I wonder so I wander: Katkat sa OsKaTrav

The day after our OPeak camping in Dalaguete, we proceeded to do the traverse trek to Kawasan Falls in Badian, dubbed as the "OsKaTrav". "Katkat" is the Bisaya term for climb.

The blue line shows the traverse hike route. Otherwise,
we'd have to take a 9-hour bus trip to go all around the tip.

At the foot of OPeak before commencing the climb.

We started our trek from Osmena Peak at around 7 AM, right after we ate our breakfast, washed our face, and brushed our teeth. The ultimate reward of the entire trek was the cold water of Kawasan Falls.

Pro-tip: DO NOT expect to take a bath in Osmena Peak for many reasons; (1) clean water there is expensive (Php 15/gallon), (2) it's cold up there, and (3) there is no proper latrine ("one with nature" style. haha)

Mantalongon, Dalaguete is dubbed as the vegetable basket of Cebu. The scenery of the trek consisted of trees, greenery, and vegetables of sorts. It was a feast for the eyes! Trivia: one huge basket of vegetables there costs only Php 80 (veggie salad for daysss). The summer sun was up in its full glory which made the trek challenging but not impossible.

Pro-tip: You may ask for a few pieces of vegetables from the farmers as you pass by. Instant chop suey!

My brother posed with the 80-peso basket of cabbages.

We asked for some bellpeppers from the farmer.

It was green all around on most parts of our hike.

The trek itself to Kawasan was moderate in difficulty (3/9), consisting mostly of downhill slopes in the mountainside. The thing with downhill trekking is that one had to use more often the small muscles of the lower limbs and the knees. Conversely, uphill trekking would mainly involve the glutes and hamstrings. We were able to pick up a rapid pace early in the trek, with short rest periods in between. There is a sole freshwater source found midway to Kawasan Falls where we freshened up a bit. The caveat here, however, was the long duration of the entire trek, especially in our case because we somehow got lost in spite of our guide's familiarity of the place. By the time we reached Brgy. Candiis, two of our companions rode a habal-habal (fare: Php 25) all the way to Kawasan Falls. The rest of us had to spend a grueling two more hours of trekking to our destination. The predicted four-hour trek was extended into six hours!

Resting at the freshwater spring found along the trail.

Pro-tip: Bring at least a liter of drinking water per person. Also make sure to bring trail foods (e.g. power bar, chocolate, banana) as energy source. Also, wear the proper footwear (hiking shoes and thick socks) to avoid blisters and foot swelling.

We passed by the Bulan-bulan trail, which was said to be a treacherous path for beginners. It did seem treacherous from a distance due to the lack of trees and the loose rocks on the path which were slippery when stepped on. However, the trail turned out to be one-foot wide and relatively safer than expected. We also passed by an asphalt road that reflected 30% of the scorching heat; a torture for the weary body, if you asked me.

We're small dots walking on the Bulan-bulan Trail.

Staying strong! Banzai!

After six grueling hours of trekking, we finally heard the sound of flowing water from Kawasan Falls. We entered Kawasan through its highest level (level 3) of the waterfalls. The cold water of Kawasan Falls soothed my shaking and aching feet. This, of course, after resting for at least 30 minutes. The waterfalls massage was really amazing! All we paid for this whole trek was Php 300 for the cottage in Kawasan Falls (optional expense, since there are many available shaded areas in Kawasan). We cooked what was left of our canned goods and rice from camping using our burner. Further trek downhill would allow one to appreciate the other levels of Kawasan Falls, the ones with rafts and more people. Exit from the place is an adventure in itself, as we had to pass by slippery rocks amidst the flowing river.