Mt. Puting Bato Guillon – Tayapoc Traverse Day Hike

My first stop for a long weekend on June 15 was a traverse day hike in Samal Island’s most popular trekking destination, Mt. Puting Bato. The hike was part of the training program for an impending major climb by my friend Ella who is set to take a Mt. Apo trek anytime between July and August this year.

  

I already visited this mountain 3 times as it hosted several trail running events in Samal, but this climb was the only legitimate opportunity for me to take photos especially in the summit area.

We took the Guillon entry point, the only trail with some upright tracks where Ella had a lot of enduring to do as a newbie in trekking although she said she had been doing outdoor hikes in her hometown in Malita, Davao Occidental. Unlike 3 to 4 years back, the trail head in Guillon is now very much accessible to any type of transportation modes. We started the trekking at exactly 8:00 in the morning where we met other weekend trekkers along the way.

After 30 minutes we reached the first campsite. This site serves as vantage to a great panorama of Davao Gulf and Davao City. Few minutes from Camp 1 is another part of the summit where the highest point is located. My GPS equipment recorded the highest point at 580 meters above sea level. And the third of the three stopovers in the summit of Puting Bato is the one accessible from Canibad trail. All in all, there are 3 collection points of entrance fees in Puting Bato at 20 pesos per site.

As we enjoyed the entire landscape of Samal Island at the peak, I saw two Brahminy Kite Eagles soaring around the canopy of farm lands in Samal particularly in Peñaplata and Babak District. Other birds I noticed were flock of Brown Doves in the stairway area connecting the first and second campsites. While not far from the trail going to Canibad I saw one White-winged Cockoo Shrike. Some butterflies also help embellish the peak of Puting Bato.

The route to Tayapoc is wide and established and is being covered with farm plants and bushes shading trekkers from the humid atmosphere of Samal. The beautiful site of beaches in Canibad is a scene to behold when descending via Tayapoc trail. In 45-minute time we arrived at the trail head of Tayapoc.

To some extent a day hike in Puting Bato can be a good start if one plans to climb a major mountain like Mt. Apo, Kitanglad or Dulang-dulang. After climbing it for four times I suggest one should do a traverse hike rather than a backtrack in order to appreciate Samal Island better.

Mt. Loay Independence Day Hike

Another good trekking destination in Sta. Cruz is Mt. Loay located in the mountain ranges o Barangay Zone 2 which I discovered on June 12, 2018 with some buddies from LOGSAC Jonas, Eidine, Julius Biala, Cholo, Cris, Froilan and Vertical to Sky Proprietor Doi Calbes who is set to hold a Vertical Kilometer Race in this mountain comes August 18, 2018. The trek, which happened after a short Independence Day celebration, was a sort of recovery workout for me after a 2-day Mt. Apo climb last June 9 and 10.

  

We started the trek at around 9:45 in the morning from the national highway of Barangay Zone 2, the familiar road going to Loay Elementary School. The total trail distance is 5 kilometers highlighting a 2-kilometer open road and 3-kilometer single track along a vast farmland of coconut, banana and fruit trees. While trekking we met several community members in Loay doing their daily farm routines.  

The total trail course has an elevation gain of 1,000 meters above sea level which definitely worn us all out prior to reaching the summit. Our only woman trekker Eideine Karla decided not to proceed to the summit because it was really very steep and the weather was extremely hot.

We arrived at the summit of Mt. Loay by 12:00 noon. The exact elevation in the summit is 1,040 masl, allowing us to view adjacent mountain ranges in Sinoron, Coronon and Zone 1. The most dominant peaks are Mt. Dioloy, Camotes Ridge, Pilan Peak and Mt. Bariraya which we all thought resembles Romblon’s Mt. Guiting-guiting at a far distance. The urban center of Sta. Cruz, including the huge Davao Gulf, are all visible from the summit.

A farm house owned by Mang Tony served as our rest area, also the very same hut where Eidine waited for us. An energizing buko break was provided to us by Mang Tony. After an hour of some fun convo we trekked down the same route at a faster pace we reached the trail head in 45 minutes.