Chasing waterfalls

7 months ago

My mind and body have finally recovered after that straining hike over the weekends.
Also, it's been so long since I've last written. I think, this week might just be the only chill week I have left before I resume my promotion training. And as such, I made sure to fully enjoy my weekend and this week before I suffer again.

Last weekend, my family and I went on a hike and a bit of a river adventure while we're at it. Where did we go? Just in Laguna, which is still in the south so it's not so far from where I live. it's basically just a 3 hour drive from my place.
I swear, Laguna is such an underrated adventure spot. There's just as much waterfalls and rivers down here and the air here is at least a bit colder tgan what you'd normally experience up north. One of those hidden gems we've recently discovered is somewhere in Pangil, Laguna. Not so far from the metro, but the place in itself is so peaceful and also a little secluded. It's mostly bikers and locals that go here, rarely would you see tourists like us so I think a bit of publicity could do this place some good.

This is Pangil, Laguna Eco- Park and the entrance to both Buntot Palos and ambon ambon falls, the difference is that these two are on completely different trails and getting to either falls require a different set of suffering.

At 6am, we were hiking our way up to Buntot Ppalos, or as they like to call it, the secret falls. And you'd understand why it's kept secret, because getting there was such a long hike. It was a 2 hour hike with such an uninhibited trail so you weren't sure if it was safe or what. Luckily, the guides were very attentive and helpful while we made our climb, especially towards my mom because she hasn't been working out as much lately.

I didn't get a lot of photos of the trails because of how continuous our hike was. like, we only stopped a few times in that 2 hour climb up so it was hard for me to stop because I really thought they'd leave me behind if i lost them. I loved the view from up top. you really had to climb the mountain then go down the fall basin just to see the waterfalls.

On the peak of the mountain though, we saw rappelling equipment and I really convinced myself that I would try that on my next hike around next month.

then these were also taken near the peak, just a few hundred meters away from Buntot Alos falls. It was such a huge falls! Much taller than the ones I see on the north side of the country (except for Bomod-ok).

Here's a few close ups of the falls and my gorgeous back 🤭
But if you could see the falls up close, I feel like you guys would enjoy it, especially since the water was the refreshing kind of cold. The kind that won't hurt your bonds or make you shiver so we ended up staying there for about 3 hours and in that entire time, I was just letting the current drift me off to the edges. I just wanted to float so the tiredness from the hike would leave my body.
Unfortunately, lunch was at the foot of the mountain so we had to make our way back and it was an excruciating 2 hours hike back.
And going down the mountain is honestly a lot harder than climbing it so I kind of wish I did more leg day at the gym, but oh well, I still survived the hike up and down.

Unfortunately, these are the only shots I could manage of the trail to ambon ambon falls. The trail going there actually required us to ride a bamboo raft and to cross multiple rivers so the guides advised us to peave our phones behind. Still, it was a fun experience even without the photos. So now, if someone tells me they're from this place and that they grew up needing to cross rivers.just to get to school, I might actually believe them after what I've been through that weekend.