MARAGONDON | Mt. Marami: The Long Winding Trek

Looking for the nearest mountain trek possible has always been my goal upon searching the internet, luckily found Mt. Marami at Maragodon Cavite, jump-off at Magallanes and was puzzled then why it was quite far from the mountain itself. Didn't bother as long as I would have another mountain climbed on my list.
From jump-off, Brgy. Ramirez we looked for Brgy. hall and logged. From there, we were asked if we're going to hire a guide, we replied "how much?", they said it was P700/day hike. We decided from the start to  just go into the trails just ourselves so basically we denied to have one. I was offended when I heard them, "tulong nyo na nga lang yun sa mga taga rito eh". For me it's not nice to hear it from them. Besides we could help in other ways.
So, we left the hall, left our huge packs 11am and started our trek. Gone left, the adventure begun with shaded trail which was kinda tricky because of absence of trail signs at the first fourth of the trail and branched path to different residences. Actually we haven't saw any ply of wood or scrap leading to the right way, good thing there were locals who taught us which way to go.

Then after couple of meters, we saw trail signs, rocks, grass and branches. Weather was so too hot, dry and longgggg! It was like seeing the peak and feeling it was getting nearer but not. Trail to the mountain's summit was circuitous, long and no shade to hide from extreme sun added by limited trail water which really made the trek exaggerately hard.

1:00PM we had lunch and rested for a while before continued our sun-toasting walk. With Mt. Marami's temple-like view from afar, it made me inspired more to pursue the challenge.

Half of the trail, we saw a spring beside mango trees and carabaos from a distance. We rested for awhile and realized we had ample waters in our vessels and believed it was enough until we return to jump-off. We thought water source was kinda dirty,and just ignored it.

Moving on, still with the same trail condition, too much heat exhausted us and noticed water would not be enough and realized wrong decision made at the spring area. With no choice, we continued our path to the peak and saw coconut trees along. It gave us an idea to get at least one to quench our thirst and save water we had. Luckily my fave buddy saw a coconut just fell the ground, yey!

With little liquids and some jellyace we continued and saw other mountaineers. All of us were like kids hiding from the sun and run as far as we could when it was covered by huge clouds. Moreover, there's scarcity in air blows that somehow could alleviate heat, maybe due to few trees around.

Approaching summit.

SUMMIT SHOTS
After five hours from brgy. hall, we at last reached the summit, 4:11pm! Summit view was so relieving seeing great land forms and Maragondon waters. While exploring the 360-degree view summit, we noticed a hole just upon reaching the summit to your left, all the way to the mountain's foot. It was scary because you could die from falling if you weren't able to notice it. 

Pico de Loro seen from Mt. Marami's Peak.

Rocky part to summit.

After almost 30 mins taking pictures and rest, we then decided to went back to brgy. hall and would try to have Mt. Pico de Loro afterwards. Same trail was traversed and sun tamed a little but still we had a huge problem, water. We were so thirsty and felt dehydrated so we walked as fast as we could to reach the spring area, the one and only water source of the mountain to drink, which we just ignored at first.

I am right, we were benight on the trails, kinda hard for us because we had a weak light. So basically we were left behind again, as usual. 7am and we fixed our things as soon as we reached the hall. While I was cleaning up my self, our group mate came and asked for P10 contribution to give to the hall people. I thought it was our voluntary way to thank them for looking at our things while we were hiking, actually I don't know if those so much people about 20 at the hall were all councilors or what because of their number. After awhile, I heard my friend said, "eto sir pang simula nyo"(courtesy to start their alcohol drinking session), I was shocked the moment I knew that It was them who asked for that money and the rude part was they said it was not enough, geeesh! I was just thankful nothing was lost in our bags. I hope they wouldn't make the mountain business especially hikers. It's not bad to ask for something but don't be rude. It's the hikers right whether they want to have guide or not, whether to give something or not.

Hope you could get something out of this guys. If it's allowable not to pass brgy. hall and you know how to get to Mt. Marami, then you should so you can surpass the Brgy. hall and won't be a victim of their modus.