BRGY. Mabini is accessible by double track roads but there is ST that goes there also I discovered ... Saturday, July 2, my 08 TXC250 attempted to make the trek to Mabini, heading south out of Mulao. It was unsuccessful but I though I would record it here and add to the pics later as I plan on trying it again ... Here is the way to Mabini via the roads ... This is a pretty modern looking sign for out in a providence This ST is actually going the wrong way I found out later... Its heading south but after seeing it first hand, I made the decision to return ... The correct ST is on the next ridge over, east, from the valley shown here on the left side of this ST. After stopping to ask directions, I was directed down into the valley on this downhill .. This is the cool creek area at the bottom of the valley ... It needs to be explored also as it seems really flat with lots of sand and dirt ... This is just across the creek ... I'm not sure what kind of grass this is but I'm told it is indigenous to Cebu ... It looks like St Augustine grass maybe....
This is the first small climb out of the creek area ... Here is a view from on ~top of the first climb looking east .... After about 200 yrds of riding, I parked the bike and walked forward on the trail to see the difficulty level ... I am very conservative when riding alone, ESP on new trails ... You can see the trail is getting narrow and very vertical on both sides ... This is the peak of this ridge and it is most ~all rock .. ~100% traction... There is a hillclimb right before the far tree also I wanted to check out ... It was not too long but pretty vertical , all rock, 100% traction and gnarly ... This shot shows another uphill in the distance that I did not walk over and look at ... I had already made my mind up that this was just too big a risk for me to attempt alone ...It does look like the terrain flattens out over that step-up but I was getting too far from my bike so I returned ... This is a view of the trail (north) I just walked up .. You can see the uphill degree angle better here ...The TXC is parked just out of sight in the weeds on the ST ... You can also see the home at the upper left of the pic ... This is the home that gave me the correct path to Mabini ... That's the valley below it that I crossed ... You can see the creek and trail I came up down there also ... I'm getting better at reading mountains terrain
My bike parked on the ST ... This is what I just rode up on .. You can see the ridge top is much wider here ... a little better view of the valley I just crossed also... View back down to the creek on my way back out ... This is a view of the ridge north of the creek ... back where I came from ... Look close at the center of the pic .. there is a white dot there on the hill side in that field towards the bottom of the field... Here is a close up .. This guy sitting on the rock is a hunter ... He had some sort of homemade rifle ... Probably shoots marbles ... When I crossed the creek, we exchanged a few hand signs and he pointed out the path to me and let me know it was OK to proceed ... When I was taking this pic, I waved and hollered at him across the valley and he acknowledged it back ...
Here is creek again on the way out ... You can see the path I rode in on going up by the edge of the field and also the creek ... This is the same creek from the previous pics .. I took the creek back out instead of the path ... This creek was very rideable ... Back to the Mulao area .. Mulao is right across this river and up the hill about 1/4 mile... I might need to go to Mabini and come into the trail from the south and track it back north from that entry point ... What I really need a riding buddy for this one as the climbs in these pics are all doable, gnarly, but 100% traction on the dry rock faces ...
by the number of riders on your previous trips you shouldnt have a problem finding one im sure. great shots too!
I know but most of those guys are all in the Talamban area... ~ 12 miles or so further south ... but I have a couple that might be up here Saturday and there are a couple other riders in my local area, Danao, that might be up for this ...
rob, i told the boys to fuel the plane up for ya, that youd be there this afternoon to board...it the red one in hanger 3 with the starsky and hutch stripe you cant miss it. id go to but were having my grandpas birthday this weekend. enjoy!!
It's even hard for me to believe, but its has been almost a year, I just now have had time to make it back over to push across this ridge top and verify it is passable and find out where it ties into the other roads here ... Between the rainy season, other trails, racing, touring, injuries ... a trip back was not in the cards until last week ... To refresh your memory, this ridge-top cutoff trail had 2 solid rock climbs that I would not attempt last time I rode here ... At about the 44 clk mark, I drop off the ~main road and make way to the bottom of a valley and over a small creek before climbing the ridge and pushing across the top of it before encountering the 2 small, but ~vertical, over-grown climbs on the trail. The area looks about the same ... maybe a little more grown up ... same crops on in the surrounding fields it appears ... But the creek had almost no sand this time and was mostly just big rocks ... So I gave it a hard look but backed out on riding it again .... View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4W-DbPrDhY&feature=youtu.be I really was just gonna get on the bike after that small break and ride up the second face but after looking at it again from the distance, I decided to walk up and have a look to enhance my chances at making it ...I just saw that teenager and someother older guy up on the top so I knew I had help if anything happened but I really did not wanna damage the bike or myself too much ... Being an old guy, those things carry much weight .. View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRAXP23btyQ&feature=youtu.be
