I am a Manila lover, I pride myself on being a champion for her. However, her lack of parks and green spaces can get to me. There are weekends, even mid-week mornings, when I can feel a hunger in my bones for nature. These stirrings usually add up until a tipping point reaches and I can't go another day until I have had my fill in trees, grass and sunshine. Our recent trip to Treasure Mountain was spurred because of these teasings. The mountains called and we listened! 

As with many of our explorations, I was tipped off to Treasure Mountain through Instagram. Because it is so newly opened I couldn't find much information. Lucky for me, I have an adventure-loving-blog-writing friend who has already written a very detailed post with all the information one would need to visit Treasure Mountain. Thanks Celine! I saw the photo, read the blog, packed the lunches and off we went to play in the clouds for the morning. You don't need to much to escape to the mountains for a day. The Philippines is so diverse even just two hours outside of Manila. 

It is not lost on our family that our kids are terrible hikers, yet we keep inflicting ourselves with the hopes of fitting that 'hiking family' mold. Well today was our day, we actually hiked and it was fine! You wanna know the secret? Treasure Mountain isn't really a hike. Ha! It was pretty much a simple walk up a hill to overlook mountains. {Our other secret for getting kids to 'hike': promises of their very own plastic bottle of orange sugar chemicals called Royal at the end of their hike. Yup, works like a charm.} 

Since many visit Treasure Mountain to camp they have a large gazebo with breezy hammocks at the crest of the mountain.  We spent a good chunk of time swinging in the fresh air all together. In the center of the gazebo was a fire pit which I assume you could use to roast marshmallows or cook tin foil dinners. There wasn't a lot of camping space that we could see so I was surprised to see so many patrons. That is a quality Filipinos have, they can squeeze a lot of people anywhere. 

You do not have to work hard to get a good view at Treasure Mountain but don't expect much more than a good view and picturesque photos. While the scenery was exquisite it did lack in open space to run around or roam. I was hoping for an entire mountain side to play on but it was a very small area. In spite of the size, we still enjoyed our selves all morning and attempted purify our lungs with mountain fresh air. 

I let Aaker have my phone for the morning to film and photograph, I love what he captured below. 

I wanna jump back in this photo and stare at the landscape for a few hours. It appears endless! The mountains were reminiscent of our trip to Batanes May 2016. If you can't make it to Batanes, come up here for a day, you'll get a small taste of the majesty. 

US

I read this article about hiking with kids used three tips from it this day. First, sing songs or play games while moving - it actually worked! Second, I gave my eldest the phone to take videos and photographs and you saw above what he captured. Third, we kept moving which meant no one could be held! My husband I decided at the beginning of the hike we wouldn't carry anyone. As mentioned before it was pretty much a walk up a hill which any small child could do. And my last little tip was bribery of orange soda, which the author of the article did not mention, it's my secret sauce so to speak. (bahahahahah)   

OUR SUPER HIKER FOR THE DAY!

Treasure Mountain has a small open air restaurant that will serve you a warm meal during your visit. This particular day they served us yummy sinigang and bbq pork belly. It was so simple yet flavorful. The portions are large and the price is fare. They also have multiple snack options on site and many sari sari's right before you enter the property. 

We were on top of the world, even if just for a morning and it was just what my bones were aching for. 

things to know:

• Treasure Mountain Educational Campsite

  Sitio Maysawa, Brgy. Cuyambay Tanay, Rizal
  +63 9 17 946 1200

• Getting there can be difficult once reach the base and head to the trail head for Treasure Mountain. I would not recommend going after a rainy day. You have two options of getting to the entrance. You can park at the base and pay a trike to take you up or you can rough the bumpy road. I would only recommend the latter if you have a 4 wheel drive. 

• Price list courtesy of Celienism.com.