An ABSOLUTE MUST do when in El Nido, but..
Stunning, ariel views overlooking the El Nido boat parking bays, following the coastline left and right. Soaking in the trees, natural limestone, white beaches and beautiful blue seas. This hike will take you above it all to capture it in one view.
What To Pack:
Hiking Shoe (at least, runners).
Lots of water.
Snacks.
Camera.
Sunglasses.
A local guide.
Hiking trail notes can be found on AllTrails here. The trail notes are accurate, but it’s still difficult to find.
I would recommend sunrise hike to see the golden hour hitting the mountain ridges, so start your hike around 4:30AM. Find the start of the street that leads into the local community, it’s then a right, left, left, find the larger path and turn right, first left and follow this as it leads around.
You’ll feel like you’re going to the back of nowhere and shouldn’t be there, coming across a pile of old building materials. Once you’ve passed this you’ll see the limestone cliffs start, with a rotten and pulled-down staircase.
This path has been decommissioned due to dangers on the trail and incidents. It’s not a safe path by any means, but if you’ve got common sense about ya, you’ll be right.
Follow the path up and down, pass the internal clear lake. The navigation from here is difficult, so good luck with that. It goes up and down, getting a little overgrown but if you watch out for smoothed rock corners from wear and tear, you’ll be able to follow it.
There are a few questionable spots along the path, that are narrow and require all fours, but are passable. Keep looking behind you, one to review the path you’ve taken is right, secondly, as you’re gaining altitude, there are some ripper sneaky views that come out to play.
The line to the top, you know the good stuff is coming. If you reach a peak right at the front of the cliff face, you have made it! Wipe the sweat off and find a seat, start soaking it all in and get ready to take your photos.
You can hike a bit further from here, there’s a sneaky spot on the left with a pre-built in seat as you can see me perched up on. Otherwise not too much further, aka you can’t get to the highest peak you can see there. A path has never been made.
Soak it in, and watch the sunrise/sunset. Drink tonnes of water and head back down. Remember, it’s slippery, sharp and unmarked. Take your time.