Iligan’s Waterfalling Adventure Tour 1.0 ended the day before but the group still hasn’t gotten enough of those cascading watery things. For the past three days, we checked a total of six out of the twenty three accessible waterfalls in Iligan City—the Maria Cristina Falls, Tinago Falls, Mimbalot Falls, Dodiongan Falls, Pampam Falls, and Kalubihon Falls.

With most of the group still in Iligan, we decided to visit one more waterfall before calling it a day. The waterfall nominated for our visit, the eponymously named Dalipuga Falls.

Dalipuga Falls is part of the three waterfalls that benefit from a stream running across barangay of the same name. It is the lowermost waterfall of the series, with Pampam Falls in the middle and Kalubihon Falls rising above the three. I won’t be surprised if there are more waterfalls running along this watercourse that’s still undiscovered.

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I swam through the darkness. The water was freezing and we can hardly see anything but the faint greenish light gleaming at the far end of the cave. Gingerly, a few of us crept on the side walls of the cave where the water only reaches up to chest-deep in height. Eventually, I arrived at the far end. My eyes adjusted to the midday brightness of the sun and saw Iligan City’s secret waterfall, Kalubihon Falls.

Coming from the relaxing dip at Pampam Falls, a part of the three waterfalls that make up a stream in Barangay Dalipuga, we continued our hike uphill. It was not an easy trek, especially for someone as unfit as yours truly. The climb to Kalubihon Falls only took fifteen minutes but it was a punishing quarter of an hour—especially its final leg.

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A kid ran, hurling himself into air. Arms and legs outstretched, he floated and seemed to stop twenty feet in midair before torpedoing down, headfirst into the clear blue-green waters of Iligan City’s Pampam Falls. Diving perfectly, he glides beneath the crystalline waters of the falls and hurriedly went back up to the jumping edge once more—ready for another jump.

Pampam Falls at Sitio Kalubihon in Iligan City’s Barangay Dalipuga is not as readily accessible as say, the Mimbalot Falls we visited a few days ago. The hike took as long as that of the trail to Dodiongan Falls, which is about 20 to 30 minutes long, but harder.

The dirt path to Pampam slopes down and moves up in relatively steep angles. It would’ve been easier if I’m not hauling a ton of camera gear with me, but that’s a price one pays for photography’s sake.

The thundering drum beats and blaring horns of Diyandi Festival were still ringing in my ears as we hiked through a grassy trail to another of Iligan City’s many waterfalls. It was the third day of the Waterfalling Adventure Tour 1.0 and we’re visiting waterfall number four—Dodiongan Falls in barangay Digkilaan.

The trail to Dodiongan Falls is pretty easy to negotiate, there were no steep hills to trek and no rocky boulders to climb and hop through. The only problem we faced, or at least the members of the group who were wearing trekking shoes, were the numerous river crossings we have to traverse.

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The original plan to reach Mimbalot Falls in Iligan City was to trek the river that runs between the said falls and Tinago Falls. The river trekking would take a minimum of two hours. We were prepared and were as ready as we probably can be with our dry bags packed and dry fit apparels on. But we were just too enchanted with Tinago Falls and spent too much time there that we almost forgot that we have one more waterfall to visit.

To be honest, I was actually relieved that the river trek to Mimbalot didn’t push through. Besides the fear of getting my cameras wet, I was also not sure if my cramps-prone legs can handle the arduous trek. So to the van we went back and arrived at a park or something that looks like a resort.

Seriously, a resort? Yup! They even have a zip line and a cable car! Apparently Iligan City has so many waterfalls—twenty three as of last count—that they even have one inside a resort.

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Some say that the most beautiful spots in the world are located in places that are not so easy to reach; places that are hidden from the eyes of ordinary people. I guess one can say the same with Iligan City’s Tinago Falls. Literally translated from Filipino, it means the Hidden Falls.

There are actually three ways to reach Tinago Falls. The easiest are through Buruun or by the town of Linamon, and hardest is through hours of river trekking from Mimbalot Falls. We chose the easiest of the three, of course.

The way to Tinago Falls through Buruun is not as hardcore as Iligan’s Kalubihon Falls but it does take a bit of stamina to reach it.

First, we had to descend half a thousand steps into a once beautiful resort that has now fallen into absolute ruin. Our Iliganon friends related, as we hiked through the bushes in the area, how posh the resort once was before it was abandoned and nature once again took over.

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As far as grade school students are concerned, there are only two waterfalls in the Philippines—Pagsanjan Falls in Laguna and the more impressive Maria Cristina Falls in Iligan City. I wasn’t even aware back when my Sibika at Kultura teacher taught us about it that the latter is located in Iligan City. You can just imagine my delight when I saw the itinerary for the Waterfalling Adventure 1.0, we’re gonna visit one of the two Philippine waterfalls that really matter.

Unlike most waterfalls in the country where arduous trekking is usually involved, visiting Maria Cristina Falls has none of that drama at all. But a stopover to the NPC Nature’s Park also entails a bit of work, make sure you call first before visiting, else you might not see any cascading falls at all. But coordinating with the NPC peeps is basically all the work you needed to do. Nice eh?

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