#talayfalls

3 Falls in a Day

We decided to stay in Mount Caliraya Lake Hotel overnight so we can be in Laguna area already to see mainly the falls. Mount Caliraya is still quite far from Luisiana where the falls are located. Read the review on Mount Caliraya here https://www.tripadvisor.com.ph/ShowUserReviews-g1943834-d4404668-r377552478-Caliraya_Springs-Cavinti_Laguna_Province_Calabarzon_Region_Luzon.html

We were planning to see only Hulugan Falls but we were surpised to know that we can actually see 3 falls that day. Hulugan Falls, Talay Falls, and the Hidden Falls are all in one area and they’re not far from each other. Waze, our all time travel companion took us to Luisiana where the starting point for the trek is. When we got there, a guide followed our car. We did the registration at the Barangay Captain’s house with our guide, Michael. I remember asking Michael before we start if it will be difficult. He told us that the climb will be fairly easy. He even said, they had senior citizen climbers too. I was convinced and very determined to do the trek. Our guide told us that there is no fixed rate so it really depends on how much you want to pay him. The use of shower rooms is also available for only Php 15.00 per person. 

The first falls that we saw was Hulugan Falls (photo above). The trek going there was not that difficult but we were sweating like hell. We are not the athletic type, we rarely exercise and we have bad habits to break but still we found the climb really doable. We got tired but the sight was majestic and totally worth it. We did not swim but they allow people to go into the water also. That day there were not so many people because it was a weekday. We rested there for a while and enjoyed the wonderful view.

Second falls that we saw was the Hidden Falls. Okay, before getting there you have to know that we literally felt like there was no air and I felt so claustrophobic I thought I’ll die. It was extremely difficult for us to get to the second falls. Due to the hot weather condition that day, we both had difficulty in breathing. I do not know how we survived but thank God we are still alive. When we were almost near the Hidden falls and the level of difficulty of the trek became easy, we started breathing normal again. The guide said, it’s a 20 minute trek from Hinulugan Falls to Hidden Falls but we spent longer time simply because we were stopping every 5-10 minutes. Getting to the Hidden Falls is like being in a Lara Croft movie, us doing mostly the stunts. We felt like a hard core trekker since it required us to do rope rappelling to reach the Hidden Falls. With air, everything was doable.