atomicskate - Shanghai…

Seven hours away from Shanghai, in Zhèjiāng province (浙江), I enjoyed my first canyoning experience!


Actually, you’ve first have to reach Jīnhuá (金华) by train: it’s only 2 hours and half since the new Bullet Train is operational. Then, drive during 5 hours (highway, then big road, then zigging mountain road): see the directions on the map at the bottom of this post.
We left Shanghai on Friday afternoon at 3:45pm (train no. D109/D112, 111rmb), then had dinner there and finally arrived in Lǐnghòu (岭后) around 1am. It was time for camping

Just a small remark: the trip was organized by www.tttlife.com
They chose to set up the camping… in the middle of the small village! For those, like me, who don’t wanna sleep on a concrete bed, I advise to follow the small road until the eastern village, then take the small going-down path with the car during 5 minutes: there you can find a flat place, with grass and beautiful scenery to do camping (see map below).

Saturday morning, we discovered the landscape, part of Yàndàng mountains (雁荡山):

And the bottom of the canyon:

You’ve to walk 30 minutes from the eastern village to the bottom of the valley. Then you will arrive at the dam.
Just follow the river on the north-east side, go through a small tunnel, and you will arrive at the beginning of the torrent:

I’m not an expert in canyoning, but here is the basic stuff that you require:
- waterproof back-bag + waterproof bags
- closed shoes (not opened one! Except if you like small rocks going under your feet or being harmed on the top of your feet…)
- frontal torch
- ropes + climbing harness + carabiners
- fingerless gloves
- plastic bags to bring your rubbish (and take those of previous senseless trekkers)
- diving mask!

The trek is a one day walk: it means departure around 8am from the village and come back around 6pm.

Along the trail, you have many deep clean pools where you can swim, dive or jump!

The canyon is really wild, coz no cities around.
Actually the only rubbish that you will find are the ones that previous trekkers didn’t take with them… For instance, we arrived at a place that other trekkers have left maybe few time before, and a fire was burning plastic bags, aluminum containers, glass bottles, etc… !!!???!!!

I’m still wondering why such kind of place is still not part of a AAAA Scenic spot (风景区)… I hope that it will stay free and wild a long time (even if I don’t believe it!).
For those who don’t know China, tourist industry is aiming to put some concrete on all beautiful wild places. For instance, a remote place is going to receive a big large road with a bus parking, and then concrete stairs and path + handrails. Forget to mention that you have to pay at the entrance and that you can drink a cup of tea on a shop every 50 meters + buy a lot of -local- souvenirs (i.e. Adidas t-shirts or plastic swords…).

To be honest, the most bad point of the organization was the climbing part…
The organizers had all the equipment, but seems that they don’t know how to use it correctly. Moreover, climbing with slippers + socks is, on my opinion, not the best way to appreciate and secure such kind of sport.
Anyway, it was really fun and not technically too hard.

When you arrive at these stairs (see picture just below), just follow the path going uphill and you will arrive at the western village (almost 30 minutes of climbing).
Another option: it seems that you can continue to follow the torrent one more day from this point up to the top of the mountain…

Almost all the team:

Actually, Lǐnghòu (岭后) is part of Wénchéng county (文成县): it’s really nearby Wēnzhōu (温州), so for those who wanna get here faster, maybe the plane is a solution (?).

On the western village, you have some small restaurants with delicious (& cheap) local food!
Just be careful of local drunkards who wanna challenge you on local alcohol (if you’re a 老外, you will be the easy target!!! LoL)

Here is the interactive map (Chinese map + satellite view):

Here are all the pictures and the slideshow.