A Short Hike to Mt. Lobo / Mt. Patullok (2,087+ masl) | Bakun Trio Series

The hike dubbed as the “Bakun Trio” has been on my bucket list since starting my hiking ‘career’. The series involves dayhiking the three mountains surrounding Bakun’s Poblacion in a span of three days—Mt. Lubo, Mt. Tenglawan, and Mt. Kabunian. Having climbed Mt. Tenglawan in May, 2022, I set off for a Bakun Trio attempt in December of 2023 to get a hold of what it feels hiking the three mountains.

Another personal goal of mine for this hike was to also see for myself how remarkable it truly was to stay in Bakun Poblacion. I’ve always seen in blogs how Bakun’s Poblacion, being established on top of a low cliff surrounded by the three gigantic mountainous walls comprising of Lubo, Tenglawan, and Kabunian, appears to be one of the most amazing bucolic highland place I have ever seen in my life.

The first day of our hike involved climbing the highest among the three Bakun Poblacion mountains—Mt. Lobo (also spelled as Lubo in some other sources). It is also called locally as Mt. Patullok, which was a derivation of the Tagalog word patusok, meaning ‘pointed’, owing to its conical-shaped peak. Among the three Bakun Poblacion mountains, Mt. Lobo is the easiest to climb yet the most elusive, as it is closed during harvest season. Hence, when we were permitted to hike it, we immediately grabbed the chance.

The characteristic of the hike are as follows:

MT. LUBO / MT. PATULLOK
Jump-off point: Poblacion, Bakun, Benguet
Alternative jump-off point: Dada, Bakun, Benguet
Days required / Hours to summit: 1 day / 2-3 hours
Specs: Minor climb, Difficulty 3/9, Trail class 1-3
Elevation: 2,087 masl, 580m elevation gain (from Barangay Dada)
Features: Vegetable farmlands, view of Bakun mountains

For this hike, we chose the jump-off point at Barangay Dada, as the trail from Barangay Poblacion has not been used for a long time. From Poblacion, we climbed aboard our van and backtracked towards the road that we took going to Poblacion. We alighted at a roadside community in Barangay Dada, which we reached after 20 minutes of vehicular ascent. From there, we started the hike, passing by several residential areas and farmlands before entering a long ascending cemented road, broken by some uncemented parts.

Upon reaching the higher portions of the mountain, we found ourselves in Sitio Lubo, a farming community at an expansive plateau below the summit. From here, the pointed peak of Mt. Patullok can already be seen nearby. We traversed some unpaved roads and potato farmlands before reaching the base of the summit, which is marked by a signboard where the name of the mountain is inscribed. From here, the summit was just 10 to 15 minutes away, and can be reached after ascending a very steep, slippery 30-meter ascent. Due to its steepness, metal railings were installed at the side of the trail to assist hikers in climbing.

We reached the summit an hour and a half after starting the hike from Barangay Dada. The small summit area sits on top of a boulder, where some cemented platform and metal railings were installed. It can probably only accommodate a handful of people. Caution must be exercised here as the edge of the summit can lead to a steep fall.

Since we hiked during noon, we were not able to enjoy views of the surrounding mountains as the fog had already enveloped a large part of the summit. There was only a small opening in the northeastern and eastern side of the summit, providing views of the farmland plateau nearby, and the other summit of Mt. Lobo opposite of the plateau. I surmise that this other summit, surrounded by a thick (most probably mossy) forest, is higher than the one we were standing on, but may be too far to go to, and may be sacred to the locals.

We started the descent after staying at the summit area for thirty minutes. We reached Barangay Dada in less than an hour, and we were back in Bakun Poblacion in no time. The next two days after hiking Mt. Patullok saw us climbing Mt. Kabunian the next day. On our last day, we did not push through in hiking Mt. Tenglawan due to logistic reasons. Instead, we had an unexpected hike on a lesser known mountain in Kibungan, Benguet—Mt. Kilkili.

Itinerary
07:30AM Everman’s Eatery (Kapangan, Benguet), breakfast
10:30AM Bakun Poblacion, register and rest
12:00PM Jump-off point (Barangay Dada), start hike (1600+ masl)
01:30PM Summit (2087 masl), take pictures
03:00PM Back at jump-off point
03:30PM Back in Bakun Poblacion, rest