Seoraksan

I will start by saying I had a fantastic weekend. I went to Seoraksan, a gorgeous National Park with the group Sunday Hikers Interested in Trekking Yet again (S.H.I.T.Y.). The hike itself was amazing. The leaves were changing colors and the views were spectacular. We left Seoul around 1 am Friday night/Saturday morning and arrived at the National Park around 4:30 am. We immediately departed once arriving.

The first few hours were uphill, which I actually prefer over downhill (any day), and it was early and cold so it felt good to be moving. I didn’t get a great view of the sunrise but it was still nice. We hiked up to the 3rd highest peak in Korea before beginning our descent. It took about 4 or 5 hours to get to the peak and it was a great hike. The rest of the hike had some beautiful views and a few ‘shelters’ which seemed more like restaurants along the way. We finished the hike by a giant Buddha Statue/Temple.

Hiking in Korea, let me find the proper words here, is an experience in and of itself. It was unlike any hike I’ve ever been on. A line. A line of people hiking up the mountain and one coming down. You couldn’t really hike at the speed you wanted to because you had to wait on the person in front of you. Frustrating... Especially when I was used to hiking on the trail and not seeing anyone for a half day or a day at a time. I’ve come to realize that hiking is a form of meditation for me and when there is a line, it’s not very relaxing and quite difficult for me to get into any type of deep thought. Regardless, wonderful hike!

Went back to the pension (aka motel in English/America) and paid 10,000 won for all the food and alcohol you could drink. I got my money’s worth, I’ll just say that. I had a great time and met some great people, went for a late night swim in the ocean, stayed up until 5:30 in the morning, slipped and fell three times, was temporarily locked out of my apartment, and lost my camera. So, in the pictures, please use your imagination and put my face in front of Spenser’s. I’m not really upset about the camera, I’ve had it for a while and was thinking last week it was time to get a new one. The only thing I’m really bummed about is the pictures I lost. I had about 3 or 4 good ‘Facebook Profile’ pictures – money shots! Oh well, it’s only a camera.

On Sunday I went for a walk on the beach and had a nice relaxing day. All in all it was a great trip and I will probably join the group again in the near future for another SHITY hike. We got back to Seoul around 12:30 Sunday night/Monday morning and home around 1:15 am.

(You can kind of see the line you can get stuck in or behind)

(Peak in the background)

(Sunrise)

(Similar to the terrain we hiked on before the sun rose - I needed a head lamp)

(More terrain - lots of rocks, reminded me of the AT in PA)

(Leaves changing colors - nice shot Spenser)

(View was we were getting close to the top)

(Another great view)

(Use your imagination. I was on the right side of the picture and put my arm around the stone. As you can see in the following picture, Spenser is definitely into the fist pump...)

(I had both hands raised like Rocky at the top of the steps)

(Sweet bridge. The background everywhere was fantastic. I might have only hiked for 30 minutes at the most without any view.)

(More changing leaves and rock in the background)

(More rocks and changing leaves)

(Giant Buddha where we finished after about 10 hours of leisurely hiking)

(Beach the last day)

I had a great time with my co-workers and it was a great group. This weekend I am planning on getting a camera somewhere and who knows what else. Also, in case you remember, I was planning on putting some food pictures on the blog. Obviously, that is temporarily on hold since all my pictures were on the old camera. So, please be patient. Hope everyone is doing well and truly enjoying life. I know I am really content with where I am at and where I am going in my life.