pagnapagna: Waterfalls of Tubao, La Union

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"I have known the existence of these waterfalls from one of the men of Agoo, La Union-based organization called Katayagan Mountaineering and Outdoor Team"

-pagnapagna

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Please practice the "Leave No Trace" outdoor ethics when going to these nature places.
Let us not vandalize, put graffiti on their rocks and stone walls. Manage and dispose our waste products properly.

If you find this story/blogpost interesting and/or had helped you in any way (in your researches, works, travels, blogs, adventures, homeworks at school, a personal project and more), I'd like to hear a word or two from wonderful people like you. It gives me inspirations or simply Like "pagnapagna" in facebook. Cheers!

-my pagnapagna-

(August 25, 2016 a Thursday)

At Agoo, La Union (6:53 am), we rode a Victory bus bound for Baguio City that makes its way along Aspiras highway (formerly and popularly known as Marcos Highway) but we alighted at Tubao, La Union (7:07 am) and walked from the national highway going to the town center of Tubao. There we went to eat at their public market.

After eating, we talked to some vendors and coincidentally one of them was from that Barangay of Rizal where we would be going for its waterfalls and his husband was a tricycle driver. She offered and insisted that we take their tricycle, so she called his husband through his cellular phone and we waited.

He arrived, we rode in it from town proper (7:51 am) into the national highway and along the national highway we left-turned to a newly being constructed wide highway (7:57 am) where the welcome arch of Barangay Anduyan was.

The newly being constructed road at Barangay Anduyan going towards the river

Our tricycle ride terminated at the banks of the river (8:09 am), from there, we rode the bamboo raft and paid five pesos each for that river crossing.

After crossing another stream barefooted, we walked our way to the Barangay Hall of Rizal which unfortunately was still closed at that time.
(It's a protocol to visit first their Barangay hall or whatever appropriate office when going to a new place).
Since it was still closed, we headed at the nearby BHW (Barangay Health Worker) center to let our purpose of visiting their waterfalls be known and ask for a possible guide. They called the barangay captain through their cellular phone and I also got to talk to him. Aftewards, they let us sign in on a logbook, gave us instruction to go to Sitio Turod and see the two Barangay Tanods (Village Police Officers) who resides in that area that might serve as our guide.

We did went to Sitio Turod but the Barangay Tanod was not around, instead we got to talk to "Milo" and eventually he became our impromptu guide.

We headed towards our first destination (9:40 am) which is the nearby waterfalls. The trail was not even a trail but a concrete ascending road.

Towards the end of the road was this stream wherein going off-road and downstream would be the "Lang-ay" falls.

At the main cascade of "Lang-ay" Falls

After going farther downstream and seeing its most imposing cascade, we went back to the concrete road (10:46 am) and headed for our next destination which was the waterfalls at the other side of the mountain.

As we ascended just few meters, the concrete road had terminated and vegetation has covered the old earth road.

Although a hint of the ascending trail was visible, "Milo" with a machete cleared some overgrowth as he led the way while I was the sweeper who trailed behind.

The residential area of Sitio Turod as seen (zoomed) from the trail

After less than an hour of walking, we arrived at another stream (11:28 am), we crossed and along the stream we ascended.

And there it was the waterfalls called "Sangbay".

at the upper cascades of "Sangbay" Falls

"Sangbay" is made up of different cascades of probably four tiers. The looks of it reminds me of the upper cascades of "Baey Anito" falls of Alilem, Ilocos Sur.

"Milo" said that "Sangbay", even though its waters diminish during the hot summer months, it generally has waters falling all year round.

After lingering at the waterfalls, it was time to leave (12:10 pm). We went down on the descending trail towards the rice fields below and back to the residential area at Sitio Turod.

We had a snack at a sari-sari store and afterwards we parted ways.

While we were walking along a road towards the river, a man driving a tricycle (with its side car is a carrier) happened to pass by. He invited us to hop on and there we went riding :-)

Many thanks for our free ride from Barangay Rizal to the Aspiras Highway :-)

We came to know that he was going back to Sta. Maria, Pangasinan. He just came to visit and check his rice field (He used to live at Barangay Rizal but now resides at Sta. Maria in the province of Pangasinan).

"Haan pay mut mabalin, isu agawidak pay lang" (It is not yet ready, so for the meantime, I'll have to go home), he said pertaining to harvesting his crops of rice.

We had a free ride until the Aspiras highway. We thanked him and parted ways as he went driving eastwards to the diversion road at Pugo, La Union while we rode a bus going towards west to Agoo, La Union and eventually rode another bus for Home Sweet Home.

-end of pagnapagna-

For the Tubao Public Market CLICK HERE

For the Waterfalls of La Union CLICK HERE

Thanks to M. De Guzman of Katayagan Mountaineering and Outdoor Team for the info regarding the waterfalls

Some video clips "Along the way"

The "Lang-ay" & "Sangbay" Falls