Tarak Ridge | First Major Climb

One of the popular mountains in the province of Bataan and one part of Mt. Mariveles many peaks, known for its rocky terrain, steep cliff, laborious hours of hike and the requirement of technical climbing, the climb is moderate to hard rated 4 out of 9 level of difficulty, 1130 MASL.

 Tarak Ridge

Also known as Mt. Mariveles, popularly known as Tarak based from the word “Tabak” (hunting knife) and “Tarik” (steep) due to the complexity of the trail and it's steepness named by Sir Sky Biscocho, member of AMCI Mountaineering Club, Inc (Batch '92) – A legendary mountaineer who is responsible in discovering the mountain, uncovering the undiscovered cave and the creation of the trail. 

The Tarak Ridge birth of discovery was in 1996. It was year of 2000's where the mountain is open for exploration and hiking. From the Mountain, climbers will be able to see Corregidor Island, Manila and Cavite.

How to get there
Ride any buses (Genesis, Bataan Transit) at Cubao, Quezon with a signboard going to San Juan, Alas-asin, Mariveles, Bataan. Then, stop by at the Barangay Hall of Alas-asin to register, a fee of P40/head will be paid. Next, start your hike to Nanay Cording Place which is just a step away from the Registration Point (Barangay Hall).

Itinerary
Day 1
4:30am Meet Up at Genesis Bus Station: Cubao
5:30am ETD to Alas-asin, Mariveles, Bataan
9:10am ETA Brgy. Alas-asin, Mariveles, Bataan
9:20am Registered at Alas-asin Barangay Hall
9:30am Start Hiking from Jump-off to Nanay Cording Place
10:10am ETA Nanay Cording Place
 - Photo Ops, LNT Briefing, Chitchat
10:50am Start hike to Papaya River
12:45pm ETA Papaya River
 - Exploration, Photo Ops, Rest
1:30pm ETD Papaya River to Tarak Ridge Camp Site
2:30pm ETA Tarak Ridge Camp Site
 - Pitch Tent, Exploration, Photo Ops, Video Ops, Rest
5:00pm Dinner; Rest
7:00pm Socials
10:00pm Light Off

Day 2
7:00am Wake Up Call
8:30am Breakfast
9:10am ETD to tarak Peak
9:45am ETA Tarak Peak
 - Photo Ops, Video Ops, Exploration
10:10am ETD Tarak Peak to Tarak Camp Site
10:30am ETA Tarak Camp Site
11:00am ETD Tarak Campsite to Papaya River
11:45am Arrived at Papaya River
 - Swimming, Chitchat, Photo Ops, Video Ops
1:30pm ETD Papaya River to Nanay Cording Place
3:00pm ETA Nanay Cording Place
 - Chitchat, Rest, Wash Up
3:30pm ETD Nanay Cording Place to Jump-off
3:55pm ETA Brgy Alas-asin, Mariveles, Bataan; Jump-off
 - Wash up, Snack, Rest
4:45pm ETD Brgy. Alas-asin, Mariveles, Bataan to Cubao
9:15pm ETA Cubao

The Journey
This is my first major climb and the first mountain climb of the year 2015. Due to conflict schedule, there are only 5 members of The Let’s Camp Outdoor Team out of many who hike the Tarak Ridge. 

 The team with Nanay Cording, doing the rockstar sign!

Day 1

It was 4:45 am in the morning when we meet up in Genesis Bus Station at Cubao, after an hour of waiting; we took a ride exactly 5:45 am departing to Alas-asin, Mariveles, Bataan. The trip took us 4 hours long, it was already 9:30 am when we drop by at San Juan, Alas-asin. We stop-by at the Barangay Hall to pay a registration fee of P40/head before starting to hike from the jump-off point heading to Nanay Cording Place. The trail going to Nanay Cording Place is barely wide enough for a single vehicle; also a parking area is available.

Reaching Barangay Alas-asin

There are several restaurants and store around the Brgy. Hall of Alas-asin if you happen to eat or buy foods.

Nanay Cording Place, owned and managed by Nanay Cording. It serves as home and a rest area of any mountaineers who are able to hike the Tarak Ridge. You can contact Nanay Cording for the availability of a guide/porter.

Contacts:
Nanay Cording: +639174723978
Ate Beth (Guide): +639495869556

 From left to right: Jethro,Our Guide - Ate Beth, and Dan

Once you finish your climb in the mountain, there is a space available for you to hang your banner if you happened to have one. 

 Banners

Upon reaching Nanay Cording Place, we were greeted and welcomed by Nanay and other climbers. After a minute of rest, Nanay introduced us Ate Beth - our guide, a very strong and lively woman as describe by my fellow climber.

Because of the recent issue concerning the behaviour shown by some hikers in Tarak lately such as vandalism, Nanay held a meeting to brief us about the LNT (Leave No Trace) Program and its importance before exploring the mountain for its preservation. 

 Some reads, the LNT (Leave No Trace) of Tarak Ridge

After the briefing, we instantly bid farewell to start the hike along with our guide – Ate Beth. The first hours of trek is easy, there were inclined slope, rocky steeps escalated the next half hour that is quite perspiring and challenging. Along the way, there were some trees torn down due to the recent typhoon, and it hinder the team to pass but still managed though to reach the Papaya River.

 
Some rocky trail

Some minor ascent

The trail from Nanay Cording Place to Papaya River is narrow and steep, slightly covered with some grasses and leaves of trees. The trail is easy and gradual, there are some incline slope, plains, and rocky steeps that will be pass by. It takes 1.5 to 2 hours reaching the Papaya River. 

Papaya River

One of the stops is at Papaya River, a stand by area of climbers to take a breather before continuing to Tarak Ridge. It was named by Sir Sky Biscocho, based on a Papaya fruit after a certain local is eating it in the said River. In fact, there is no Papaya fruit available in the River and there were no plantation.  

A mini-falls in the Papaya River 

Climber can pitch their tent near the river, for there are a lot of areas available for camping. 

The area where you can fill up some water needed

As we reached the river, we took a rest for a while, and had a brief conversation with Kai Tonying of DWIZ and his foreign companions who will hike the peak of Japanese Garden, one of the many peak of Mt. Mariveles.

Kai Tonying, the one wearing white hat

We also fill up bottles of water, because there is no water source to be found in the area of Tarak Ridge. The water is very clean and safe, don’t worry.

The trail from the river to the Camp Site is pure and steep ascents with only trees, rocks, and root to hold on, a 2 hours long hike that can test endurance and patience of any hiker/s.

The Campsite
The camp site is wide, can accommodate hundreds of hikers. There's a camping area created under the trees and the open area.

One of the campsite area

Be careful near the cliff, the force of the wind is strong; it can literally push a single person if they are not able to withstand it.

It was a back breaking 2 hours hike, upon reaching the camp site,  the extreme tiredness was momentarily mend because of the refreshing breeze of the air and the view of the Mt. Mariveles many peaks that captivated our eyes.

It was already noon when we reached the camp site. We then pitch our tent, take a rest, had snacks, and some members of the group would do exploration.

Here are some of our photos in the Campsite areas: 

 

   

As the night comes, we had our dinner, a group conversation and socials.

 Socials 

Day 2
As early in the morning, the wind rises, the weather is very cold and it's freezing. The tents were buffeted and it nearly battered one of it.

The strong blast of the wind hindered us to go out, and to cook. It was already late morning when we had our breakfast.

We started our hike around 9:00 am in the morning to the summit; it take us 30 minutes long to reach it. 

A view from the summit of the corregidor Island, sea, and the forest

The Summit 

A presence of Strong winds and a cloud that engulfed the summit area once you reached it, there is a cliff from side to side and several trees at the center.

The Summit area

From the summit, we were able to view of the Bataan perfect structure mountain called the Japanese Garden, because of its technicality, and we were advice by some climbers not to climb due to the condition of weather, we didn’t push through, we rather roam around the summit to explore and take pictures, and enjoy the view God’s beautiful creation.

Climbing the barren tree in the summit

Martin, using Go Pro Hero 4

Christian, using Go Pro Hero 4

The group in the summit

After the exploration in the summit, we returned to the camp site to prepare for the take-off going back. We bid goodbye to the mountain and to some climbers left, we also had to pick up some thrashes left by some irresponsible climbers, such a shame.

The trail going back to Papaya River is pure descend, there were not much difficulty going down which only took us 45 minutes reaching the Papaya river.

We stay in the river for a while to have our launch, to swim in the river, and to wash up before embarking to Nanay Cording Place.

Mini falls in Papay River

Upon reaching Nanay Cording Place, we catch up with some climbers, Kai Tonying again and his foreign companions.

We had our snacks, had a rest, wash up, and had chitchat with Nanay.Lastly, we bid farewell to Nanay Cording and her family members, and other climbers who left in Nanay Cording Place. We shake hands with Nanay and she slowly whispers some words to us – “Come Back Again”.

We simultaneously replied “Yes Nanay”, smiled, and waved our hands to say goodbye.

It was a wonderful journey and we’ll definite be back at Tarak Ridge. At last, we succeeded! 

Concerns
It is so much depressing that there are still a lot of climbers in Tarak Ridge who are still capable of doing unnecessary acts such as improper throwing of their garbage and committing vandals, this is a big embarrassment to Mother Nature. The LNT hold a big importance to all mountaineers, we should always ponder because it’s a necessity, and we should respect the mountain.

Fare and Registration Fee 
Cubao - Alas-asin, Mariveles, Bataan: P267/head
Alas-asin, Mariveles, Bataan - Cubao: P267/head
Registration fee (Barangay Hall): P40/head
Nanay Cording Place Donation (Voluntary)

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