Visiting an old friend

On January eighth, I returned to Seoraksan and hiked to the peak, Daecheongbong.  I had a great time getting reacquainted but I have to admit that I was nervous the day before.

It's been a few years since I last climbed it and my fitness has declined.  The night before, I slept at a friend's apartment -he took excellent care of me gave me a Pine Ocean hoodie as a gift -and my anxiety woke me frequently through the night.

I didn't get lost exactly, but I did take a wrong turn briefly in Yangyang; The road to Osaek has improved greatly since my time there.

I started my hike around 8:00

Almost immediately, I wondered if I had enough clothes.  I soon discovered I did.  Fifteen minutes into my hike, I had my hat packed away, my coat strapped to my backpack and my shirt entirely unbuttoned.

There were many birds to be seen during the hike.  My camera isn't great and birds are typically small, but these ones allowed me to get quite close.

I normally don't pay much attention to the trees but you have to admire their tenacity in growing at over a kilometre in altitude.

I love how spiralled the trunk is on this old cedar(?)

I've never see the sky this clear at the peak.  This was around 11:00 and I feared there would be too much haze.

 You can see I am wearing a lot more clothing now!

 Here is an awkward bit of stitching.

The climb was great.  I carried 'ijen' or half-crampons but chose not to use them.  I did use them in the descent and they gave me great traction.  In light of my poor fitness level, I allowed for four hours to reach the peak.  In my prime, I typically made it in two and a half. This time, under three, so I am happily surprised.  The confounding variable may be my advanced age; I just took it slow and steady and enjoyed the view wherever I could.  Never fast, but without any long breaks either.

So, the climb was great.  The first half of the descent was pretty good, too.  Then, the pounding on my knees took it's toll.  Although I rested more frequently on the way down, I was hobbling painfully by the time I reached the ranger station.

I saw some rangers on the trails and am unsure what to think.  They were dressed in beige and had good boots and gloves and walking sticks and a garbage bag.  I found them at about the halfway point and they were dressed appropriately to collect the garbage and orange peels that jerks leave as they hike but insufficiently to reach the summit and without any rescue or first aid materials - unless their pockets were packed.

I stumbled to my car and dropped off most of my belongings, then stumbled further down to Osaek hot springs!

My knees are sore now, but I think the soak I took will speed my recovery.  Whatever, it sure felt great at the time.

I am at an ESL camp near Wonju and using my nine-year-old computer.  It is working great for it's age but I am limited.  I have a video I made at the peak and will consider posting it when I get home.

briefly back, baby!

Click to Embiggen.

I'm working again at Minjok's leadership camp.  It's Christmas day and I'm a little lonely, but I celebrated Christmas (Kitzmas) with my family on the 20th.

Yesterday, I had a short but great hike at Hwa-am Sa.  I did this hike a few years ago with a Sokcho friend and the wind was so strong my glasses were ripped from my face.  This year, I held on to my glasses (and kept a spare pair in the car just in case).  It was every bit as cold and windy as last time.  In fact it was so windy that I couldn't see precisely where I was shooting - hence the gap in my stitched photo above.

Stop the Seorak Cable Car!

Image from the Korea Times (which my computer is again recognizing as a malware site - visit at your own risk.)

hiking above hwa-am Temple

I hiked above Hwa-am temple several years ago with my wife and infant son.  It was  a good hike with great views of the ocean-side of Ulsan Bowi.  To start this post, I have included a photo of Ulsan Bowi, but not one taken from the peak.

The reason this photo was not taken during the hike is, the wind was horribly strong and cold.

You might wonder how windy it was and how I could demonstrate that to you.  Look at this photo of the handsome man (click to bigify):

Now, where are his glasses?  He has been photographed begging for help in finding them after they blew right off his face and partway down the mountain.
Back to first-person: I twisted to take a picture and the glasses were pulled right off my face.  I saw them fly through the air and bounce a few times, landing in the scrub behind me in this photo.  I pitifully begged for help finding them, my voice made even more pathetic by the wind filling my cheeks and making me sob.

We found the glasses.  They, and my eyelashes, had a lot of frozen tears on them.

Okay, it was that windy.

Helping me look was my friend Matthew.

Again with the wind, you can see how I have braced my legs to stand still to take the picture.

Actually, the day was plenty bright enough and I'm sure the pictures were at a fast enough exposure that a little camera shake didn't matter.
The temple below was beautiful but we didn't stay long.

I had forgotten how short this hike was.  We started hiking after 8:00am, leaving plenty of time to do the hike.  We were in the car, thawing before 10:00.  We could have taken more time at the top if the weather had been clement.

Matthew also took pictures so more may grace this blog in the near future.

Skindleshanks in the Herald

Photo from the peak of Seoraksan. Also from the Korea Herald. Now its time for you to dust off your blog.

snow and cloud at Seorak National Park

Walking Festival

I learned that the 20km course follows a route that is only opened twice a year.  It is really tough but also, because it is available so seldom, it is very crowded.

We did the 5 km course and it was long enough considering I carried my little guy at least one km.  We did the walk with the four Domestic Blisses and I notice that not one of these photos has Mrs Bliss in it.

On the way to the start, from the bus, we saw a deer running in the dry riverbed.  We didn't see many other animals but, thanks to the clear air, the scenery was sharp and the horizons distant.  I am sure the adults had fun, but the walk was mostly about the kids, who had fun during these photos at least.

Walking festival at Seoraksan

I tried linking to the below picture rather than downloading and uploading it again.  The result is, it is full size, although only half can be seen on this page.  After you have read the article thoroughly, you have my permission to click the map to see it in it's entirety. 

The festival takes place at Seorak National Park.  This is the fifth annual and I have not attended one, but have always wanted to.  I hope to do the 20km course although if I am dragging a rugrat (always the loving father), I will do the 5 km course. The website is here.

The 20 km course is only on Saturday, which also has three 10 km courses and a 5 km course.  Sunday has only the 5 km and 10 km courses.

Winter on the mountain, one inspiring story, one sad.

The inspiring story:

A group of Korean organ donors and recipients successfully reached the 6,189-meter-high Island Peak in the Nepalese Himalayas on Dec.22. The Himalayan Expedition Team, called 'Life-Shared Group,' is the first of its kind in the world to climb one of the most popular trekking peaks of the Himalayas.

Some of their training was local:

The team trained for 12 weeks beginning September 2008, walking along the ridges of Mt. Bukhan, Mt. Dobong, and Mt. Seorak, and departed for the Himalayas on Dec. 11. Some members suffered from altitude sickness upon making it 3,500m above sea level, but their sense of mission helped them remain intensely focused.

Now, the sad story. A 51 year old climbing guide, checking and preparing an ice route for visitors to climb, was killed in an avalanche.

Police said that Kim was found to be buried in 1.5-meter-thick snow believed to be fallen from the top of 40-meter-high Yeomju Fall at Seorakdong.

Kim is alleged to have been killed, while checking the ice quality of the fall, after arriving at the foot of the fall 10 minutes earlier than the climbing club of 10 Hong Kong police officers. He was assigned to assist the Hong Kong police officers in their climbing, according to the police.

---
something strange about the latter article. In searching for Mt. Seorak at the Korea Times, I was shown (I shrank the unimportant bit):

1.
Mount Seorak - National Parks of Korea (1)
Clouds hang humbly below the peaks at Mount Seorak, located in Yangyang, ... Mount Seorak, or Seoraksan National Park, is known for its stunning peaks, ...
www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2008/10/153_16673.html
2.
Buddhists Angry Again Over Temple Entrance Fees
``I visited Mt. Seorak in Gangwon Province last November to enjoy its full-fledged autumn foliage but was forced to pay the fee,’’ said Lim Hyun-chul, ...
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/03/117_40685.html
3.
Chase Away Winter Blues at Hot Springs
Seorak Waterpia, located at the foot of Mt. Seorak, Gangwon province, is one place where you can soak in an open-air hot spring tub filled with hot spring ...
www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2009/03/203_36324.html
4.
The Korea Times Nation News
A mountain guide was buried to death in bulk of snow from an icefall at Mt Seorak in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, Saturday morning, police said. ...
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/nation_list.asp?categoryCode=117&page=26

But the article was not secure (Not an "https:-----" site). Strange. It took a little work to find the article. One other article above has an "https:" prefix, but the others don't.

Snowy Seorak

Soon, I will go hiking on a small mountain in the shadow (figuratively, I will be hiking in bright sunlight) of Seoraksan. From this view of Seorak, I see some snow, but nothing like this.
I think this is Baekdam area, March 4. I think the photo is originally from Yonhap News (link managed from Internet Explorer, for a search for Seorak at Yonhap - the picture I see is close but not quite right- perhaps they changed the photo after ROK copied it), which doesn't seem to like Firefox. I took the photo from ROK Drop.

Oh, near sea level, the ground is dry and firm - good for hiking and not muddy as it was only a week ago. I will be in long pants and a long-sleeved shirt but probably no jacket.

Is Spring finally here?

A beautiful day today. I got out on the bike and managed twenty-some kilometres; not bad for a first ride. On the way, I stopped at an information booth and learned that cyclists can use the Misiryeong tunnel. I've cycled long distances but I'm a wimp about hills; this news may mean a trip sometime to Seoul, or anyway, somewhere inland.
The weather got me thinking of where I could go or what I could do this spring with my time off.
This weekend, Kwandongwife and K-son are visiting her parents and I'm staying home. Why am I not going along? Well, we want to save a little money, K-wife wants to save money and I may have singed some bridges when Kyongsangmother-in-law visited.

Anyway, with the weekend free, I am planning a trip to the DMZ -or as close as cyclists are allowed. There is an information centre at the final checkpoint and the guide there has arranged a ride for me the last few Km with other tourists in the past, so I'll do that again.

In mid May, the university has a festival of some sort and I'll get three days off then. I'm thinking about hiking across Soraksan. I'll start either at O-saek or Sorakdong and take two days to get to Baekdamsa and Yongdaeri. I don't know the dates for sure but I think it'll be May 16-18. Is anyone else interested?

Temple grounds extended to include entire parks?

This is interesting. Beginning January 1, national parks dropped their entrance fees. However, the temple fees jumped to almost the level of the original combined fee.

This is the most surprising part for me. I didn't realize that, in 2006, when I paid 3,400 won to hike to Ulsan Bowi, around half that fee went to the temple. It does explain why the entrance at O-saek,(the hotsprings and far from any major temples) is, again, about half the Seorak-dong rate (closest to Sokcho). If I hadn't read the article, I would have figured the rate had simply dropped a few hundred won.

Some hikers aren't welcoming the (slightly) reduced entry. They don't intend to visit the temples and are upset to pay for them.

First snowfall 2006

The first snowfall atop Seoraksan was Oct 24.

Last year, we had snow in Oct but it melted quickly. I expect this to do the same. The first lasting snowfall last year was Nov 29.
Previous years: Nov 27, 2004, Nov 14, 2003 (photos)