Backdoor vertical trek to the waterfalls formerly known as Pagsanjan

SENIOR BYAHERO

Pagsanjan Falls does not exist. Try searching “Pagsanjan Falls” on Google Earth and you won’t find any. So, what happened to the Philippines’ most popular waterfalls?

The name Pagsanjan Falls probably started during the early years of American occupation in the Philip-pines. Pagsanjan was the commercial capital and trading center of Laguna, being accessible by boat from Manila via Pasig River and Laguna de Bay, and by river from mountain towns along Sierra Madre. The first Americans were probably travelers and they got bored staying in Manila, and so they went to Pagsanjan looking for adventure. They found the two confluence of two rivers, Bumbungan and Balanac, where the name of Pagsanjan came (‘Pinagsangahan,’) and explored upriver and discovered a magnificent 390-ft. waterfalls at the end after paddling for over five kilometers. They actually reached Magdapio Falls at the next town of Cavinti, but having accessed it from Pagsanjan, it was simply called Pagsanjan Falls.

News of a magnificent waterfalls easily spread, and tourists, mostly Americans, started coming in to the sleepy town of Pagsanjan. A train line from Manila, connecting via Calamba, was soon opened in 1912 to make travels to this new tourist town faster. Hotels and resorts were built to ca