This planner, did not plan...

"The mountains are calling, and I must go"

-John Muir

     This past weekend was Chuseok, or Korean Thanksgiving, so I had a four day weekend.  I really wanted to do something as I do not have holidays very often.  Originally I had wanted to leave the country but I have not received my ARC, or resident permit card, yet.  So until I do, I cannot leave the country.  So Beth, one of the other teachers, suggested that I go to Seoraksan a national park near near the East Sea.  Side note, I realized this would only be my fifth time ever going to mountains and have never seriously gone hiking.  I probably should have thought about this before my trip, but I didn't.  

I was so proud of myself.  I had to take a bus to Gangnam (yes, as in the song).  I then had to take the subway to the Seoul bus terminal, and from there took another bus 3 hours East to Sokcho.  I was so proud that I made it to the city without incident, especially since this was my first time going to Seoul.  

I arrived around 3:00, checked into my hotel and decided to go for an afternoon hike.  To begin my trip I had all sorts of great plans of doing two hikes a day.  I quickly learned that I was not in shape enough to do that.

Seoraksan was designated a nature reserve in 1965 and UNESCO designated it as a biosphere reserve in 1982.  In 1970 it became the firest national park to be named in Korea. I would say Seoraksan is Korea's Yellowstone, although slightly smaller.  Seoraksan is 153.75 Sq mi and Yellowstone is 3,468 Sq Mi.  

There is a cable car that goes up a mountain peak to Gwongeumseong Fortress.  The fortress was built in 1253 to guard against a Mongolian invasion.  My plan was to do the whole cable car thing after my big hike on my second day.  This did not happen.

The first hike I went on took about 2 hours and ended at a waterfall.  These rock steps made up most of the path.  While very pretty, not exactly stable as far as paths go.

The entire time I was here I really really wanted to just climb all over the giant rocks, just like in Devil's Lake Park near Madison.  Unfortunately this park had signs all over to stay on the path.

This bridge was advertised as a tourist destination.  Its cool, but I probably wouldn't come to the park just for this bridge.

These signs with the bears were everywhere and I love them.



This one is my favorite, let me dramatically save my baby bear from the falling rocks!

One thing I have noticed is that Korean's are not very considerate when it comes to things like hey this girl is taking a picture I should wait patiently until she is done.  Nope they just walk right past not a care in the world.  It took me at least 15 minutes of standing by this bridge to take pictures without people on it.

I realized after I returned to my hotel that I hadn't actually taken any photos of the waterfall, oops.  Oh well it wasn't actually that great of a waterfall.

There are two temples inside of the park.  My favorite part of the temples are the gates and amazing painted ceilings.

Is this not the coolest toy car you have ever seen?

Selfie sticks are a major epidemic and need to stop.

My second day I decided to attempt to climb up to Ulsanbawi.  The hike is 2.4 miles long and is supposed to take 4 hours.  This is the point where I realized that I was 1. very out of shape 2. not at all prepared for hiking and 3. had no idea what I had gotten myself into.

All over the park there were tiny stacks of rocks.  Of what I have read people stack rocks as prayers or wishes.

This isn't a great picture but see the white stone in between the trees?  Yeah that was my destination.  This is the point when I probably should have stopped.

Only slightly closer, but still far far away.

Halfway up there was a temple.  At this point I was feeling pretty good.  It took me an hour to get to this point and it had been hard but not so hard that I couldn't go on.

You cannot tell in the photo but this is about the point where all of my good feelings towards this mountain ended.  This is about the point where I realized I had made a big mistake.

This is Ulsanbawi, gorgeous right?

However my plans of getting to the top and parking my butt for at least the next hour did not go as planned.  The top was very small and full of people.

See those lovely stairs going up to that tiny platform?  That is where the pictures of the peaks were taken.

This is the hell that got me to the top.  The guidebook said it should take 4 hours.  It took me 6.  My whole day started with mistakes.  My hotel said that breakfast was included so I planned on eating there.  On Sunday morning when I went for breakfast, "breakfast" turned out to be rice.  I am sure this is great for Koreans, but for me I cannot eat plain rice first thing in the morning.  So mistake number 1.  I did not eat breakfast.  Mistake number 2: I knew there was not bathrooms on the mountain so I was afraid of drinking too much water and needing to go to the bathroom outside so I only brought 1 water bottle with me.  These things coupled with how out of shape I am made this trip into a living hell.  The entire time down I felt like I was going to throw up and pass out.  Going down was even worse than going up.  My legs were like jello and I was visibly shaking.  Every step was painful.

Don't I look happy?

One consolation is that I took the best picture of the entire trip while sitting right in the middle of the trail on the steps trying to breathe.  

Ugh this man that is behind me!  I call him the mosquito man.  He played whiny string music on his phone the entire way down the mountain.  I would try my hardest to pass him or to slow down enough that he would pass me yet somehow we always ended up near each other.

 I saw this sign after I came down the mountain: hiking health tips.  The number one tip they forgot: Be in shape.

I got down the mountain around 2:00 and decided to go back to my hotel, shower, and eat.  I got as far as laying in my bed and stayed there for the rest of the day.  As far as food went I made another mistake of just eating crackers with peanut butter and some oranges I had.

The following day I forced myself out of bed and went to the port city of Sokcho.  I was in agony every single step.

I thought going to the beach would be nice, it was not.
Trying to walk on sand with muscles that are already screaming was not a smart idea.

Some beautiful beach sculptures.

The water had these super weird jack looking things as the barrier.  Although weird cooler looking than the normal stones.

 After the beach I searched for Abai Village.  This tiny island was originally a settlement for North Koreans who got caught on the Southern side of the DMZ after the war.  Today its very much a tourist spot but one of the only places in South Korea to try some North Korean food.

To get to the island you had to pay 20 cents and ride this boat.  The boat is powered by this tiny old man who uses a hook to pull a cable pulling the boat across the channel.  

This is the "famous" North Korean food.  It was ok but I am not a fan of squid, which is what the rings are.

After the not so satisfying lunch I decided to get ice cream.  It totally made everything better.  Not really but this is what I told myself to keep going.

After ice cream I walked through the fish market.  The market was full of squid, hundreds of squid.  I actually had to google this because I thought squid lived solitary lives.  According to google they can actually live in huge schools.  

Tell me again why crab is so expensive?  There does not seem to be a shortage!

 I am sure that this has some other meaning but I was so surprised to see a 4-H symbol that I had to take a picture.

So there you go, my first Korean vacation.  While I am still in severe pain and do not know if I will ever go hiking again, I am still really glad that I went.  I would have kicked myself if I had stayed home watching downloaded videos for 4 days.  I am also still very proud of myself that I am ok with going places by myself.  I have proved to myself that I am capable of solo travel, however it would be much better with a friend along.  I won't have another vacation until Christmas but hopefully by then I will have someone to travel with.  At Christmas I have a week off, any ideas on where I should go?