Mt. Loay, Sta. Cruz

Mt. Loay, Sta. Cruz

Every time I go home to Gensan from Davao, I always see this mountain when passing by Sta. Cruz. I always chose this side of the bus to have a good view of this mountain. I was even asking some friends if they know the name of the mountain or if they have some itineraries. I even followed Sta. Cruz FB Page to get updates. Haha! Kinda have this feeling that this mountain is always calling me and so I must go!

Then, there's this one new FB friend who suddenly sent me a message at Messenger if I can accompany him to climb here. And, without further ado, I said Yes! Haha! 

I invited 2 of my friends - Mitch and Leah to do an all-girls climb. We left Davao riding a YBL Bus around 5am and arrived at Sta. Cruz Terminal at 6am where we met our guide - Robin. As per our iti, we need to be at Sta. Cruz by 5am so we can start early. Since we arrived late at Sta. Cruz, we were kinda worried that the team might be waiting for us already or if they already left us. What's funny is that, there's only 4 of us that Robin will accompany to the climb. Oh, okay. Sign of relief. Hehe. 

Alright, let's start our trip!

Crossing Loay, Sta. Cruz

The trek starts at Crossing Loay, Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur. Hence, where the mountain is named after. As per Sta Cruz FB Page, before doing a climb at Mt Loay, we need to have ourselves registered first at their Brgy Tribal Office. We had our guide registered us there initially the day before. In addition to that, during the climb we need to sign to their logbook before proceeding. 

First part of the trek is a paved way. So easy right? Haha! Oh by the way, for those who doesn't want to walk, you can ride a habal-habal going to Loay Elementary School.

Around 20-30mins, we arrived at our first water source at Loay Elementary School. 

We rested for a bit, and continued our trek.

You will find a lot of fruit-bearing trees on the trek. Please, it's a No-No to pick fruits! Haha! As much as you want to, please refrain. 

Duriaaaaaaan!

Just one reminder, the trek is all ascending. Very tiresome. But, no need to rush. We aren't on a race. Breathe in, breathe out. Drink water. Anyways, since we are surrounded with trees, expect a cold weather during the trek. 

After an hour, we reached our 2nd water source. This will be the last water source during the ascent.

So okay, here we go with the pure mountain challenge! But don't worry, there are stopovers along the way that you can sit and relax. 

Last stopover before the peak.

After almost 2 hours of uphill hike, here we are at Mt. Loay's peak! See how high we are?! But the view? Wow, as in wow! Behold, Spectacular Sta. Cruz! 

Slowly but surely, we made it girls! Wuhoo! 

 This picture was taken during our 2nd climb at Mt. Loay. This view is what they called Mt. G2 of Sta. Cruz. Ayeeee! 

Now, there are two options for you. You can either do a backtrail or if I may suggest, do a traverse to Langan Falls. If climbing Mt. Loay is a pure ascent, traversing to Langan Falls is pure descent. There are even parts of it that has 90deg elevation. No established trail yet, so you may need to look for some branches to hold on to while going down.

 The best part? We call it the "Maisan Trail". 

On my 2 attempts to descend here, both teams were severely raped here. Hahaha whatta term! 

 Look how strong I am! I am able to save you from this falling big rock with just 1 hand! Hahahaha! 

Almost 2 hours downhill and we arrived at Langan Falls. It's small, but it's clean and very cold. Perfect dip to rest those aching legs, feet, and butt used during the trail. 

Climb the 1st tier, you'll have your own mini pool.

Oh wait, I need to pee. Haha! Joke! 

Me, Mitch, and Leah enjoying the cold water of Langan Falls. Refreshing. Rewarding. 

After an hour of swimming and resting at Langan Falls, we decided to end our dayhike. The next part is very easy. No more uphill or downhill climb. You can just either ride a habal2 going to the main road and ride a bus home. Or you can walk from Brgy Langan to the main road which will take you almost an hour depends on your pace of course. 

Mt. Loay traverse to Langan Falls

Sta Cruz, Davao del Sur

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