At long last we heard the gush of rushing waters.

We were told that President Roxas’ Liktinon Falls was a mere fifteen minutes away from the Barangay Bayuyan jump-off point. Knees shaking, out of breath and ready to collapse, it took a good hour and a half before we reached one of the hidden waterfalls of Capiz.

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It was the third day of our Capiz trip courtesy of the Roxas City Tourism Office. After munching on local kakanins at the Pontevedra Market, the group headed to the town of President Roxas to chase waterfalls. The jump-off trail looked quite easy and relaxed.

But looks can indeed be deceiving.

The dirt trail wound on with our guide well ahead of us. The path was relatively flat and there were not that much forks on the road. Passing a couple of brooks and streams, the trail finally started to slope at an angle. It wasn’t much at first, but then it grew steeper and steeper. Our guide seeming to be nowhere in sight.

There were no sound but the rustling of leaves, our shoes crunching on dirt and our labored breathings. The path seemed unending and looked to be going up the mountain. We sat down from exhaustion and regrouped. The usual roar of a waterfall was nowhere to be heard and we were already trekking for quite a while.

We put a vote on and decided that we were lost.

Since we were told that the falls was just fifteen minutes away, the group didn’t bring ample drinking water to stave off dehydration. We were all sweating buckets as we clambered down the humid mountain trail, hollering for our guides to hear us.

Probably noting that we were taking too long, our guide thankfully went back to the main trail to find us—finding us lumbering halfway between the forks to the waterfall.

But our tribulations didn’t end there.

A slew of gargantuan boulders blocked our path as we exited the canopy of the forest. Asking our guide where the trail was, he pointed to the rocks and answered, that’s your trail. It seemed that we have to hop our way through the boulders to get to Liktinon Falls.

This is where Liktinon Falls got its moniker; liktin, meaning to jump in the Hilagaynon dialect.

Carefully climbing through and praying not to slip, the group slowly ascended and descended through the bouldery terrain.

I can easily say that Liktinon Falls is one of the hardest waterfalls to access in the course of my travels.

After the longest ten minutes of my life, we finally found our query.

Liktinon Falls at last came into view.

The waterfall stands at about fifteen feet high with a very deep catch basin near the drop. Its waters are quite cold, but not as freezing cold as Taytay Falls in Majayjay. It’s temperature is just perfect to soothe our body from the arduous climb.

Our guide told us that there’s another waterfall with a basin up the ledge but I was too tired to check it out. A couple of our companions went up and related that it’s much more beautiful than the Liktinon Falls. The trek towards it though wasn’t easy.

We had a quick meal of kilawing hipon (shrimp seviche) and adobong taklong (forest snails) paired with white rice before dipping at the Liktinon Falls. We weren’t talking much, too busy in replenishing lost calories from the long trek.

Galit galit muna.

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And then it was time to swim.

With our shaking knees gone, we shook off our trekking apparel and went a-splashing across the murky green waters of Liktinon. Being a fan of underwater, I brought along my snorkel and mask just in case the water is clear enough to see the bottom.

But just as I suspected, clarity was super bad under Liktinon. The bottom was a rocky bed with a few large boulders here and there. I spied a couple of small uninteresting gray fishes resting on the mossy rocks below but they were few and far between.

We spent forever swimming and taking photos of Liktinon Falls. It seemed everyone was trying to postpone the inevitable; going back and re-conquering that ghastly boulder non-trail. But it was our fate to do so.

So after some hours, we braced ourselves, securing our cameras tightly and heaved up through the first of the boulders blocking our way. We have a lot of liktin to do before the day ends.

Liktinon Falls
Address: Brgy. Bayuyan, President Roxas, Capiz
Entrance Fee: None
Guide Fee: ₱200.00
Hiking Time: 20 to 30 minutes  
Bayuyan Barangay Hall GPS Coordinates Map: 11.389935, 122.947880

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