First Saturday of 2023. I received a chat from Ran. Parang gusto kong mamundok bukas. Ganoon kasimple; walang introduction o paglalapag ng context. Nagkataon naman na madali rin akong kausap, kaya ayun. After just a short discussion over chat, we decided to head to the province of Rizal.

We met at 01:00 AM the following day. We had a quick stopover in a gasoline station along NLEX to buy coffee and trail food, then off we went.

For our first adventure for 2023, we decided to take down the famous Wawa Trilogy in Rodriguez, Rizal. The trilogy includes Mt. Hapunang Banoy, Mt. Pamitinan and Mt. Binicayan. I would go ahead though and say as early as now that we did not take on Mt. Binicayan. We would have wanted to, but Ran insisted that I did not look too well to take on the third mountain. I would elaborate later.

We arrived at the jump-off point in Wawa, Rodriguez, Rizal at around 03:30 AM. I then sent our guide, Rene, a message that we were already there. I just stumbled upon Rene’s contact details in the internet when I was looking for a guide for our first renegade journey for the year, and Rene was very helpful at that.

We had coffee and a quick meal in an eatery by the jump-off point, then Rene escorted us where we would pay the registration and environmental fee. We paid a total of PHP 140.00 for the registration and environmental fees, and the guide fee is at PHP 500.00 per mountain. After a quick orientation, we went off. We crossed a hanging bridge over Wawa River, and after a while of walking in the dark, the ascent has started. That’s where it went a bit wary. A few minutes into the climb, I started feeling unwell and I threw up. The three cups of coffee I took to keep me up for the early morning drive took toll on me, hence the increased stomach acidity. It was a relief after that and we continued the ascent.

Just as the skies are becoming brighter, we had a quick rest in a store stopover in the trail junction, after which we continued our ascent to our target first peak: Mt. Hapunang Banoy. Literally meaning eagle’s dine, the mountain stands at 517 MASL. Conquering it, albeit relatively easy, comes with a lot of limestone climbing that one has to bring the proper gloves when doing it. There are also a lot of bamboo growth along the way that you must not touch without gloves. Lesson learned the hard way. Wala akong gloves noong umakyat kami kaya namula at nanakit ang mga palad ko.

The challenges of the trail, however, is worth it once you get a glimpse of the beauty of the landscape of the province of Rizal from the high grounds.

Even before reaching the summit, Ran and I cannot resist anymore the temptation of taking photos as the scenery is really inviting.

After the solo pictures, the mandatory twofies.

We then went on to the summit. It wasn’t too long before we reached it from where we stopped to take photos.

Time to goof around! Yes, bakas ng ulan at pawis ang nasa mga jacket namin.

A few minutes in the summit and we decided to head down already so as to take down the next mountain in our list for that day: Mt. Pamitinan.

There were only three of us in conquering the Wawa mountains: Rene our guide, Ran and me. I was at the tail end when we were going down, hence I was still able to capture some photos of them two.

I mentioned that before heading to the summit of Mt. Hapunang Banoy, we stopped by a store in the junction along the trail. That’s where we were headed, as we would have to take the other part of that junction in order to get to Mt. Pamitinan, the second mountain in our trilogy that was not.