San Carlos Cave: Of Speleothems and Subterranean River

San Carlos Cave is a lesser known technical spelunking destination in Peñablanca, Cagayan which showcases variety of speleothems, easy path to muddy passageway, and punctuated with a subterranean river.

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Location of San Carlos Cave

Peñablanca, Cagayan, Philippines

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How to get to San Carlos Cave

Get to Tuguegarao City, Cagayan:

• By air: There are flight bound to Tuguegarao City operated by Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific with approximately an hour travel time.

• Manila to Tuguegarao City by land:  You can take a bus from Manila with Victory Liner (Kamias), Florida Liner (Sampaloc), Five Star Bus (Cubao), Dalin Liner (Sampaloc), and Deltra Bus Transit to Tuguegarao with approximate travel time of 12 hours give or take. Fare ranges from Php800.00-1000.00 depending if ordinary aircon, deluxe, or sleeper bus.
• Baguio City to Tuguegarao City by land:  There are daily trip of GMW Trans (location here), Pine Tree Transit (formerly Dangwa Tranco at the back of Baguio Centermall), and Dalin Liner (Gov. Pack Road). GMW Trans follows Ilocos-Cagayan route while Pine Tree Transit and Dalin Liner follow the Pangasinan-Nueva Vizcaya-Isabela-Cagayan route.
• Vigan City to Tugegarao City: GMW Trans with travel time of approximately 8 hours.
• Private vehicles: Directions can be easily accessed thru web mapping services and apps such as Google Map, Waze, etc.

From Tuguegarao City to San Carlos Cave, Peñablanca, the following are your options:

• Tricyle hire. Within Tuguegarao City, you can charter a tricycle to bring you to DENR Office within the Callao Ecotourism Zone (or to the meeting place set with your guide if there is) with one-way price of as low as Php400.00 to Php600.00 (haggling skill is much needed).
• Regular Tricycle commute. From Tuguegarao City, take a tricycle to Callao TODA terminal at the Riverside. From there, you will take another tricycle bound to Callao Ecotourism Zone (or to the meeting place set with your guide if there is) at Php45.00.

Any fees, scheduled trips, routes, or facilities mentioned here are subject to change according to existing and current government, private, or association rules.

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Fees/Rental/Facilities

• Guide fee: 500 for a maximum of three persons (done thru the DENR office in Callao Ecotourism Zone or Sierra Madre Outdoor Club).
• Head lamp/light rental: None. Head lamp is provided by the guide. Better if you can bring your own as source of additional light, especially if you are a large group.
• Knee & elbow pads rental: None.
• Shower facility: None.
• Parking fee: None.

Any fees, scheduled trips, routes, or facilities mentioned here are subject to change according to existing and current government, private, or association rules.

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Cave Characteristics

• Mineral deposit formations: Abundant
• Underground river: Yes.
• Bat population: Numerous.
• Multi-chamber: Yes.
• Human artefacts/remains: None
• Cave floor fill (aside from stone formations): Stone, bat droppings, soil, mud, and pebbles.
• Spelunking duration: two to hours, depending on your pace and point of interest.
• DENR Cave Classification: Not yet assessed or result not yet published.

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Of Speleothems, Slushing Through Mud, and Subterranean River

San Carlos Cave is a lesser known technical spelunking destination Peñablanca, Cagayan which showcases variety of speleothems, easy path to muddy passageway, and punctuated with a subterranean river.

In the shadow of more famous Peñablance caves, a nearby cave offer more activity to technical cavers and adventurous tourists. San Carlos Cave is located in Peñablanca, Cagayan. It offers an alternative destination to spelunkers who do not have the luxury of time to go to farther caves like Odessa-Tumbali Cave or those who needs a more arduous activity than that of Callao Cave. Unfortunately, the cave, despite of its beauty and subterranean river, has few visitors.

San Carlos Cave is also within the vast perimeter of the Peñablanca Protected Landscape and Seascape (PPLS). This prohibits any any of its part from sale, settlement, and exploitation and subject to existing, recognized, and valid private rights, if any there be (Proclamation No. 416, s. 1994). Understandably, this cave is protected not just of the subterrabean river and speleothems but of the living organisms within it. Aside from the numerous bats, there are also crickets, scorpions, snake, crab, among others.

Getting to the entrance of the cave requires you to walk about 15-30 minutes [or even more] from the road, depending on your pace. About a quarter of it is uphill, thus, water is a must to carry.

Speleothems of San Carlos Cave

At the entrance alone, it is evident that the cave is highly abundant with stone formations. There are also a lot of bats inside that makes guano a common sight at the cave floor.

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At the entrance, unlike entering in Aran Cave in Tuba and Paterno Cave in Tublay, you only need to duck and protect your head from banging to the low-lying stalactites. This is the point where you can see debris of vandalism of some previous cave-goers. There were even tell-tales of making camp fire inside near the entrance. Fortunately, this evidence of bad behavior of tourists ended on this part of the cave.

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Aside from the peculiar wedge-shaped stone formations, the cave also offer a variety of colorful speleothems. The vast cavern before the muddy area displays ‘crystal’ stalactites.

The Muddy Passageways of San Carlos Cave

About a quarter of the total length of the passageway is muddy. This might probably one of the reasons why some tourists avoid this cave once they hear of it. But this is actually one of the unique features of Peñablanca caves, especially San Carlos Cave and Sierra Cave.

San Carlos Cave Subterranean River

Interestingly, San Carlos Cave has a subterranean river like Aran Cave and Capisaan Cave. It does not cover the whole length of the passageway, rather, it drains near the end of the muddy passageway and starts at the end of the caving adventure.

The first image below shows shallow pools which is the home of a crab, as seen in the succeeding image. According to the guide, this area is more beautiful if the volume of water is bigger.

Upstream, there is a crystal clear twin pool. You can access the farther pool, which is the end of the journey, by ducking under the three-meter bridge of rock. The catch is its underwater.

Once again, you need to bring a complete set of cloth because you’ll walk through muddy passageway and get soaked in the twin pool. If the waster level is higher, you need a good protector (like a big zip bag) to protect your camera if you have one. Fortunately, the water level is low that I could barely pass my camera above water below the rock dividing he two pools.

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Reminders

• Always practice leave-no-trace principle. I have to highlight to please not leave anything inside, do not vandalize, and do not take any physical memento from the cave. Whether it is under the protection of the DENR or not, treat nature with respect.
• The weather is hot, thus bring enough water to quench your thirst on the way to the cave and during the spelunking activity.
• It is highly advisable to contact your guide a day before and arrange transportation in advance.
• Wear a comfortable dark-colored, non-slip, close-toed rubber shoes for the hike and halfway through the cave.
• Do not remove your socks [remove only your shoes or sandals] when you reach the muddy passageways because there are sharp-edged stones and pebbles at the bottom of the mud [THANK ME LATER IF YOU HEED MY ADVISE]. Thus, it is advisable to wear thick ones to protect your toes and feet. By the way, some parts of the muddy passageway goes knee-deep.
• Get a complete extra set of clothes to change to after you get out of the cave.
• Since there is a subterranean river inside, bring zip bags for your gadgets. Also, consider re-scheduling your activity if there had been a continuous heavy rain in the area.

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Reference

Proclamation No. 416, s. 1994. Retrieved on 19 July 2019 from https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1994/06/29/proclamation-no-416-s-1994/.

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Disclaimer: As much as we want to give the most accurate information for the readers, change will always occur (e.g., contact number, transportation, fees, etc.). With this, please do comment below any updates as well as corrections on the content, anything amiss, or any information that you think is crucial to the readers. Iyaman!