Mt. Megatong (430+ MASL) | Davao del Norte’s Gem

Note: no pictures for this blog. I wasn’t able to upload due to WordPress restrictions.

Three days after my dayhike attempt in Mt. Apo, I went to Davao del Norte’s Mt. Megatong. For this hike, I was with my friends, Fara and Rex, who came from their separate dayhike trips within Davao Region.

I rendezvoused with the two outdoor geeks at Ecoland Terminal in Davao City one afternoon of March, 2022. We then rode a Santo Tomas-bound bus, the trip taking us almost three hours due to heavy traffic in Davao City. We arrived at the town proper of Santo Tomas around 7PM. Since it was nighttime, we chose to have dinner first before meeting with our contact persons. Then, we bought some last minute supplies.

Upon meeting our contacts for the hike, we were shocked to find out that we will be going to the jump-off point via a skylab, a habal-habal in which the passenger seats are comprised of wooden planks attached to the two sides of a motorcycle bicycle. The local driver, besides driving, was required to balance the weight of the passengers on both sides of the motorcycle. It was a thrilling windy adventure going to Sitio Talos!

Upon arriving there, we were dropped at Lantawan ni Bakoko—a wide compound overlooking Mt. Megatong and the mountains of Davao del Norte. This compound, which can serve as a camping area and a resort, is taken care of by the Ata-Manobo people, who welcomed us upon arriving there. They gladly welcomed us and granted our request to rent the elevated hut located at the center of the compound. This was where we spent the night before hiking Mt. Megatong. Fortunately, the area was well-maintained despite being in a bucolic area and did not fall short of the necessary accommodations.

We slept the night surrounded by the cold mountain air.

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We woke up at around 4:30 in the morning and started the hike at 5:07 in the morning. The initial trail passes through a muddy dirt road that leads to the ridges above Kipaliku River. The initial parts of the trail already rewarded us with a view of grassy, rolling knolls surrounding the whole area. The brown waters of Kipaliku River was snaking its way through some of these knolls.

We then descended on a grassy ridge, then took on a flat to gradually ascending trail that stretches on and on the up and down slopes. For every hundred few meters covered for this hike, new and new angles of the grassy land formations surrounding the trail were revealed. It was a feast for the eyes! We were reminiscing some similar mountains with the same physical characteristics—Mts. Batulao and Ulap come to mind! The summit of Megatong looms at a distance.

Still recovering from my Apo dayhike, I chose to take the trail of Megatong slowly and gradually.

Before arriving at the final assault to the summit, we passed by the side of a giant boulder en route to the first peak of the mountain. The trail after Peak 1 is a connecting ridge that leads towards the final assault to the summit of Mt. Megatong.

After taking the final assault coming from Peak 1, we arrived at the topmost part of the ridge where locals were selling drinks. The actual summit of Megatong was on the left side of this ridge. There, some overnight campers were snapping their pictures at the peak. We waited for them to leave the summit before our turn. It was past 7 in the morning, almost two hours after starting the hike. Both Rex’ and my STRAVA registered a distance of 5KM from Lantawan ni Bakoko.

Once we had our turn, we took several photos at the peak. This peak that we were standing on was comprised of stacks and stacks of rock covered in grass. On all sides are ravines down which one can fall.

The view in all directions was spectacular! In the northern direction is the continuation of the ridge-summit of Megatong where one could set camp. In the western and southern direction are the layers and layers of land formation surrounding Mt. Megatong. One could also spot Davao Gulf in the horizon at the southern direction. Towards west is the expansive field of Davao Del Norte. In the horizon, Rex and I spotted a towering mountain. At first, we speculated it was Mt. Hamiguitan, but upon checking our maps, we had a hunch that it was possibly New Bataan’s Mt. Pandadagsaan/White Peak!

Since we did not want to experience the punishing heat of the sun, we immediately descended after snapping some pictures. Because the river was swelling during our visit, we were not able to do the river trekking part of the hike, leading us to backtrack the trail that we took. As we were nearing the initial knolls and ridges we passed at the earlier parts of the hike, the punishing sunlight caught up, which slowed down my pacing.

Thankfully, I reached Lantawan ni Bakoko past ten in the morning. Rex and Fara were already resting and taking pictures at the different spots in the area when I arrived. We then rested and changed clothes. Around twelve noon, we were back at the Santo Tomas town proper where we rode a van going back to Davao City.

As our final stopover for our 3-day Davao Region trip, Mt. Megatong provided us with a feast for the eyes and respite for our souls. It was a nice visit to this underrated gem in Davao del Norte. Hanggang sa muli, Dabaw!

Some helpful info about the mountain
Jump-off point: Lantawan ni Bakoko, Sitio Talos, Brgy. San Jose, Santo Tomas, Davao del Norte
Elevation: 430+ MASL (STRAVA and maps.me recorded)
Specs: Minor climb
Days required / Hours to summit: 1 day / 2-4 hours
Features: grassy ridges, view of Davao del Norte, river crossing (if river is not swelling)

Itinerary
Day 0
04:00PM Meet-up at Ecoland Terminal, Davao City, ride a Santo Tomas-bound bus
07:00PM Santo Tomas proper, dinner
08:00PM Skylab to Sitio Talos
09:00PM Lantawan ni Bakoko, rest
10:00PM Lights out
Day 1
05:00AM Start hike
06:30AM Peak 1
07:00AM Mt. Megatong summit
08:30AM Start descent
10:00AM Back at Lantawan ni Bakoko, rest and tidy up
12:00PM Back at Santo Tomas proper, return to Davao City

For more information about the hike, you can visit Transit Pinas’ travel guide for Mt. Megatong or contact Mt. Megatong Guideship via their Facebook page!