Mt. Puting Bato Traverse To Merlina, Samal Island

Mt. Puting Bato via Guilon to Tayapoc Trail, Samal Island

Mt. Puting Bato at Samal Island is still one of the best training ground for new climbers. Its trail is easy and short - 1-2 hours uphill. Plus it gives you a very good 360 degrees view of Samal Island and the 3 provinces of Davao - Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, and Davao de Oro. What climbers usually do to have a better experience during the climb is they do a traverse to Canibad, a well-known resort at the back-end part of Samal Island. 

When a friend of ours posted a picture of a new resort in Samal Island - Merlina Marine Resort, located at the other end of Canibad, Wing and I planned of exploring it. However, instead of going directly to the resort, we opt to do a highlands-to-island adventure by climbing Mt. Puting Bato traversing to the new resort.

Going to Mt. Puting Bato is easy. At Babak wharf, you can ride a habal-habal and let the driver know you are going to Mt. Puting Bato. They already know where to drop you.

There are no welcome signs at the jump-off. 

Depends on your pace, it may take 1-2 hours uphill. The trail is established, you won't get lost definitely. 

Mt. Puting Bato has 3 campsites. Camp 1 shows you a good view of Davao City.

You might get lucky during the climb, you will get a good view of Mt. Apo.

Another 5-10 minutes trek, you will arrive at Camp 2 - Huyong-huyong Peak.

This has been our nth time climbing Mt. Puting Bato, but it is just now that we noticed they already have a store at Camp 2. (They even sell soft drinks haha!)

Another 5-10 minutes, you'll arrive at the highest point of Samal Island.

There are 2 trails going up to Mt. Puting Bato. One is via the Guilon (hard trail), and the other is via Tayapoc (easy trail). To experience both trails, you can do Guilon to Tayapoc, as the latter is mostly downhills. 

For some, once at Tayapoc, they ride a habal-habal going to any resorts on the island. Others, prefer to trek all the way to Canibad resort. There is a trail to Canibad from Tayapoc Elementary School. 

This is the end part of the downhills. To go to Canibad, you need to walk for some kilometers going left. However, if you wanted to explore another resort in Samal, try to hike some kilometers going right. You will find yourselves at Merlina Marine Resort.

Expenses:

Habal-habal Ride from Babak Wharf to Guilon (jump-off of Mt. Puting Bato) - Php 100/person

Mt. Puting Bato entrance (3 camps) - Php 60/person (Php 20/camp)

#TravelBudDear