Mt. Sipit Ulang: The Easiest Climb Recommended

Mt. Sipit Ulang: The Easiest Climb Recommended

If I would recommend an easy climb, well, it’s the Mt. Sipit Ulang of Barangay Mascap, Rodriguez, Rizal. Honestly speaking, this is the easiest climb I had so far in my entire climbing experience. You have two choices to reach the summit: the Banayad trail that only requires 1-2 hours of trekking or the other one – the Paniki trail which takes 2-3 hours to reach the summit.

We chose the Paniki trail because as per our tour guide, this trail has more exciting and beautiful trekking parts. And he was right! We really enjoyed this trail because of the amazing limestone formations that you will encounter along the trek.

If you have a plan to visit this mountain, I recommend taking the Paniki trail going to summit as well, because this is not as difficult as what our tour guide told us (haha. Sorry). Well, I have my basis. Since we descent taking the Banayad trail, I can compare that there were really magnificent views in the Paniki trail.

There are actually plenty of beautiful rock formations. Trekking in this trail is like trekking in a cave; the only difference is that the top part is open.  There are also parts when you need to scramble upon some holes because it is more difficult to climb some rock walls. But, I tell you, doing this is really fun!

Moreover, Paniki trail of Mt. Sipit Ulang has parts when you need rock climbing skills. Their established small bamboo bridges are also nice. We are also fortunate to see some bats during daylight. Yes, there are bats there and that is why it is called Paniki trail. And the most exciting part of the trail is climbing the bamboo ladder (see picture below so you can imagine this thrilling experience).  After this, there’s also a part with trees where we rested for a while. This part is so relaxing that we stayed there for a couple of minutes. Then, we proceeded to the summit.

We reached the summit in less than two hours. We thought we are so slow with our pacing and picture taking. But hey, we did not expect that, less than two hours. Huh?!

We are the same group that climbed the Espadang Bato rock formation last time (plus Marco, our co-Manillenials writer). So when we reached the summit, we also decided to have an early lunch just like what we did in Espadang Bato rock formation.  My friends did enjoy their lunch because they were able to buy cold soft drinks in the mini store in the summit.

After enjoying our meal, we proceed to climb the famous rock formation of Mt. Sipit Ulang. On top of the rock formation is a view of spectacular three Rocky Mountains of Wawa: Pamitinan, Hapunang Banoi, and Binacayan. There, we took unlimited photos until the sun burned our skin. We only stopped when there were other groups of trekkers.

Going down, we took the Banayad trail. And since we were so overwhelmed with the other trail, we didn’t take a break or even take pictures. We reached the jump off in less than an hour.

**Thanks to Anna Gabo and Irene Silao for the photos.