Our MTB trip last weekend took us through the provinces of Rizal and Bulacan. No GPS, no maps. Just pure MTB fun in discovering back roads and mountain trails.


Here's a run down of our trip:

1. Caloocan to Litex (via Nova Bayan, Commonwealth Ave) - paved road, rolling hills
2. Litex to crossing San Jose - Montalban (paved, treacherous downhill)
3. San Jose to Macabod (paved steep uphill, then rough rolling hills)
4. Macabod to Licao-Licao (rough rolling hills)
5. side trip Licao-Licao to falls in Mt. Balagbag (punishing rough uphill portion then rolling hills)
6. Licao - Licao to Tungko (very rough road and then there is about 5km very treacherous downhill in Pangarap)
7. Tungko to Nova (paved road)

Total distance for the trip is 72.89 km.

We found a small brick village smack in the middle of an acacia forest somewhere midway between Licao-Licao and Tungko. Its a small community (with a brick courtyard and brick houses) detached from civilization. It was like being transported into another time and place. Unfortunately our camera was out of juice.

Here's some photos we took along the way:


Enjoying the downhill. I was going down nice and fast on this downhill section only to encounter a huge truck in the opposite direction (going down the opposite hill) hogging the small road. So much for using the downward momentum to attack the next uphill :).



We cooled down at Balagbag falls (Mt. Balagbag has great killer uphill sections) with some delicious suman (rice cake) we bought in a small store at our pit stop. It was a short walk downhill to the falls and Mother Nature decided to give us a welcome shower 5 minutes after we arrived in the falls. We were too tired and hungry to care. Rain was a welcome respite and our meager lunch was a feast.



So how punishing were the trails really?

1. Owen blew his rear interior tube. He also has to replace his brake pads. We all have to use our brakes heavily.

2. Raymond (the youngest in our group) went over the handle bar.

3. My left pedal needs to be replaced.

4. Elias' left and right pedals have to be replaced.

5. George cut his left knee. He also has to align both his front and rear wheels. All his rear spokes are loose.

But unlike our two previous MTB trips we didn't have really bloody cuts (last two indicents involved me hehe).

Yesterday I went with a group of friends (fellow photogs from the flickristasindios group in Flickr) to Tanay, Rizal for the Daranak and Batlag Falls. We decided to skip Hinulugang Taktak Falls in Antipolo because of the articles we read mentioning the sorry state of the place.

Daranak, Batlag, and Hinulugang Taktak are all found in the province of Rizal. They are very accessible from Manila (less than 2 hours). Take a jeep or FX from Edsa Central to Tanay (60 pesos). From Tanay market, there are lots of tricycle for the falls (300 pesos). There is a 20 peso entrance fee for Daranak Falls.

Hinulugang Taktak is in Antipolo and the jeep/FX bound for Tanay passes by Antipolo.

All of us are excited to take photos of both falls. The photos from several blogs show how picturesque the place is. But we were in for a surprise that day. :)

The place was packed (although it was a Monday, twas also an official holiday). To say that the place was crowded would be a great understatement. You can't take a shot of the scenery without people in them, not near the falls, not even in the river downstream from the falls. And with the huge crowd comes the mountains of garbage, literally in every nook and cranny.



Just like in Daranak Falls, the place was packed to the hilt. And of course the garbage was every where. I also saw a road being built to provide an easier access to the place (right now you have to go through Daranak in order to reach Batlag). More people, more garbage.

I find Batlag a little bit better than Daranak. There are more trees for shade and there are lots of small pools downstream.

In the rainy season when the falls are fuller, and with probably less people visiting the place, the scenery could be better. However if the caretakers do not address the mounting garbage problem there wouldn't be any scenic place to take pictures of, rainy season or not.

More photos of my Tanay trip here.