Mt. Humarap: A Complete Travel Guide

At the summit of Mt. Humarap

Mt. Humarap: A Complete Travel Guide

Located 115 kilomoters south of Manila, Paete, Laguna is mostly known as the Carving Capital of the Philippines and is always overlooked as a destination for climbers and nature trippers.

But little did we know that this quaint town has an awesome destination that will be liked by travellers and mountaineers alike.

Mt. Humarap, or Tatlong Krus for the locals, features a scenic bird's eye view of the town of Paete, Laguna de Baie and the foothills of Rizal Province.

Fast Facts

Difficulty: 2/9, Minor Climb
Elevation: 310 MASL at the highest point
Trail Description: Concrete stairs, mini-forest
Starting and exit Point: Brgy. Ilaya, Norte, Paete, Laguna
Guide/s: None, not required
Rope Segments: None

How to get There

1. From Alabang, ride a bus going to Sta. Cruz. Travel time is around 2.5 - 3 hrs. 

2. Alight at Sta. Cruz terminal. From there, ride a jeepney going to Paete, Laguna. Travel time is around 40 mins to 1 hour. Tell the jeepney driver to drop you off at Paete.

3. Ride a tricycle going to the jump-off point of Mt. Humarap. Specifically tell the driver that you are planning on hiking Mt. Humarap since trike can also go on the top of the mountain. 

4. You'll be dropped off by a narrow street. Walk through it until you hit the dirt road leading upwards. That is the start of the hike. If unsure, do not hesitate to ask the locals.

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Tale of the Trail

We were behind our self-imposed itinerary since the commute from Alabang to Sta. Cruz, Laguna had been slow. It was already past 11:00 am when we arrived at our destination. 

The climb will commence the moment you step off the trike. From there, you will walk through a narrow street for 5 to 10 minutes. Initially, it will not feel like you're going on a nature trip since the street looks like any other streets in the Metro. We were telling each other jokes like "Tama ba tong pinuntahan naten?" or "May bundok ba talaga dito?" 

Just continue walking until you notice the houses becoming more sparse by the minute. The exact start of the trail is not really pronounced but then you'll see a concrete stairs leading upward. 

The concrete stairs leading to the summit of Mt. Humarap

The concrete stairs are not particularly steep and have handrails for most part so falling down the sides is not really a problem. But you have to be careful from slipping since there are some sections that are covered by moss. 

Half-way through the summit, you will pass by a comfort room, with a small sign that says "Matabungka Falls". If you want to proceed to the summit, continue walking on the concrete stairs, but if you want to visit the falls first, then by all means follow the sign. Matabungka Falls is just 10 minutes away from the comfort room. For us, we chose to visit the falls after summiting the mountain.

At the junction, you will see this comfort room. If you follow the arrow, you will reach Matabungka Falls

The summit is less than 30 minutes away from this point. The stairs will even out just before the viewing point of Mt. Humarap. From this point, we were quite in a hurry since it was already noon time when we reached this point. 

Few minutes into the summit

It was already mid-day when we finally reached the summit of Mt. Humarap. The summit is an airy and grassy hilltop best suited for picnics and family gatherings. There are only few other visitors in the summit, mostly people who used the road to reach the summit since we did not share the trail with other climbers. 

Tatlomg Krus of Mt. Humarap

Certain facilities are available at the summit like comfort room, tables, and chairs since the location also caters for pilgrims during the Holy Week. Instead of renting a table and chairs, we decided to just use our picnic mat and just lie on the green grass under one of the many trees at the summit of Mt. Humarap. We ate lots of doughnut, as in lots of it during our stay here. 

The bloggers, Pearliloo and Iantot

The view of the top made the short hike all the more worth while. From the summit, you can see the entirety of the town of Paete and the largest lake in the Philippines, Laguna de Baie. One thing I noticed was that the shape of Paete looks like an eagle with its wings spread out. Rizal Province is the land mass beyond the lake.

Paete, Laguna de Baie and Mt. Sembrano at the background

If you look closely enough, you can make out the shape of Mt. Sembrano from the distance as well as the Pililia Windmills. It was like playing "I Spy", trying to locate all the familiar shapes and places in the distance. 

We relaxed and loitered for more than an hour in the summit before we head down once more to visit Matabungka Falls. From the summit, Matabungka Falls is just a 15-minute walk on the same trail. 

Matabungka Falls

During our visit, the cascade of the falls were kinda weak since there has been no rains in the last few days. But it is still refreshing. One thing we really like on this destination is that, since it is not very popular, we had the entire Matabungka Falls to ourselves! 

NOTE: This is not always the case. Mt. Humarap is a pilgrimage site so it tends to be very crowded during the Holy Week and other religious festivities. 

We only stayed for thirty minutes in the falls because the sun is already setting. The falls is covered by thick canopy of trees so the place darkens even before the sun actually sets. 

You can use the comfort room at the junction of the trail to change your clothing. However, during our visit, the toilet bowls were clogged so you can just use it as a changing room.

The descent had been a breeze, and were back in the town of Paete in less than thirty minutes. You can stroll in the quaint town of Paete, Laguna like we did. We saw a great deal of the culture of the town by visiting different stores and sculpting studio.

Support Filipino artists by purchasing local products! We bought small trinkets like ref magnets as a souvenir of our trip.

From the town center, ride a jeepney going back to Sta. Cruz. Tell the driver to drop you off at the bus station going back to Manila. Fare is around 25 PHP.

Mt .Humarap

It is not the altitude of the climb that matters, but rather your attitude towards the climb. It was an easy trek, but it was worth the effort. All goodbyes are temporary. We looked back and we know that we'll be back someday. Someday. 

- Adrian Villaflor, 2018

Things to Consider

1. As always, practice LNT. This is the first and foremost if ever you are going on a nature trip. 

2. No guides are required since this is an easy trek. However, never underestimate it. A climb is a climb, so practice proper climbing behaviour. 

3. If coming and going back from Manila, be reminded that you'll have to pass by Calamba, Laguna and Sto. Tomas, Batangas. Both have large volume of traffic so expect road congestion during peak times, 7am - 9am and 5pm - 8pm. 

4. We were not able to ask the caretaker if overnight camping is allowed on the summit. Maybe on your visit, you can ask around and let us know. 

Thank you for reading our story / travel guide. I hope you were able to get something out of it. Please like and subscribe to our facebook page. We would very much love to hear from you. Aja!