KochiTripp: Mt. Tagapo - Talim Island, Binangonan, Rizal

Mt. Tagapo - Talim Island, Binangonan, Rizal

At the height of 438+ MASL, my second climb set my foot on this mountain. Situated in Brgy. Janosa, Talim Island in Binangonan Rizal. That was the time we joined the climb with POG group lead by Ms. Jho Esteban, the one we met during our Mt. Maculot climb in Nasugbu, Batangas. Our adventure began when we met at the Mc Donald's in Edsa Shaw blvd. We are 9 in a group. We travel via jeepney from Edsa Shaw to Binangoonan Market, when we get there, we took a tricycle ride because the area is flooded during that time. From Binangonan Market we rode a boat that will bring us to Talim Island. This ferry boat is their daily mean of transportation. FYI, boat ride here has a schedule, better to coordinate first at the station to avoid any delays on your itinerary.

Ferry Boat

Travel here via boat ride is about 1hr to 1.5 hours depending on the waves, usually waves get bigger during afternoon. When we arrived at Brgy. Janosa, we took our quick breakfast on the stores located in front of the church. Since that is Sunday, lots of locals visited the church. After we ate and registered ourselves, our trek start with our local guide Manong Eddie.

At Brgy. Hall, last minute preparation

On the first part of the trail, you will passed by the local houses also a stream where you can see locals doing their laundry. I Remember some old movies in this scene. (Chuckles).

Some part of the trail that time is muddy, maybe because of sudden rain. The trail is very established but tour guide is still a mandatory to avoid some incidents of lost or misdirected.

Muddy Trail

Lots of bamboo trees along the trail, this serves as our shade while on the trek but sometimes there is an open trail where we are too exposed to the heat of the sun. Our first rest was shown on the image below.

First Stop

A few minutes after our rest we continue our hike. The trail is getting steeper but still manageable.

Me and Andy Saint behind

The sun is too hot and we start to getting exhausted. This time we are dreaming of ice cold cola, fortunately Mang Eddie our guide has one. His canister has ice cold iced tea so we take some sip just to refresh ourselves. We took our second stop and ate our trail foods there. According to our guide, we are few minutes away to the campsite where we can see the summit of Mt. Tagapo.

Sir Hustler(Left), Andy Saint (Center), Yrwin (Right) during our 2nd stop

Finally we reached the campsite. We took our lunch and rest here before we proceed to summit assault. The campsite is a wide and shaded area, best to take a power nap but no chance. Our lunch that time is chicken adobo courtesy of Ms. Jho and Sir Cris her climbing buddy.

Campsite

Lunch time

Rest at camp

When you reached the summit you can witness the whole Laguna lake and nearby mountains. During our visit, tall grasses are present at the peak so make sure you are protected against scratches and cuts. Mt. Tagapo is a minor climb that is suitable for beginners. If you are planning to climb this mountain, arrange your visit before or after summer to avoid scorching hot. After we took some pictures, we headed back to campsite to pick up our things and decided to make our descent. At Mang Eddies house, we have our post climb meryenda with tinolang manok courtesy of Sir Cris. Mt. Tagapo is composed of climbing and boat ride adventure. As we rode the ferry back to Binangonan the waves are getting huge that afternoon, since we took the last trip, expect heavy passengers in every station.