Mt. Manalon 3 in 1 Adventure Hike,Swim,Explore

It was a Fun filled Nescafe 3in1 weeked adventure.

Hike , Swim , Explore

May mountain, may river at meron din cave network all in one location kaya 3in1 adventure ang ating Manalmon hike.

Janna, Nikko, Aulvs, Kenn, Diego

I was with my highschool friends Diego, Kenn, Nikko and Janna. 



1st Leg: Hike up Mt. Manalmon. It was a fairly easy climb.

Insider note: They though that I was joking when I asked if the clearing that we reached was already the peak and our guide told us that it was not yet 'the peak' but we can consider it as a 'peak'. I told everyone that since we had a great view in front of us at 'the peak', it was time to take pictures. They thought that it was a pun and that i was joking saying that it was 'peak'ture picture time. hehe They even thought that I just pirated it from some other hiker and was waiting for the perfect oportunity to deliver it. Truth be told, for the first minute that they were laughing I had no clue what joke they were talking about. Hahaha. When I realized the pun that was not intended, I just kept quiet to save face and to own the said joke.


Once your reach the real peak, you will be greeted by the majestic view of the Madlum river and the entire San Miguel Bulacan. From a distance, you can also see Mt. Arayat in Pampanga.

Our guide also told us about the story on how the mountain got its name. Alamat ng Bundok na Manlalamon.

View from the peak

Madlum River

Mt Arayat

Mt. Gola

San Miguel Bulacan

This hike is highly recommended for first timers since its a very easy climb.

It was a beautiful day, 10am in the morning with cloudy skies, a gentle breeze and an awesome view from up above. Such a great escape from all the noise and pollution of the metro.

We stayed at the peak for a few minutes to rest, take pictures and admired the works of art of our creator.

There is a camp site at the peak and our guide told us that it can accommodate around 30-40 tent so that is somewhere around 100 persons per night.

We then proceeded to go down the mountain and take a quick dip in the waters of Madlum river.

2nd Leg: Swimming at Madlum river. Clear waters ahead.

Rock formations

You can see the rocks at the bottom since the water is very clear

There are different locations that you can choose to swim at. We opted for this tranquil area that has both shallow portions and deep areas for swimming. There was almost no current in this part of the river.

reminder: you might want to wear shoes/sandals/slippers while swimming since the rocks and stones can be a little painful after some time.

Madlum river has a great aray of rock formations since it is part of the Biak na Bato National park.

We really enjoyed this leg of the trip since we had this section of the river solely for ourselves. You may also opt to camp along the river. Our guide advised us that the water from this section may be used as a water source if you intend to camp for the night.

We then proceeded to dry up, eat our lunch and head back to base camp for our spelunking portion of the trip.

3rd Leg: Exploring Bayukbok Caves: Watch where you step.

We stopped over at the jump off site to catch our breath, eat some snacks (halo-halo@25php) and ready our selves for the next activity.

In order to get to Bayukbok caves, we needed to cross another river. We were given the option of crossing via raft at 5php per person or doing it monkey style through the monkey bridge absolutely free. (No actual monkeys onsite)

Monkey Crossing 

I volunteered myself to just take pictures so that Diego, Kenn, Janna and Nikko will have great pics to remember the moment.

Diego, Kenn, Nikko, Janna crossing the monkey bridge

Diego@monkey bridge

Aulvs crossing monkey bridge (2012)

It seems like a fairly easy task but it looks harder than it seems. You need to make sure that your feet are planted properly on the wire and you should balance yourself. Just imagine that you are walking on a straight line and use your hands as a guide to get across but don't use them to lift yourself. On a lighter note, if you fall... you fall in the river, just make sure you fall the right way and that you fall in the deep area of the river.

After crossing the river, you still need to hike for 15 minutes until you reach the cave entrance.

The entrance of the cave is a 20ft drop and you would need to rappel down to enter. You need to be a little fit for this leg. If you are afraid of cramped places, this might not be for you and if you are afraid of high places, you might want to reconsider. However, if you want to overcome your fears, well its a different story.

Before going inside the cave

Rappeling down the cave

Inside the cave

Inside the cave is pitch black, you need to bring a flashlight or better yet a headlamp to explore inside. Its a little damp and muddy inside. Its a beautiful scenery inside because the walls glimmer when you flash a light.

Rope ladder that our guide just installed

Going up

Good job Aulvs

white shirt

Cave completed

The entire cave adventure is a 1 hr activity and once we completed it we then headed back to the jump off.

Back at the jump off we just took a bath at 20php per person in one of the bathrooms of the locals, soap is sold at 25php at the store and shampoo at 18php if you were not able to bring any.

After a refreshing shower and a change of clothes, we then went home back to the busy streets of Metro Manila.

You may click on the link below for our itinerary:

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