My BackPacking Life: Mt. Tapulao - My First Major Climb

Mt. Tapulao is the tallest mountain in the Zambales Mountain range and in the province of Zambales in the Philippines. It's 18 kilometers ascend and it took us 11 Hours before we reach the CampSite near the Summit.

April and Me... Ready to GO!

The peak, which rise to an elevation of 2,037 metres (6,683 ft), is located in the municipality of Palauig, Zambales. Its name is derived from the abundance of Sumatran Pine trees in the area, known in the local Zambal dialect as tapulao.

The mountain was once a site of a large-scale chromite mining operations. The destruction of the beautiful natural scenery is visible in the mine pits on the summit as well as other related structures along the trail. The summit offers a 360-degree vista from where you can see the other Zambales mountains on the eastern side, Lingayen Gulf to the north, and on the western side, the Zambales lowlands and the South China Sea stretching to as far south as Pundaquit in San Antonio, Zambales.

Jordan and Mt. Tapulao

The trail to the top of Mount Tapulao is on rolling and gradual terrain that takes hikers through a number of distinct ecosystems: from lowland grass and scrubland dominated by talahib (cogon grass) to its flanks of secondary to primary dipterocarp forest, mossy montane forest and pine forest above 1,800 metres (5,900 ft) that extends to the adjacent mountains.

During wet weather, limatik or forest leeches abound especially near the streams along the way. Parts of the trail become rivulets that trekkers easily attract these critters without noticing being bitten, sticking on the human skin.

MT. TAPULAO

Palauig, Zambales

Major jump-off: Sitio Dampay, Brgy. Dampay-Salaza, Palauig

LLA: 15.4833 N, 120.1166 E, 2037 MASL

Days required / Hours to summit: 1-2 days / 6-12 hours

Specs: Major Climb, Difficulty 6/9, Trail class 1-3

Features: Pine forests, views of West Philippine Sea

Source: Pinoy Mountaineer

Cloud Formation

the Rocky Trail

The fog nearly covered almost everything all the way to the summit

The pine forests are visible anywhere after several hours of trekking and the temperature becomes colder.

As we reach to the top, We saw a beautiful scenery of Sea of Clouds

Sa Loob ng Tent, Sobrang Lamig!

I was wearing layers of two clothes and one jacket and still, We're freezing to death. Buti nalang nakatulog kami kahit basa yung paligid ng loob ng tent namin!