In Which We Go CANYONEERING!!!!

FINALLY! (Just a warning, this post may have several words in all caps. I'm pretty excited.) Ever since we went and checked out the Bangseonmun Valley a few weeks ago, I have been dying to go back, and today the weather finally cooperated and I managed to convince Nancy to come with me. As it turned out, upon taking a look at a map of the city, the trailhead for this one isn't too far away. I'm sure I looked pretty awesome riding my bike with a 15 kilogram backpack (at least according to our scale) that had two helmets on the outside of it. I was carrying Nancy's stuff as well as mine. I wasn't sure what to expect in this one, so I brought the whole hog, the rope, the harnesses, enough webbing to make a few anchors, and my sense of adventure. The bike ride there was pleasant. We parked our bikes at the bottom end of the trail and hiked up. The original plan was to hike all the way up to the top of the valley, but after hiking on the trail a little, we realized that there was quite a bit more water in this canyon than there was last time we were there, so we decided to drop in at the library and go from there. The canyon commenced, and for a long time, it looked like it was going to be really pretty and fun, but not very technical. It kind of stayed that way. The bottom was full of water (running water!), but you could avoid it most of the time, and it wasn't very cold at all. I did, however, have to swim at the beginning. Nancy went around through the forest and got attacked by bugs. I think I made the better choice. Anyway, here are a few pictures.

Running water!

I'm totally stoked to be canyoneering, even if my gut is hanging over my belt like crazy! 

I vote that this should be Nancy's new Facebook profile picture.

The waterfall in the background of this one was probably the coolest one.

Nancy standing on a cool overhanging rock.

Why yes, that is an overpass. Did I neglect to mention that this canyon is basically in the middle of the city?

Still super pretty!

Hyundai endorses this canyon.

After the overpass, the canyon actually got a little more technical. Nancy decided to get out and walk on the trail (That's the thing, for most of this canyon you could just climb up the side and get on the trail.) because she didn't feel like swimming, but I went for it! I took a downclimb down into a pool, and it was a swimmer! At least for a second. Then I continued down canyon, and the walls got a bit higher and I had to downclimb a couple more things. Then I got to a spot that I couldn't downclimb and I couldn't walk around. There was nothing for it! I had to make an anchor and rappel! It was a blast and was so glad that I got the chance. Some people who are a little more crazy may have downclimbed it, but I did not. Here are a few more pictures:

Looking back up at where Nancy left the canyon. It was still super pretty!

Downclimb!

Swimmer!

Rappelling!

As you can see from the look on my face in the above picture, I had a pretty awesome time. It wasn't an intense canyon or anything, but I had a great time with it! The technical section ended pretty much right after it began, but it was fun while it lasted, and overall I was glad that I dragged all of my stuff down into the canyon. Also, it was good exercise, as I would prefer for my gut to not be sticking out so much when I wear my backpack. At any rate, that's about all I have to say about this adventure, except that it was AWESOME! This is Captain Danger out.