Mt. Halcon or Sialdang in local language is a mountain located in the island of Mindoro. It is part of the popular Knife's Edge Trilogy in Southern Luzon. The other two being, Mt. Guiting-Guiting in Romblon and Mt. Mantalingahan in Palawan. Mt. Halcon has been the most storied hiking destination in the Philippines.

Mt. Halcon's trail features steep trails, a dense jungle infested with a lot of Limatiks (blood leeches) and a lot of river crossing to say the least. Because of these, it is often regarded by hikers as the toughest mountain in the country. 

Day 0

In order to reach the island of Mindoro, the group needed to ride a two-hour ferry from the Batangas Port to Calapan Port. From there, we rode a jeepney to the town of Baco in Mindoro where permits to climb the mountain are being release. We have to stay there for a while because there's a lot of process needed to be done in order to get the said permits. We have to provide a medical certificate and a certificate of previous climb. All to make sure that you are fit to climb this tough mountain. 

Topload ride!

Upon securing the permits, we started our ride to the jumpoff, settled down and did the final preparations. Tomorrow is the big day.

Day 1 (To Aplaya Campsite)

The group woke up early to cook breakfast and our packed lunch which will be eaten at the trail. We started our hike at around 6am with sun breaking out.  The goal was to reach the Aplaya Camp site where we will spend the night. 

The trail started with a river crossing and passing by a makeshift raft acting as a bridge above the water. It was somehow scary but you can see that it is stable enough to carry multiple people. And as stated above, this won't be the last river crossing in this mountain.  We passed by a Mangyan community and stopped there for some rest. Our guide then sent out the warning that there will be little to none flat surface from here and then. 

We started our ascent again and man, the guides were not joking when they said it will be steep. It is. It took another 5 hours of hike passing by deep jungles with limatiks. Luckily, water sources are never a problem here in Mt. Halcon. You will pass by a lot of rivers and each and everyone of it has potable water. 

Limatiks are everywhere in this jungle

At around 1pm, we, the lead group, found our way to the Aplaya camp site. We ate our packed lunch and rest for a while before setting up our tents. The tail group reached the campsite at around 4pm.

Day 2 (To the Summit)

Just like the first day, our group cooked breakfast and some packed lunch before starting the trek. We had hotdogs and spam for breakfast and some pancit bihon for lunch. Yes, they taste better in the mountains. 

By this time, we all knew that this day will be a lot tougher than the first. We started our 2nd day adventure with a very steep descent to Dulangan River.  The river will leave you no choice but to get your feet wet because it has little to none rocks that you can step on. We were lucky that during our time, the river is only about a foot deep.

The next few hours required trekking using not only your legs but also your upper body. That is how steep the trail is. You will have to hold to the vines or trees in order to lift yourself up.  We reached the Karwayan campsite(Camp 2) at around 2pm. We ate our lunch for a while then resume our hiking to the summit. 

It was around 3 30pm when we finally reached the viewdeck to the ridge. We were greeted with a sea of clouds. Such a majestic view! We took some more pictures before setting up our camp for the night. 

At night, it was really cold but I managed to stay up and capture some night photos. 

Day 3 (The Descent)

Waking up to a beautiful sunrise, we grabbed the opportunity to take a few more pictures before preparing for the descent.  The descent will be the ultimate test for all of us as we have to go down the trail that took us 2 days to climb up.  After a few more pictures at the diving board, we started our descent at around 8:30am. 

It took us a grueling 4 hours of descent to reach the Dulangan river again. There we ate our lunch and continued the trek.

At around 8 30pm, after a total of 12 hours of hiking, the lead group reached the jumpoff. Finally we made it, we did it. It was really a test of will and endurance. Mt. Halcon you really are the toughest in the Philippines.

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