Our meet up place was in McDo, Kia Theater, Cubao. We walked our way to Farmers Market to ride a van going to Rodriguez, Rizal. Fare is 50 pesos per person.
From where you'll alight, you can just ride a tricycle or jeepney to get to Brgy. Wawa. In our case, we rented the same van for 330 pesos for a special trip to get to Brgy. Wawa. There were 11 of us.
Once you arrive, you would have to sign up, fill in a waiver and pay the environmental fee of 2 pesos per person in Brgy. Wawa/Tourism Office. You would be assigned a tour guide. In our case, there were 11 of us in a group. We were assigned 2 tour guides, Kuya Tomas is the main one, and Kuya Jimmy was his auxiliary.
It’s the Cliiiiiiiimb!
We started the trek at around 9AM. Pretty late compared to those who arrive when the sun was not yet up. This bridge will be the start of your trek.
The trail is very beginner-friendly, but don't be fooled... it's still pretty challenging.
For rock climbing enthusiasts (and daredevils I must say), there's this part where you can rock climb.
There's a part near halfway the trail where you can rest and buy buko or melon juice for 15 pesos per cup.
It took us two and a half hours to get to the summit. I think we were slower than regular. It was a combination of a lot of factors, like there was actually a lot of people hiking during that time. Di lang sa Manila uso ang heavy traffic. Some of the paths were really narrow so we did a lot of waiting for other people to pass.
Summit 1
We reached summit one, had our lunch, waited for our turn to take pictures. The group before us --- I think they were more than 10 in a group --- took a long time to take their pictures. One of them maybe had 10 poses. We waited, I think, for 30 minutes. We were very patient and even cheered for them when they make their poses, may it be awkward or more awkward. :)
Fro the second summit, you have to use a rope to get to the top. We chose not to get to the second summit. The sun was really high at that point. It was past 12 noon. The lines were long. And we just couldn’t wait any longer, knowing that the group before us in the first summit was also waiting in line, and there was another huge group currently taking their pictures. We left and started our descent. Boo! But honestly, summit 1 was more than enough for me. The view is almost the same.
We started our descent. We took a different route going down. It took us another 2 1/2 hours to descend. This was where we exited.
Here’s some Wawa Dam pictures.
How our day went (these are approximations)
Note: We were relatively slow in pace. Read other blogs and you’ll know you can do this trip way faster than we did. We were just really taking our time.
*It took us a long time to register. The lines were long. And also, they ran out of barangay-registered tour guides (yung may ID as the locals say) so we had to do some waiting and convincing for some people to be our tour guide for the day.
COST
* In our case, we rented the same van for 330 pesos for 11 people
**We gave 100 pesos. We’re generally generous, plus there were a lot of us.
*** We always pay 500 pesos per tour guide wherever we go. But according to other blogs, 400 pesos per tour guide is the usual rate. Just make an additional pay if you're doing a twin hike to Mt. Binacayan.
When it was our turn, we took just 1 to 2 shots each. We were very sensitive to those other groups waiting in line, knowing that our group was pretty huge. Unfortunately for us, the group after us were an impatient bunch. Anyway, they didn’t rain on our parade. We left and went to the second summit.
Second Summit
Fro the second summit, you have to use a rope to get to the top. We chose not to get to the second summit. The sun was really high at that point. It was past 12 noon. The lines were long. And we just couldn’t wait any longer, knowing that the group before us in the first summit was also waiting in line, and there was another huge group currently taking their pictures. We left and started our descent. Boo! But honestly, summit 1 was more than enough for me. The view is almost the same.
We started our descent. We took a different route going down. It took us another 2 1/2 hours to descend. This was where we exited.
Here’s some Wawa Dam pictures.
How our day went (these are approximations)
Departure from Cubao
|
6:45 AM
|
Arrival at Brgy Hall
|
8:30 AM
|
Finished Registration*
|
9:00 AM
|
Start trek
|
9:00 AM
|
Summit
|
11:30 AM
|
Finished with lunch, photo op
|
1:00 PM
|
Start Descent
|
1:00 PM
|
Arrival at Brgy Hall
|
3:30 PM
|
Departure from Rizal (after bath)
|
4:30 PM
|
Arrival at Cubao
|
6:00 PM
|
Note: We were relatively slow in pace. Read other blogs and you’ll know you can do this trip way faster than we did. We were just really taking our time.
*It took us a long time to register. The lines were long. And also, they ran out of barangay-registered tour guides (yung may ID as the locals say) so we had to do some waiting and convincing for some people to be our tour guide for the day.
COST
Van fare, Cubao to Rodriguez, Rizal (and back to Manila)
|
50 pesos each
|
Rodriguez Rizal to Brgy. Wawa
|
10 pesos trike/jeep*
|
Environmental Fee
|
2 pesos each
|
Brgy donation
|
Any amount**
|
Melon/Buko juice (optional of course)
|
15 pesos each
|
Tour guide
|
We paid 500 pesos each tour guide***
|
Bath (again, optional)
|
25 pesos each
|
* In our case, we rented the same van for 330 pesos for 11 people
**We gave 100 pesos. We’re generally generous, plus there were a lot of us.
*** We always pay 500 pesos per tour guide wherever we go. But according to other blogs, 400 pesos per tour guide is the usual rate. Just make an additional pay if you're doing a twin hike to Mt. Binacayan.
Going home, we rented the same van we rode going to Rodriguez, Rizal, then Brgy. Wawa. If you want to do the same, just get the kuya driver's phone number and talk to him about picking you up from Brgy. Wawa to Cubao.We paid kuya driver 1000 pesos.
Hope you find this post useful! Good luck on your next hike! Please be extra careful. And enjoy! Please remember "to leave nothing but footprints and take nothing but pictures". Let's all do our part to make sure that other people, especially the next generation, will get to enjoy this adventure.
Hope you find this post useful! Good luck on your next hike! Please be extra careful. And enjoy! Please remember "to leave nothing but footprints and take nothing but pictures". Let's all do our part to make sure that other people, especially the next generation, will get to enjoy this adventure.
