A Fun Climb to Mt. Talamitam in Batangas

The other Sunday morning, I took my 2 sons and a nephew with me for a fun day hike to Mt. Talamitam in Nasugbu, Batangas. Its about 10 km. farther than Evercrest Golf Club, the jump off point to its neighboring Mt. Batulao. Pinoy Mountaineer has the following description of Mt. Talamitam:

MT. TALAMITAM
Nasugbu, Batangas
Jump-off point: Sitio Bayabasan, Brgy. Aga, Nasugbu (KM. 83)
LLA: 14.1158° N; 120.7577° N; 630 MASL
Days required/ Hours to summit: 1 day / 1.5-2.2 hours
Specs: Minor climb, Difficulty 3/9, Trail class 1-3 with steep assault (100m)

The jump off point in Sitio Bayabasan is at the road on the right side after the Km. 83 sign post, immediately after a grade school. We parked outside the compound of Mr. Nick Wicangco, who is working on restoration of japanese soldiers' statues of Fort Santiago. 

He seems to be a nice man, very helpful in getting our stuck vehicle out of the thick mud. A migrant to the area, my kids are quite surprised that Mr. Nick speaks in English to us at times, hehe.

We registered for Php 25 each at the barangay-accredited Concerned Citizens of the Environment Movement (CCEM) headed by Ted Calimag. We were also required to avail the services of a guide for Php 300, a teenage boy who moonlight as a guide during weekends when they are not attending school.

At about 9:00 am, we started our trek through a descending cement road before crossing a small river on a cement then bamboo bridge. Since it was raining the past days, the initial parts of the trail are mostly slippery, but with tree cover to shield us from the sunlight.

Thirty minutes during the trek, my younger son felt that he cannot continue with the hike, so we rested on the spot below. I allowed the other 2 boys to continue their ascent with the guide, as they have to plant the tree seedlings we brought with us.

Slowly we continued our hike, encouraging my younger son to just climb up to a certain target point, like a hill, a duhat tree, or that small hut along the trail. A bull cow tried to follow or harass us, so we deviated a bit on the trail just to avoid it. Could it be that our red shirts ticked his temper?

Long rest stops were spent on the open grassy  portions, where the views are amazing. There are many cows on this area, plus a few carabaos and horses. The summit of Mt. Talamitam can be seen on this part.

From this point, parts of Nasugbu town are visible. The summit of Mt. Batulao can also be seen, as pointed by the arrow below.

After two hours and 15 minutes, we finally reached the summit using the less steep trail on the right side of the mountain. It is now time to rest and enjoy the views from the summit, although its a bit hazy and cloudy.

We snacked on light food, plus bought popsicles from a vendor who enjoyed brisk sales that morning.

The nearby forested mountain below is called Mt. Matandang Gubat (old forest) according to our guide.

The view of the summit from the nearby campsite, which is also on high elevation and exposed to the winds.

After more than an hour, we started our descent, as thick clouds gathered and we don't want to get caught by the rain. We passed the spot where our tree seedlings were planted, a saddle point with a solitary tree nearby, which is a favorite rest stop of the hikers. 

As you can see, the mountain is already bald, which made me decide to plant trees there. It used to have lots of talamitam trees, from which the mountain got its name.

Then we rested again on the grassy field, took many group shots.

We are very lucky as the weather cooperated, mostly cloudy so its not dehydratingly-hot, and it rained only just as we were leaving the barrio.

It was a nice fun climb after 2 months, since my last mountain trekking at Tarak Ridge of Mt. Mariveles.