This amazing wonder is not called Aurora's "Mother Falls" for nothing. Standing more than a hundred feet, water thunders as it hits the catch basin. I watched in awe as the spray swirled around us. Standing a few feet away from the falls, I could certainly feel its power.

The falls in nested in a glen at the foot of the mountains bordering the town of San Luis in Aurora province, a picturesque province in Luzon's eastern side (made popular by the surfing spots in its capital town of Baler). The falls is a good 30-45 minutes hike, depending on where you'll start the hike. The rough road leading to the actual trail head (where you'll see a non operational hydro electric power plant) gets pretty bad at times.



From the trail head, we followed the river upstream. The water was icy cold and there are sections where we had to climb over slippery boulders. If you are hiking there with your camera gears, a dry bag is an absolute necessity. Along the way you'll see the water pipes that lead up to the falls.



This falls was one of the challenging ones to shoot. A small dam was constructed to close its catch basin and to get its full length, you'll have to come closer and be in its "spray zone". It was practically raining in there and everyone of us were all wet. I was glad I brought a "camera raincoat", thus my camera was protected as only the front of the lens is exposed.



There are spots were the sprays are coming from above and from the back. These are the sweet spots where you'll least likely to get water droplets on your lens.

The mist is constantly swirling around us, as if we're in a vortex. This is being fueled by the strong wind generated as the water hits the catch basin. But there are lull times, a window of a few seconds where you can take off your lens cap, shoot 1 or two frames before your lens gets fogged up again. Its a lot of work for a few shots, but seeing the beauty of the place was enough reward.