West to East trip: From the coastal area of Bulacan to the mountains

Above, the author atop Bulacan's highest mountain Mount Mabio and below, the Rosemoor mine site. (Photo by Dino Balabo)

BULACAN PROVINCE (Dino Balabo / 04 Jun) It was a sunny Saturday morning when I left my hometown Hagonoy on June 3, and by midday, I was already at San Miguel town en route to Mount Mabio in the remote Kalawakan DRT.

Hagonoy is a coastal town on the western part of Bulacan province, while the DRT is a mountain town on the eastern side.

We traversed the road and as what we have expected it was hardly passable. There were good things to see around. Nature has really so much to offer. But the stark contrast is riveting -- while nature offers us its richness, its inhabitants remain poor!

We have finally reached the quarry site of the Rosemoor Mining and Development Corporation. We briefly stopped by their bunker house, and then proceeded on to reach the top.

After a few hundred meters, we parked our 4X4 vehicle and then started to climb on foot. With me were two other guys including our driver and two women, one of them, a local correspondent for a national daily.

I realized we were not properly dressed for the climb. But that’s the trick; we must get on top without inviting attention. Of course, we had our sticks, just like what the trekkers taught us at Gregorio Del Pilar town in Ilocos Sur during our climb last year.

We walked and climbed on the same rocky road, where heavy trucks and equipment, used in mining operation, had previously passed. It was indeed rocky and steep. Since I can’t walk with my head up, for fear of tripping my leg, I walked on and looking to the ground, and there I noticed some bits and pieces of what appeared to be black rubber. I picked one up and it turned to be from the tires of those mining trucks, chipped by the sharp and rugged terrain.

It was about a kilometer walk on a zigzag road and it was tough. The road is not flat; walking up and down from; we stopped a number of times to breath fresh air and waited for the two girls while sipping warm water from the bottles we earlier filled at the bunker house.

It was a good walk, but the scorching heat of the sun slowed us down, and my back really ached. Minutes later, we reached the quarry site at the top -– blocks and blocks of marble were scattered all over the place -- snapped from the side of Mount Mabio. We look around and we can see San Miguel and DRT below, among the greenery.

Above us, the rumbling and overcast sky, its gray clouds threatened to unleash its heavy load. The clouds are dark and there were lightning and thunders a few kilometers east. But we tarry a little longer on top to savor the magnificent view that few people have seen.

We can’t take home what we saw, but we brought with us the memories and wonderful feelings that we have finally made it to the top of Bulacan’s highest mountain to see the wonders of God’s creation. Of course, we took photographs of our selves by the dangerous cliff. We have to take photographs of us to prove that we were once there. Until the next adventure! (Dino Balabo is based in Bulacan province in Luzon)