It was the weekend when most of my friends were doing the Mt. Sembrano 25KM trail race and since it fell on a Saturday, I just couldn’t abandon my clinic works and join them. And so I messaged our Payasso FB group if anyone was up for some Sunday trail fun. A day passed and it looked like I’ll have to do it solo. Until I got a message from Meljohn (BoyP) of his planned trek to Matulid Falls which looked really dinky in the FB page he created.
But any BoyP invite I have learned not to ignore, recalling our 2012 accidental adventure which lasted the whole day. Check this out.https://rundmd8.wordpress.com/2013/03/23/a-most-unexpected-journey/
And so I arrived at McDonalds near Ever Commonwealth at 4 AM. We were 7 in all including Doc Pitot, Dan & Russelle, Chito & Ariel. We left for Rodriguez, Rizal by 4:30 and after one endless descending drive to our starting area, we set out by 5:30 AM. So it’s a non-stop assault and more climbs along a dusty trail studded with bald brown mountains on both sides. 3 hours later (12 KMs), after more slopes and uphills, we found ourselves venturing into a forested zone peppered with white boulders, some the size of trucks. We coasted along until we reached a centuries-old giant tree lording the forest land. Soon, the plunge began with no end in sight. It only settled once we set foot on the river banks as we traced its winding meandering route.
We were truly in the middle of a tropical forest replete with towering trees, oversized roots and cascading ferns. I thought we were the only outsiders there with a sprinkling of locals every now and then. Along the way, we encountered lumberjacks with finely cut boards of timber hanging on their backs and marching up to deliver their goods and get paid P350-P500 per board delivered. As we went deeper, we saw patches of newly burnt fields, some with ancient trees on their last struggle before being surrendered for charcoal making in a random exercise of the kaingeros. Definitely, certain sectors are making a hay from Rodriguez’s last swaths of remaining forest growth.
Freshly burned forest, anyone?
By 9:15 AM, the rumbling sounds of Matulid Falls came, pulling us in to behold and enjoy its fascinating beauty. We stayed for a good 30 minutes to swim in its cool clear waters, refresh and eat. Now this was the highlight of this journey and totally worth the effort.
In our return trip, we took another path less steep, this time tracing the river up as we scrabbled over boulders and crisscrossed the river many times. It still was a struggle but with new sceneries, it wasn’t as bad, especially when one is joined by a lumberjack with 50 kilos on his back. Once we reached KM 25, we took our short meal of halohalo, trail mix and bread.
The final 12 kilometers still featured mild hills but relatively, it was all descents which we took in with gusto and speed. We really had no choice as master BoyP, the brain, clock and compass behind this journey, had an itinerary by the hour to be followed. So every time we were seen slowing a bit, chitchatting or stopping, he would bring out his imaginary whip and crack it at us (like horses). So a little over 2 PM, we reached our starting point, took in some beer and kikiam before calling it a day. It was a total of 36 kilometers and worth every step of the journey, indeed.
Goodbye, Matulid for now…
The road back took me 1.5 hours as we passed through Quezon City’s depressed areas of Payatas going up. It took us almost a full day but it was truly worth the trip.
Amazing photography by Dan Sagayap Alvarez & Doc Richelle Perez. Now, I’d want me a GoPro camera myself!
point of entry: toyang / san isidro, rodriguez, rizal
approx distance: 36 km (2way)
local guide: not available for now
fee: free as of now
trail description: open trails (to the last sitio), kaingin trails, river crossings
chances of getting lost: 3 / 10
side trip: simbahang bato, pamintinan falls, kipot falls, puray falls, sitio inuman, balagbag, oriod, deadmans trail, japanese tora2 (to be explored)
wikimapia link: http://bit.ly/1RirNpY
pics from marupok pages: http://on.fb.me/1JuRU7Rhttp://on.fb.me/1JuRXAl
http://on.fb.me/1dRa7CA
RUN DMD 