I feel like every Korean adult over the age of 50 spends at least one weekend a month hiking. This weekend, I joined the mobs, and experienced the full-fledged Korean hiking adventure. At about midnight on Saturday night I met with two friends, Mike and Emily. With our organized backpacks and layers of clothes on, we taxied to the smaller train station in Daejeon. To our surprise, the 12:45 am train we wanted to take was completely booked for the first leg. So we stood in the back of a car as dozens of older people slept in the chairs, aisles, and against the walls. People were sprawled everywhere in the car, snoring, hiding under eye masks, or loudly bellowing at fellow drunkards. We were relieved to be able to sit for the second leg and attempted to sleep in the stuffy cabin for the remaining two hours of the journey.
At about 4 am, in a tiny dark town, we clambered out of the train car along with dozens of other hikers. As we marched between the sweatsuited pros suited with real hiking shoes, trekking poles, and headlights, we suddenly looked quite unprepared. We staggered out of the mini-station and were ushered towards a bus. The bus ride was terrifying. The bus swerved around mountain passes and creaked with each severe cut. We sped past signs warning about all the different wildlife in the mountains: bears, snakes, and my personal favorite, frogs. You know how scary frogs can be! After about 30 minutes of our roller-coaster adventure, we were safely dropped at the foot of a mountain. Mike, the only one of us with any real hiking equipment, secured his headlight and we began our ascent. However, first we had to stop and laugh that the regularly schedule bus had dropped a mass of people, at 4:30 am, at the foot of a sign that proclaimed that night hiking was prohibited. They CLEARLY cared a lot about that rule.
The hike up the mountain was a bit of a challenge for me. Being the genius that I am, I completely ignored the fact that I had been sick all week leading up to the hike. Despite the fact that I was on 7 separate medications just to sit still without having coughing fits, I thought it was a great idea to climb a massive mountain. Needless to say, I had to slow my pace a bit. Yet the ascent went surprisingly fast. Just before the summit, we stopped to take a break at a shelter. Mike boiled water on his fancy hiking stove and then friend us some spam to eat with it (I am sad to admit that I enjoyed it). We crammed into the wooden lodge between mobs of other hikers and waited for sunrise.
About 6:30 we finished hiking to the summit to watch the sunrise. The three of us huddled together on a massive boulder to await the beautiful sight. Mike pointed due East and we mentally pictured a glowing ball of heat. We tried to ignore the (literally) freezing temperatures and the rapidly intensifying fog. For 30+ minutes, we shivered and silently cursed ourselves for not bringing scarves. About 7:15, we finally admitted to ourselves that the wall of clouds was impenetrable. Defeated, we began our ridge hike and entered some barren fog-laced forests that reminded me of Sleepy Hallow.
The morning continued and the sun finally made its way through the clouds. The views became spectacular as the light reflected off the waves of fog that rolled between the layers of mountain. Mountains stretched as far as I could see. Little peaks shoved their heads through the white blanket before me. It was incredible. After about 9k of hiking, we turned off the mountain ridges and began to descend into a valley.
When we hit the sign that said that we only had 9 km left of our hike, we were happy. “It’ll be a piece of cake,” we thought to ourselves (even though we knew the projected time was 3 ½ hours). We imagined sloping hills gradually cushioning us into a fall studded valley. Then, after hiking for about 15 minutes, we were greeted by several Koreans telling us “Not far! 1 hour, 1 hour half!” Our spirits soared and our legs were only a little bit shaky. However, 1 hour later, we had only trudged one kilometer down the rocky uneven trail. Our enthusiasm began to diminish. A beautiful creek with hundreds of mini-waterfalls mirrored our path. The beauty of the river boosted our energy momentarily. The water was exceptionally clear and the water plummets were intriguing and beautiful. Mike and I clambered off the trail to get better shots of the water while Emily waited patiently. However, the hike began to feel very long (much like this blog, I apologize). By the time we made it to the bottom of the mountain all three of us were acting a bit grumpy, staggering on jello legs, and ready to eat our own arms.
For some strange reason, as we boarded a bus, and later a train, we vowed to do the same hike next year, just 3 weeks earlier (timed better for fall leaves). Yes, I guess we’re a bit crazy. Or maybe our decision was tainted by the circumstances: we were sitting in massage chairs on the train and our legs had not completely stiffened. Regardless, I made a vow: same hike next year, three weeks earlier. Korean mountains, look out, here I come. A few of my pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2129745&l=5b179&id=4702163
