Always Wandering

The Pinagpatong Rocks form part of the Masungi Rock Formations which lie along the Sierra Madre Mountain Range. Located in Barangay Cuyambay in Tanay, Rizal, the rock formations occupy a vast portion of the barangay’s greenery. Easily seen from the main highway, there are two points to reach the rock formations. The more popular of the two is through the Garden Cottages Subdivision wherein at the jumpoff, 600 concrete steps take visitors to the peak of the rock formations.

Saving that route for another weekend, we ventured through the other entry point. After paying the barangay officials a courtesy visit and securing their clearance, we headed via rented motorbikes towards the jumpoff at Sitio Tablon.

Albeit seldom visited and full of overgrowth, the trip to the Pinagpatong rocks was an easy one-hour trek. It starts with a downhill walk to the grasslands which then transform to the usual shaded forest trail. Farther on, bamboo trees abound with more of them felled and covering the ground. Our guides at this point hacked a new trail. We dutifully crawled under trees and vines; and gingerly crossed jagged rocks and tree branches. We had to squeeze through small openings (on the ground and through rocks!) and haul ourselves over more walls of rock and big roots.

At the first Pinagpatong rock formation, we had our perfunctory photos taken and busied ourselves in scaling the top of the rock. Then we moved to the second and bigger rock formation.

Elated by the sight of one of our guides at the top of the monolith, we were excited to try our hand in replicating his feat. Fortunately, we brought a rope and our guides made use of it. A good half an hour later, not to mention, a lot of slips and plotting, our group made it to the top. The other rocks in the Masungi area and the other mountains of Tanay were in full view at the top.

If going on a day trip, here is a suggested itinerary:

07:00 meet up at Araneta Center in Cubao
07:30 ride jeep to Cogeo (Php25.00)
08:00 ride jeep to Sampaloc (Php43.00)
10:00 alight at Brgy. Cuyambay; arrange for a habal-habal ride (Php30.00 each)
10:15 take habal-habal to the barangay hall and seek the clearance of Brgy. Capt. Rading Juco; register and arrange for a guide (Sir Peter Soriao and Sir Totoy Porcuincula)
11:00 take a habal-habal to Sitio Tablon (Php50.00); lunch
13:00 start trek (leave things at Sir Totoy’s house)
14:00 first “Pinagpatong” rocks
15:00 second “Pinagpatong” rocks
16:00 start descent
16:45 back at jumpoff; wash up
17:30 walk to the highway and then ride a jeep back to Cogeo or Cubao