No secret remains hidden forever, even the unknown Mt. Secret reveals itself to us. And now that I conquered the heights of Mt. Secret, I believe it will strike its popularity among tourists around the world anytime soon.
The first question that came into mind after hearing the name of our next target mountain to climb is why it was named like that and the same question also came out from my friends when we were already having a conversation with the organizer of the joined tour. As far as I could remember we did not receive a satisfactory answer. The organizer just mentioned that it was named by the locals or by the proprietor of the land where the mountain was situated.
Mt. Secret barely stands at San Rafael, Bulacan. It is not the usual mountain we draw on a piece of paper with a perfect cone shape. It is rocky and even has sharp surfaces. I can compare its shape to the Nagpatong Rock in Quezon. They both have the same texture and somewhat similar shape, but Mt. Secret is smaller than Nagpatong Rock.
It is also coined as The Hidden Mountain of Bulacan, and I still wonder why oh why. I failed to ask the locals as I was busy tending myself from the heat and enjoying the journey with my sister, friends, and other joiners of the tour. I thought it was named like that because it is private property or it was only discovered recently and unconsciously kept hidden from the locals and tourists coming from the different parts of the world.
It was a short hike and the easiest mountain climbing ever since I experienced the thrill and joy of hiking in the year 2018. In the darkness and cold air of the dawn, the organizer told everyone during the orientation that the mountain's height was 300 MSL something and perfect for beginners. It was a relief on my part since it was my sister's first time climbing a mountain.
There were boulders and small rocks of Marmol on our way to the mountain itself. Most of the self-imposed photoshoot began in that area. It appeared that mining occurred somewhere near the mountain and we were not wrong. We could hear explosions when we were already on the other top of Mt. Secret where we climbed through via rappelling, and one of the coordinators and other guides of the tour did not keep it a secret to us that quarrying and mining were actually transpiring at that very moment.
The place appeared to be dry and on the verge of drought, but there was still a remnant of beauty in spite of the dryness. I was able to capture a picture of a flower I usually encounter from the other mountains I had been and the only tinge of color on the vast space of greens, browns, grey, and white. It is only my observation and maybe already a hush-hush among the tourists and the locals. It is like an open secret to everyone who arrived and captured the remnant beauty of Mt. Secret.
Mt. Secret, the Hidden Mountain of Bulacan, will bare it all to you, the good and its bad sides, the danger and the protection it can provide. All of it, nothing is hidden in the Mt. Secret.
to be continued...
Photos credit to Arra A.
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