ABRAmazing Adventure : Kaparkan Falls

My sponsors have been taking me everywhere. Go check them out! So why not join the fun, right? My turn.

Let us go to Kaparkan Falls. I do not have a top view of the place. I may have misplaced it or have not taken one. Apologies on that one.

I went there with my constant travel buddies.

This is one of my local trips that I still am having a hard time to deciding if I will repeat it or not. The place, no doubt, is absolutely beautiful the images I have will not do it any justice.

We normally arrange our trips and set our own itinerary but for this one we decided to be joiners.

Kaparkan Falls or the Mulawin Falls as some would call it, can be found in Tineg in Abra province. Our route would be Manila-Bangued-Tineg.

Meeting up with the group we left for Bangued, Abra. Bangued is the capital city of Abra. It took us around eight (8) hours or a little less I cannot remember coming from Manila to Bangued. The mad UV express driver we had for this trip started the thrilling ride from Manila. He was driving a little too fast and a little hard on the breaks and overtaking. He had one too many cans of Red Bull I think. Most of us in the van did not really get proper sleep considering we all came from our Friday shifts.

Arriving in Bangued, we headed straight for the DPWH center where we had to be submit waivers and also fill up a manifest. The briefing was to make sure we really are up for it. Going up to the falls area is difficult. We were not going up by foot, but we will be riding up the hazardous terrain on monster jeeps or trucks. The DPWH only wants to know if we really are up and fit for it.

We were assigned a truck. The jeeps look more funky and fun but a truck feels a lot safer.

But I really have no experience with the jeep so I would not have a proper comparison.

Other tourists with us were assigned the “Hi-Lander” jeeps. The huge jeeps.

The first part of the trip was smooth. The road is concrete. We crossed three municipalities I think before the one with the falls. We passed by rice fields, rivers, and thru bridges. And then the convoy of trucks and jeeps pulled over for preparation. Their tyres need to be chained for traction going up.

We got off the truck for stretching and for their team to work on the tires. The excitement was starting to build then as the first monster jeep pulled out and was ready to hit the difficult muddy terrain.

We got back up on our truck and then the road starts getting tricky. The excitement turned to nervous laughters and occasional tense silence.

This was almost a two-hour bumpy ride. Bumpy was an understatement. The truck would lurch and tip sideways. We were seated on an unattached bench in the middle of the truck. There were other adventurers right in front of us. We had to find a  way for the bench not to slide towards them or else we will crush their knees. We also need to find a way for the bench not to slide towards the back when the road goes uphill. We had nothing to hold on to. We passed by bikers with their bikes and themselves covered in mud and them trying to push their bikes up. We thought of the top loaders on the first jeep I think they went back inside the jeep instead.

After a lot of lurches, dips, screams and laughter we made it to the jump off point. 

Kaparkan falls’ layout is a cascading limestone terraces. It has pools on every drop some shallow some deep. The whole cascade will pour out to the Tineg River which we will not be able to reach at this time. I think it will take us longer.

We trekked down to the other parts of the falls where we can swim.

We went there around October which is still within the recommended months of visiting. They said that the best visits should be between July and October or the rainy season. Some says some visits in the off season will result into seeing the waterfalls dried up. On the other hand, going there in the middle of the rainy season would mean an even deeper mud drive. Just a thought.

The trek back up was tricky because that would mean we will be climbing up steep walls of rock with cascading water. The guides were cool and offered a helping hand. Considering the bumpy ride we had going there, the climb up has to be fun. So on the way up was an endless photo shoot.

There was no time to wash up going back down. We only changed to dry clothes. Climbed back up on the truck and went down the same bumpy ride we had with the same strategy: do not crush the person's limbs in front of you, grab anything you can grab during a dip hopefully it is not anyone you might pull out off the truck, pray a lot that you will be back on smooth concrete road without injury. We all had bruises somewhere at some point ( haha) and a lot of muscle ache.

After Kaparkan falls, we rested over night in the area and went down to pass by another falls in Ilocos Sur. This time, there was no trek there - the falls was along the road of the inner part of the town. But I will save that for some other time.

You can search for Kaparkan falls to see a better view of the cascading falls from the top where we started our trek down. It is beautiful, the water is refreshing. The only thing that will really make you think twice in repeating the same trip - the ride up there.

Thank you for reaching up to this point! Have a lovely night! Until (maybe) another tour.

© Pichi28

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