“You can’t hike anymore.”

Those words from my cardiologist could have given me a heart attack on the spot. In my head, I was making a bargain: I’ll go for minor hikes and continue my routine exercises in between. How I will live the rest of my life depends on the choices I make.

I’ve contemplated on quitting four months ago, but my love for the outdoors is far bigger than my greatest fear. The screams coming from my body, heart, and mind are too loud to ignore. I ached for more mountains to climb. I’m that stubborn, relentless and defiant.

So when two of my officemates asked to join me in my next hike, I gladly made the plan with them. I would have loved to take them to Mt. Pulag since it makes a perfect mother mountain for one of them, but it was not meant to be because of conflicting schedules.

In between planning, the “bash magnet” and news sensation Lynird Kim of KimpoyAdv sent me a message. It was as if he was conspiring with the universe with an offer to take a minor, beginner-friendly dayhike to San Miguel, Bulacan. Mts. Manalmon, Gola and Matinik are basically hills compared to the mountains I’ve traversed thus far.

Or so I thought.

Mt. Manalmon

From the jump off, we crossed the short hanging bridge that leads to Madlum Cave (also known as Manalmon Cave or Aguinaldo Cave). Part of the Biak na Bato National Park, it is a short but descending limestone cave (estimated 600 meters) that opens towards the clear-water river. It was the height of summer, so the river surrounding the area were dry to shin-deep. During the rainy season, the river is a favorite spot among tourists for swimming, trekking and rafting.

Mt. Manalmon measures only 160 MASL, so that’s only about a third of Mt. Mariglem and about as high as Pandan Hills in Aklan. Basic, as Gen Zs would say. We started the hike a little before 5am and were at the summit before sunrise. Basic nga naman.

We waited for the sun to rise, had breakfast and coffee, and a lot of time taking pictures and videos. In between all these activities, I contemplated on the background of this historic mountain. It was here where my ancestor’s nemesis, Emilio Aguinaldo, and his men drafted the Biak-na-Bato Republic in 1897. The revolutionaries used the cave as a hideout against the Spaniards.

The sun was already high up when we decided to go to the next peak, Mt. Gola.

Mt. Gola

At this point, we started to feel the heat–literally. We realized that we overstayed in Mt. Manalmon.

Mt. Gola is a bit higher in elevation with a little under 200 MASL. Combine it with Mt. Manalmon, and it truly would be a minor, beginner-friendly twin hike. But not during the height of summer! Descending from Manalmon made the traverse up to Gola even harder because of the sudden drops in between huge limestones. The trail was open, with little to no trees to take shelter in.

Just how hot was it? My drinking water went warm from sun exposure, and my skin felt like it was being pricked by a thousand needles. Nevertheless, the wide open view from the summit was a saving grace.

Drained from the heat, one of my fellow hikers asked if we should still proceed to the third mountain, Mt. Matinik. I get it, but we had no choice. We were doing a traverse hike, and there is no way I would go back up and down to do a back trail.

Refreshingly, though, one of my officemates asked (hi, Ced!) me where I would be going for my next hike in May. Here we are, questioning our life choices for doing this trilogy hike, and wondering where we should go next! That question gave me a surge of energy for about thirty seconds, realizing that my first-time hiker officemate was actually liking this experience.

And then I went crashing back down to reality: two mountains down, one more to go!

Mt. Matinik

Mt. Matinik is the highest among the three (about 231 MASL), but who’s counting?!

Kidding aside, the trek from Mt. Gola to Mt. Matinik was short with less ascent. It would have been a chill hike, save for the burning slap-on-the-nape heat of the sun. I think we only stayed at the summit for only five minutes, spending longer under a small cluster of low trees we could find a few meters to the final summit.

I was running low on water, and wondering how I’m still standing. I was struggling to fight back dizziness and nausea, telling myself that this is not how I would want to die. No, really. I have heard of much younger hikers who never finished a hike out of sheer exhaustion, and this Madlum trifecta has claimed at least one, according to one of our guides.

Not even the Madlum river below heading back toward the cave returned the energy that we started with. It would have been a fitting end to this trilogy hike: a cool, reinvigorating swim. While there were tourists swimming in the deep enough part near the cave, our minds were already thinking of taking a shower and drinking cold soda.

Philippine mountains ftw

Reading back before I end this blog, I think I’m not being fair to Sitio Madlum and its historic mountains. Please don’t get me wrong. I did love the experience, especially since I had my two officemates with me who were thankful for the experience. I asked them again later on if they want to do it again, and they said yes. Seryoso! was the exact word they used when I scoffed.

Come to think of it, we had a faster pace than we expected, considering that we dragged behind the heat. We were back at the jump off before 11AM.

And just like every other hike I take, there is a lesson to be learned. Age doesn’t matter; endurance does. Passion trumps fitness. Mother Nature will smother you if you underestimate the power of its elements. The mountains of the Philippines are not for the mere clout-chaser or social media whore. You don’t get to choose the mountain–the mountain chooses you!