Chiaksan -Bori Peak

I quite enjoyed my trip to Chiaksan.  The park seems more public friendly, with more signs and difficulty ratings for various parts of the hike are all described.  It was another day of great weather and I started cold but was soon carrying my coat.  At the peak, the wind was gentle enough that I rested there a bit before descending.

On the way to the parking lot, I found this sign.  I've seen signs for tanks elsewhere in Gangwondo but not in Sokcho-Yangyang and I was happy to finally photograph one.

I had likewise seen this type of caccoon elsewhere but hadn't taken a picture of it.  A coworker suggested that it was chemically tricking the tree into retaining the leaf, perhaps as a temperature control measure.  I have no idea what's inside it.

Handsome guy with no coat:

Please click to embiggen this picture.  I am quite proud of how the ice crystals turned out.

Near the peak, perhaps around 1000 metres, the snow crystals on the ground changed shape.  I am no Inuit, but I do recognize different types of snow.

At the peak:  Chiaksan is enough lower than Seoraksan, that despite the very steep climb and descent, my knees were not totally worn down.

After my hike, I drove around a little looking for a grocery store.  I didn't find one - I didn't look too hard- but I did find a reservoir where many people were having fun.  Some people were fishing for Bongeo - similar in shape and size to a smelt in Ontario- and kids were sitting on sleds and pushing them with spiked sticks - traditional sledding.

I have more photos and some video, but I will post those after returning home and using something other than this poor nine-year-old notebook.  It has served me well this camp, but it doesn't have many features (Thanks go out to Firefox, which has breathed new life into it.  Google Chrome won't run on it).

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.

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.

Though the fields lay golden...

I was given permission to escape the house for a bit so I went up Cheongdae hill/mountain. Though the colours were past their peak, it was still a scenic hike.

This photo was meant to show how the oak shrubs, close to the ground, still had their leaves and gave the hill itself colour.
The surprise snow on Monday is the main reason the colours are past their peak, and I suppose ruin the title of this post. Indeed, with Monday's weather, I guess the poem would have to be completed with, "something shouted snow." Anyway, I remember learning the poem (about geese flying south in the fall) in elementary school and it seemed appropriate.

Youtube has "Something Told the Wildgeese", if you're interested.

Now, off to Seorak Pines for a swim with the little guy.

Salmon Festival in Yangyang

I meant to arrange that all my friends would be at the festival at the same time. After learning that Zovar would be there at 12:00, I arranged that my coworker friends would be there at the same time. I did, however, get the day wrong. D'oh!

Anyway, it seems that my diverse friends, and I, myself, all had fun.

And how could you not, playing in the river, catching giant fish in your bare (okay, gloved) hands?

I have all my photos in order except for the first. I meant to tease the makers of the sign after showing how much fun I'd had. Oh, well.

Salmon can't buy you happiness. Below is the saddest man ever to have a fish in each hand. Here is his blog (it's not that sad).

See, you can be happy, even if you don't catch anything.
But don't steal the carvings!
Hooray! He did catch one.
After catching them, you could them inked and a poster made. KwandongAlex is shown helping.
There was more to eat than just salmon. Either that or he was beginning to apply his Santa beard way early.

Salmon, like piranha, can skeletonize a man in minutes!
After the excitement, I took the little guy to Jin Jeon Temple. I've seen great pictures of fall colours but I didn't see a lot of colour here. Well, I did see a lot of green.

We had high winds Saturday, Sunday and today. I worry about fires as the reservoir at Jin Jeon temple is dry.

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.

The papers are full of good news!

Another inspiring story, this time from the Joongang.  Climber Um Hong-gil, completed a promise he had made 23 years ago to build a school in Nepal where a fallen Sherpa had lived.

Mr Um was previously mentioned here in March.

Biryeong Falls, Seorak National Park

Today, the Coast Guard had their semi-annual picnic in Seoraksan and the picnic included a hike to Biryeong Falls.  As Kwandongwife is a coastie, the little guy and I were invited.

Although I thought I had been just about everyplace in the park, I had missed this place.

From the Seorak Dong entrance (closest to Sokcho), your choices are some seriously long hikes or several around 2-4 km.  These shorter hikes all seem to be pool table flat for eighty percent of the hike and ranging from steep to very steep for the final bit.  The hike to Biryeong is no exception and wheelchairs could probably make the first kilometer and a half.  The final 700 meters include a lot of steel stairs, some with fencing overhead to stop or slow down falling rocks.

The little guy had a fever through the night, but recovered in the morning.  Still, I didn't begrudge carrying him when he asked.  By the end of the event, he was tired and now he is feverish again.  I foresee a trip to the hospital soon.

Anyway, we saw a few animals along the way.
I caught this frog and showed him to my son.  After I returned him to his pond, a man told me to wash carefully.  I planned to, anyway, because the pond water was dirty and I was worried about parasites.  He explained, though, that he was concerned about poison.

The frog did have bright warning-style coloration, but only on it's wonderfully orange belly.  I didn't think there were poisonous frogs in Korea.  I did wash my hands and don't seem to have suffered any strange effects.

I was more cautious with the snake we saw and chose not to catch it.  It was about 30cm long and not at all afraid.
The hike started at an overflow parking lot 2km from the main entrance.  We then hiked to the entrance, which was about the halfway point of the hike.  Once we had visited the waterfalls, we returned to entrance area and picnicked under some trees.  Carrying the little guy slowed us down so we arrived late - happily I was carrying my beach blanket so we settled down to lunch quickly.
I recommend the hike, especially if you don't have much time.  This hike doesn't have the long views that the other hikes do.  This is more intimate, although not private.  Actually, I don't know how many people normally do this hike as I was surrounded by over 100 coasties.  Still, no short hike near the main entrance is going to be solitary.

Oh, in case of emergency,  figured I could call 122, as it would be a Coast Guard emergency - is that funny?

Bear cubs in Jirisan

Once again, I was wrong.

In August, 2005, when bears were released into Jiri National Park, I predicted a quick and messy end to the experiment.

It soon appeared I would be proven right and that quickly.

However, some bears do remain and their numbers have increased by at least two:

Two female Manchurian black bears gave birth to cubs in the wild around Mt. Jiri in January after being released from captivity in 2005, the Ministry of Environment said, Monday.

The discovery represents the first time the bears have reproduced in the wild without the need for medical assistance, the government said.

The Korean National Park Corporation said both mothers, named Janggang and Songwon, are doing well. It was said that they have been sheltering in a cave since December after mating in May.

Congrats to the new mothers and I hope to continue to be wrong about the fate of these bears.

Oh, some Bear safety advice for Jiri hikers.

Via Bizarro Brian

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.

I thought it was the non-Buddhists who were upset about the hiking fees.

The title is awkward or misleading, but "Buddhists angry again over temple entrance fees" in the Korea Times describes a problem that began two years ago.

Starting January 1, 2007, National Parks dropped their entrance fees but entry did not become free. Temples on the park grounds continued their fees (which had been about half of the original fee) and often increased them.

People have been upset about paying the fees to the temples when they visit the parks exclusively to hike and do not even go near the temples. More (actually, not much more, but..the same?) from this website at the time.

Finally, a group sued.

A provincial court’s ruling banning temples from collecting fees from mountain hikers has drawn strong protest from Buddhists.

The Jogye Order, the largest Buddhist sect in Korea, is even considering shutting down gateways to mountains owned by Buddhist temples.

The reaction came out after the Uijeongbu District Court ruled Tuesday that Jajaeam, a small temple on a mountain in Dongducheon, northeastern Gyeonggi Province, should return the entrance fee of 1,000 won ($0.65) each it had imposed on 22 climbers, who jointly filed a suit last August.

Commenters at the Korea Times are disgusted that the hikers are upset about such a small amount of money. I understand their (the commenter's) feelings but wonder if the hikers are more concerned about supporting Buddhism.

As a foreigner, Buddhism, even after ten years in-country, is novel and exciting for me. I don't mind giving them a little support.

At the same time, I am an atheist and unwilling to support religion in general and would not be eager to pay the fee if it supported a Christian church, for example. I understand that my viewpoint is contradictory but I hope it is not hypocritical. I am for supporting the temples for purely cultural reasons, even though I do not want to support any religion.

If the weather is good, I'll be hiking tomorrow at Seoraksan and I'll let you know about the fees there.

first hike of the year

And it was a short but remarkable challenging one.

Current Hiking Conditions: Muddy and messy!

Readers of this blog may recall that I hiked Chungdaesan, the little mountain behind my apartment nearly 60 times in one year. With that in mind, you might be surprised that I had such difficulty today.

The explanation is in this photo of our shoes.

Actually, they look pretty good; we must have spent a lot of time at the peak cleaning them.

Yes, the warm weather, wonderfully warm, has thawed the ground, making it a terrible mess.

If I had been soloing, I probably would have returned home after starting the hike because of the trail conditions. Kwandongwife doesn't get as many opportunities though, so we soldiered on. She ended up carrying the little guy for a large portion of the hike, with me carrying him only for the short section where we met her coworkers who teased her immensely (I was also carrying a large pack with snack food and clothing).

I also have to admit that we walked on the edges of the trail, widening it and furthering erosion; something I hope I would not have done if soloing.

The take home message from this post is hiking is a bad idea in coastal Gangwondo for the next few weeks.

Here is an article from the Times, written a year ago, that describes Seoraksan, but the pics are from the frozen winter so are not representative of current conditions, which I am sure are messy.

From the peak, we had a nice view of Chungcho Lake (click to bigify) and the pier for the Water Fire Festival is just visible.