Mt Daguldul and Naambon Falls

Mt. Daguldul and Naambon Falls

San Juan, Batangas
Major jump-off: Brgy. Hugom, San Juan
MASL: 672
Hours to summit: 5 hours
Specs: Minor climb
Difficulty: 3/9

By: A. Tan

Mt. Daguldul or Daguldol is one of the few mountains in Luzon that has a jump-off that is close to the beach. This coastal mountain standing approximately 672 meters above sea level is also a part of the mountains connecting the Lobo-San Juan Mountains which includes Mt. Naguiling.

The mountain features, Naambon Falls, rolling slopes and a refreshing swim at the beach.

"We started our journey by meeting each other at 8:30 AM in KFC Buendia. We then headed to the JAM liner terminal to take a bus going to Lipa. We departed from Buendia by 9:00 AM and reached Lipa City at around 11:00 AM.

We had a short restroom break, and then rode a jeepney going to San Juan. It took us 45 minutes to reach San Juan Market. Since it’s almost lunch time and everybody was starving, we decided to have our lunch in one of the karinderyas near the market. While the others were ordering food, we went to the market to buy our provision for our planned overnight hike.

After our lunch, we immediately headed to Bgry. Hugom and reached the area at almost 2:00 in the afternoon. The jeepney brought us straight to the registration area. We settled our registration fee for 35.00 each and paid the 350 pesos guide fee. There was an option to have the guide stay overnight with us for a fee of 700 pesos but we saw that there were a lot of mountaineers so we just decided to have the guide accompany us only in going up.

We started trekking at around 2:30 in the afternoon; the first part of the trail seemed like a never-ending path of sand which I found very exhausting. It took us approximately 25 minutes to get passed the last beach resort which I believe was La Luz, and about another 5 minutes to reach the foot of Mt. Daguldul.

According to some blogs / pages that we visited when we were researching about the mountain, the trail is gradual. However, I got easily exhausted due to the sand trail which was followed by the assault trail. Another reason could possibly be my lack of preparation. We reached the famous place of Mang Lizardo, who passed away years ago according to the local who was his relative, at around 4:30 PM. We rested for a while, ate buko, washed the ingredients for the sinigang then continued hiking.

Unfortunately, the guide that was assigned to us wassn't so friendly. He kept on telling us that if we will walk on our pace the possible time to reach the camp site is 9:00 PM. We reached the camp site at half past six in the evening.

 

We immediately pitched our tents and prepared our dinner. What we apparently missed out on our research is that the place could be very cold during night time. Luckily with good food and good company, we survived the chilly evening. We had our short but enjoyable socials before calling it a night.

We woke up the next day at 6:00 in the morning just to find out that dogs have taken all our food. However the good thing is that our cooking items were left untouched. Having said that, we just drank our coffees and proceeded immediately to the summit, although, it was not the kind of summit that I imagined it to be. After a short period of taking pictures we headed back to the camp site and prepared what remained of our breakfast before breaking camp.

The trail going down was relatively easier since it seems about 90% of the trail was going down. Seeing that we were already in the area, we visited the famous Naambon falls. Naambon falls is just near the first kubo, in the Niyugan area from the jump off.

We were back in the jump off at exactly 12:00 noon. We had a short rest in one of the cottages along the beach. They billed us 100 pesos each with free use of the cottage. We were supposed to swim, but due to a very tiring hike, we just took a rest, cleaned ourselves and fixed our things.

One of the groups who rented a jeepney offered us to just ride with them. We were lucky to have paid just 150 pesos each from the jump off to SM Lipa City grand terminal. We were back in Manila at past 7:00 in the evening.

Indeed another wonderful experience in the mountain with friends!"

Significant Hours

Manila to Lipa bus ride: 2 hours
Lipa to San Juan Jeepney ride: 45 minutes
San Juan to Brgy. Hugom Jeepney ride: 45 minutes
Trek: 5 hours

ITinerary

Option #1: Camp at the Mountain

Day 1:
07:00 AM - Assembly Time at KFC Buendia
09:30 AM - ETA Lipa/ Jeep to San Juan
10:30 AM - ETA San Juan/ Jeep to Brgy. Hugom
11:50 AM - ETA Brgy Hugom/ Register/ Arrange Guide/ LUNCH
01:00 PM - Start Trek
03:00 PM - ETA mang Lizardo’s Place
05:00 PM - ETA Niyugan Campsite/ Set Camp/ Prep Dinner
07:00 PM - Dinner / Socials

DAY 2:
05:00 AM - Wake Up call (Coffee, tea or Me)
05:15 AM - Trek to Summit
05:40 AM - ETA Summit/ Sun Rise Viewing
06:30 AM - Descend
07:00 AM - Breakfast/ Break Camp
08:30 AM - Descend
10:00 AM - Back at Mang Lizardo’s Place
11:00 AM - ETA Naambon Falls
12:00 NN - Resume Descend
01:00 PM - ETA Jump Off/ Beach
03:00 PM - ETD to Lipa
04:30 PM - ETA Lipa/ Take Bus to Manila
07:00 PM - ETA Manila

Option #2: Camp on the Beach

Day 1:
06:00 AM - Assembly Time at KFC Buendia
08:30 AM - ETA Lipa/ Jeep to San Juan
09:30 AM - ETA San Juan/ Jeep to Brgy. Hugom
10:00 AM - ETA Brgy Hugom/ Register/ Arrange Guide/ LUNCH
10:30 AM - Start Trek
12:00 NN - ETA Mang Lizardo’s Place/ Packed Lunch
02:00 PM - ETA Niyugan Campsite/ Summit
03:00 PM - Descend
05:00 PM - ETA Naambon Falls
05:30 PM - Resume Descend
06:30 PM - ETA Jump Off/ Set Camp at the Beach Area/ Dinner and Socials

DAY 2:
06:00 AM - Wake Up call / Breakfast
12:00 NN - Break Camp / LUNCH
12:30 PM - ETD Jeep from Brgy. Hugom to San Juan
01:15 PM - ETA San Juan/ Take Jeep to Lipa
02:15 PM - ETA Lipa/ Take Bus to Manila
05:00 PM - ETA Manila

Expenses

* Note that the expenses are based on 10 participants

Bus from Manila - Lipa (Round trip) = 198.00 PHP

Option 1:
Chartered Jeepney from Lipa to Brgy Hugom - 4000 PHP / 10 pax

Option 2:
Jeepney ride from Robinson Lipa to San Juan and back (Round trip) = 100.00 PHP
Jeep San Juan to Bgry. Hugom and back (Round trip)  = 80.00 PHP

Registration Fee= 35.00
Guide Fee -350.00 per day / 10 pax (no. of pax is based on assumption) = 35.00
Food= 150.00

TOTAL (Commute based on 10 pax) = 810.00
TOTAL (Rent a charted jeep from Lipa to Brgy Hugom based on 10 pax) = 1,630.00

Special Concerns

• The last trip of Jam liner bus from Lipa City to Manila is 8:00 PM however you can go to SM City Lipa to catch other bus lines
• Last trip of jeepneys from San Juan to Lipa City is 8:00 PM
• Jeepneys from Bgy, Hugom to San Juan is until 12 noon but you can take a tricycle from the registration area to take you to the jeepney terminal going to San Juan
• You can also try to arrange with other climbers who rented chartered jeepney if they can still accommodate your group. This is advisable to small groups like ours.
• Make sure to keep your food inside your tent or the dogs will be happy eating your food.
• Make sure to hang your garbage bags to the trees or the dogs will scatter your garbage. 

~ City Boy Tripper