The Hidden Valley Ranch

So this post is actually about a valley next to my town, not the delicious salad dressing. Did I get anyone there? Ha. Lame.

One of the best things about living in my town is that we have mountains (actually more like hills) to the north, and there is a really beautiful valley in those mountains. I had found this valley on a route from my apartment a while ago and was planning to post about it, but two weekends ago my friend Daniel showed me more of the valley near his apartment. It's actually much bigger and better than I though.

I'll just get to the pictures since there's not much more to the story than that we walked around for a while.

On the way there were a few huge praying mantis' in the road, which are common in Korea. These are some of the coolest looking bugs I have ever seen, and this one allowed me to get nice and close for a photo.

There was also this junkyard on the way with this fence around it and some of the biggest spiders I have ever seen. Look a the markings on that guy. Does anybody know what type of spider this is?

This is a tunnel where we walk under a highway to get to the valley. The guy is Daniel.

This is basically what the valley looked like. Just farm after farm in this expansive, beautiful land.

Here is some kind of a lake in the valley. The tiny white objects are people.

This is just a photo I liked with some rice paddies in it.

So this is a giant rock face at the top of a hill. If you look closely, there is a roofline down and to the left from it just a little ways. My friend Daniel went up there a week later, and it turns out that it's actually a Buddhist temple up there. When he went there was a lady there and she served him some tea. I really want to go sometime.

Having something like this valley makes me glad to live in a town with at least a hint of easily accessible natural landscape to explore. I'll post again when I make it up to the temple.