Waterfalling and Trekking in Pugaan, Iligan City

Pugaan is a place that is all too familiar to me, yet vague and unrecognizable at the same time. It has probably been about two long decades since the last time I went there.

Having spent a chunk of my childhood somewhere in the hinterlands of Pugaan, I felt a strong sense of nostalgia as my friends and I met up 7 in the morning at Pugaan Gym, the starting point of our trek. Tito Bobby Timonera, a photojournalist and barefoot runner together with Mico Falame, an experienced climber were our human compasses for this challenging trek.

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We started our trek by walking about 3 kilometers uphill then we took a turn right and went straight through a cornfield.

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Shortly after passing through a few streams, we saw a chute waterfall with a cavity beneath.

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After that short photo op, we went back through the cornfield again…

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…but thence took a different route.

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Here’s another waterfall and it’s a cutey!

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Right beside it is a hollow opening with more than enough space to fit me inside.

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By the way, I highly recommend wearing a rash guard during treks to avoid sunburn and, well, rashes caused in contact with certain plants.

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Wearing of appropriate footwear is a must to avoid slipping on wet surfaces.

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Another find is a horsetail waterfall with a concealed passageway leading up to a grass field. Although there is an easier route, we just had to go through it because… bragging rights. 😉

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As I was firmly gripping my hands on the cold, wet rocks and slowly inching my way up, I had flashbacks of my climbing drills back in college. I never thought I’d be able to put those skills I learned during PE class into good use. Glad to be wrong.

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Brows still on fleek after the climb. YAS.

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Aside from walking, there was a lot of climbing…

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ninjutsu…

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and rappelling (another skill I learned back in college) involved during this trek.

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We’ve seen so many falls, many of them unnamed, that we have lost count after the 20th waterfall.

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Me sitting atop of a waterfall because I live dangerously like that.

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Called the Secret Falls, this waterfall is neatly tucked behind some shrubbery.

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It has a pool that is deep enough for jumping and diving.

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Posing for a photo with Porsche, a fellow blogger from Iligan, before climbing a waterfall. Yes, you read that right!

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And just before I reached the top of the waterfall, I slipped and literally held on for my dear life as I was slowly falling down. Yobz, who was probably 5 feet away from Porsche, suddenly found his way up the waterfall to keep me from falling any further. How he managed to do that is still one of the biggest mysteries in the planet.

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This was him after his adrenaline rush. Probably the funniest thing that happened during the trek. Poor Yobbie Bear. Haha!

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According to Tito Bobby, this rock face was once a waterfall and we were supposed to climb over it. But since the waterfall dried up due to El Niño, we took a different route.

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As we headed our way back to Pugaan Gym, we passed by a small vegetable farm…

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and this big tree (behind us is Mount Agad-agad).

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On our last few kilometers, we stopped by a small store for a quick break and it was there when we realized that we wanted to walk no more. So we hired two habal-habal drivers (motorcycle taxis if you will) and divided into two groups of four. Each group crammed into a motorcycle barely big enough to accommodate everyone including the driver.

Overloading is illegal and dangerous yet a very common occurrence in the Philippines. The ride was fun but the novelty of it started to wear off about 5 minutes in when my back started to hurt. I do not advise anyone to do what we did.

Despite the minor misfortunes, overall, I had a fantastic experience! Pugaan used to be my playground when I was little. But for this adventure, it was my battlefield. So proud to say that I survived the 15-kilometer trek and I did things I never thought I could do. That’s the thing about the impossible… You’ll never know it can be done unless you give it a try.

We have a video! Please check it out after the photo dump 😀

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TEAM KATKAT
L to R: Tito Bobby Timonera, Elijah Dagaerag, Jeffrey Wong, Porsche Carreon, Mico Falame, Boknoy, Yobz and me.