nerve breaking cable rafting, Tatay Bong brief us about the dos and don’ts inside the Cave as well as the trail we will travel.

Moving inside the cave is limited; you need to be extra careful in every step and watch your head from bumping in the stalactites.

Acting? | Credits to Khai Aguilar

Okay | Credits to Khai Aguilar

Inside the Cave | Credits to Khai Aguilar

Special Delivery | Credits to Khai Aguilar

We’re all messy, muds all over our body and we’re all tired to clean up. To motivate us, Tatay Bong told us he’ll bring us to the hidden falls of Sitio Madlum. Delighted to hear that, we resume our trek going out the cave.

A breath of fresh! Finally we’re out!

We immediately headed to the Falls to swim. After several minutes we've transferred to Madlum River for a wider venue.

It’s also an opportunity for us to eat Halo halo while swimming in the river.Bonding time.

Before sunset, we're ready to bid farewell to Tatay Bong. The regular fee is 300 pesos but we gave him 500 pesos for accompanying us.

Off to Manila | Credits to Julius Magdasoc

We ride again a tricycle and waited for bus bound to Manila.

A wonderful experience to date. One day outdoor extreme adventure – Mt. Manalmon, the BEST!!!

ITINERARY and BUDGET:

From Cubao take bus bound to Cabanatuan (fare 117 pesos). Drop off, Barangay Kamias, San Miguel, Bulacan. Tricycle going to Sitio Madlum (50 pesos). Registration fee and boat passage cost 5 pesos each. Local tour guide, 300 / a day.

Going back to Manila, trike (50 pesos) and take bus with Cubao or Pasay Signage.