The Great Kapatagan: Mount Malinas + Cave(s) + Waterfalling

Participants of the Kapatagan: Mt. Malinas, Caving and Waterfalling. Image Credit to Sir Daryl Tolero

Last November 2-3, I witnessed the beauty of a such peaceful and happy town inside the Lanao del Norte province, its nature, the people around it, and the wonders that you will never regret it. It’s Kapatagan.  This time, I will write about these natures that I visited together with the friends of these wondrous Kapatagan.

After a few days before and after the Mount Sumagaya climb at Claveria, Misamis Oriental, i seen the poster on Facebook from the LGU of Kapatagan inviting people to join the climbing of Mount Malinas, the caving, and the visit of the best waterfalls named Santa Cruz and Cathedral which they are proud of, so I got interested and joined in.

In the early morning of November 2, I was thinking that, “Would I ever make it to the KTC (Kapatagan Town Center)?” because I arrived on the Southbound Terminal at around 4:00AM then the bus went to Kapatagan starting 4:13AM. In my thoughts that I will arrive before 6AM, I tried to convince the bus driver to speed up his driving, because he’s maintaing 60-70 KPH, but he told me that it’s against their so-called “protocols” and have the possibility to get scolded by the inspector. 6AM was the expected time of departure going to the Barangay of Malinas, which will mark the start of trekking.

The Trek to Mount Malinas

I arrived on the assembly area, but then little frustrated because I thought that we will move on-time at 6AM to Barangay Malinas and delayed around 1 hour. I had breakfast of one of the fast food store just outside the Town Center, and that time I seen Alex, one of the members of Iligan Bloggers Society which I’m a member also. Bags are packed and ready to go, I sat on the top-side on the large jeepney going to the Barangay Malinas, after a 30 minute trip, we arrived.

Assembly area - Photo by Mam Rio

We started the climb together with the ICI Mountaineers, ICI Alpinist, students of the ICI-Kapatagan, LGU of Kapatagan, and some invited-to-join parties for about 15-20 minutes. After that, we made a stop which you can have the option to cross the river, hanging bridge or cross the river on-foot, some of them crossed the river through the hanging bridge but then I prefer the easy one, crossing the river on-foot, so I joined the other team, ICI Alpinist, to cross it and taking pictures among ourselves. Weather on the ascent to the Mount Malinas was quietly hot and sky clear, and I think, climbing on that day is very tiring because of the sun rays hits directly on our body.

After the crossing of the river bank together with the ICI Alpinist. Photo by Mam Rio

On the middle of the trek, we need to cross a bridge again, it’s made of bamboo shoots, well it is firm and strong but it is advised to cross it, one after the other, because there is a slight chance that you will fall, the height was around 10-15 feet from the bridge, down to the water. We crossed numberous rice fields, encoured a slight rain, but the bad side is, there is really no trees as you passby while going to the summit, tireness and exhaustion to the climbers was due to head which can be possibly fall on to dehydration or heat-stroke. The group was supposed to move on together but due to the heat and taking to much rest, the others are already in advance, some are the last people on the trek, and we are on the middle (me, my ex, and her best friend). The trek was not really a hard one compared  to Mount Agad-agad, it took 3-4 hours to climb. We’ve reached the summit of Mount Malinas in the afternoon, taking a break and assembled our respective tents. If your facing Kapatagan as your North, you will see the perfect vicinity of Mount Malindang and the Panguil Bay on left, on the right side you will see mountains bigger than Mount Malinas, on the south-west, you will see the Pagadian City, much little to see in broad daylight but it’s perfect when viewed during night time.

Mount Malindang during dusk before night - Photo by Mam Rio

If you’re asking about the climate of the Mount Malinas, for beginners, it is really cold but for myself, it is not really cold, comparing this to Mount Sumagaya, you really some serious gears to keep you warm due to the very cold climate at the summit, much like of a freezer playing around 10-15 degrees Celcius.

From Left-to-Right: First left: Sir Randy | Third left: Myself
Photo together with the ICI-Kapatagan Students
Photo Credit to: Sir Daryl Tolero

A photo of myself - Thanks to sir Daryl for the photo.

Due to the resulting stress of the early travel to Kapatagan and the trek to Mount Malinas and the Caving Activity, I slept early to fill-in the missing hours of sleep and I intentionally not to sleep before November 2 because, if not, I won’t be there, maybe waking up on the late morning. Since the night is up, everybody else went to sleep and waiting for the early morning air catch.

Sunday Morning Photo, ICI-Kapatagan Students
Photo by: Sir Daryl Tolero

When I woke up, I went outside to catch the cold air but suddenly there was a little bit of argument coming from the other side of the mountain, not really sure of where he is come from, and I know later that Mount Malinas was disputed between Kapatagan and Sultan Naga Dimaporo, but I believe that it is really in Kapatagan. Not to mention the main reason of the disputed mountain. After that, we take our breakfast and preparing for our descend going to the Town Center, visiting the two great waterfalls, Cathedral Falls and Santa Cruz Falls.

Early Morning at the Summit of Mount Malinas

The Great Caves*

According to the guides, there are an actual count of 7 caves that are already explored which we can visit, but unfortunately we visit 3 caves, although we didn’t have the other four, we are enjoying it. Before we arrived to the first cave which the guide instructed, the trek is really-really slippery, I slipped four times I think, and I wore my badminton shoes not the mountaineering shoes. As we arrived at the entrance, I was really amazed on the rock formations inside of the cave, more than that, it is pitch-dark and quite slippery. As we reached quite distance from the entrance, I noticed that I catching the air to breath, the guide told us that, as you reached quite far, the amount of oxygen to breath is thinner.

We experienced the same on the second cave, lack of oxygen air. Another guide told us that, “Don’t look above? Because bats will intentionally urinate, and when it gets contact on your skin or eyes, it really itchy.” And again, we weren’t to see the exit of the second and first cave but we got into some crawling activity as we got far.

The more challenging part of the caves is the third, when you looked up on above, it is really high, measuring higher than 10 meters, according to the guide(s), there is a ladder which simply you can move down but unfortunately there is no such ladder. So moved-in to the third cave going down using the rocks that are on the side of the entrance to the cave. I was really nervous of going down because there is no harness support and then, if your not careful on the steps, it has a big chance of getting an injury because of the slippery track going down. The good thing is, we find the exit of the cave and moving back towards of camp at the summit of Mount Malinas.

The Waterfalls: Cathedral and Santa Cruz

It was a great experience having a visit of Mount Malinas and its great caves. We immediately went back to Kapatagan Town Center to put up our Mountaineering Equipment there and then getting ready for our departure going to Cathedral Falls. I was really impressed when I see the Cathedral Falls’ photos on some of my friends of Facebook and finally, I seen it on my very own eyes. I considered Cathedral Falls one of the greatest waterfall in my whole life because of the rock formations surrounding the loud bang of water from the top of the bottom. More than that, we take the opportunity to take photos neither portrait, group photos and even jumpshots, that was the time I take a picture with my girlfriend (now my ex, and only that photo is the only we had as a couple). We bid goodbye to Cathedral Falls and went so Santa Cruz Falls.

On the front: Participants
On the back: Cathedral Falls
Photo by: Daryl Tolero

Reaching the Santa Cruz falls requires you to take a hike around 30 minutes from the highway to reach the perfect view, at the first minutes of the trek was really easy but as you move towards the waterfall, you’ll step into big rocks and crossing into small portions of flowing water. Luckily, that I was wearing slippers because when I wore the badminton shoe, I don’t know on how I will forgive myself why I wore it. Apart from that, when I reached to the waterfall itself, I was some kind of speechless, because, it is really beautiful waterfall, it was like combining 3-4 Tinago Falls piled-up together. Really, it was wider than the usual waterfall I seen. Most of the participants of the climb take the opportunity plunge in to the deep cold water. I didn’t take that opportunity because I had a post-traumatic experience when I was drowned due to the cramps on my left foot. I went immediately back to the highway road at first because I was experiencing light headaches and dehydration due to the very hot climate on that day.

Santa Cruz Falls - Photo Credit to Daryl Tolero

Conclusion

It is an honor for me to witness Kapatagan on what they are really proud of, the countless rice fields, the great mountain ranges especially their Mount Malinas, the caving adventure and the waterfalls visit. It’s an opportunity for me as a blogger, traveller, or a friend to explore Kapatagan.

Thanks to Sir Daryl Tolero of LGU from Kapatagan for the invitation and photos, the ICI Mountaineers-Alpinist Climbers now called as HANGAK Mountaineers, the tour guides who gave us the way which takes us away from danger, MSU-MCI team, and any people who participated on the event.

It’s really more fun in Kapatagan!

This is going to be my 18th and final mountain climbing, I will return some day on this year or next, but I want to try something new to myself, travelling Mindanao.

*There is no yet photo for the Caving, I'm still waiting to the owner of the photos to grant me permission to post it in this article.

Photo album:

11/11/2012 11:22:00 PM