We bused overnight to get there. We left Seoul at 11pm Friday and arrived at our starting point at 4:30am Saturday morning. We reached the peak at around 8:30am and finished our descent by around 1:30pm. That's right, my friends that can figure out the total time spent hiking. For those with sub-par math skills ;), we hiked for NINE hours. Mama MIA my calves and tooshie are sore and my knees are mad at me. Lots of stepping up, over and to the side of rocks, which wasn't horrible, but the descent was four hours of climbing down rocks. My knees felt like they were going to throw in the towel and leave me stranded and requesting an airlift. So we're in a fight. I told them I'd rest today and I haven't left my apartment yet (it's 6:30 pm) and actually they feel great. So here's hoping we'll make up.
I've had a heavenly afternoon inside my apartment, enjoying warm, sunny weather through the open window, listening to the neighborhood dog barking at, well, I really don't know what he barks at but he's got SOMETHING to say. I can also hear the buses and local traffic, kids playing and some random birds chirping. And today I pulled out some old school Mariah Carey (thank you, Liz, for teasing me recently about this...forgot I had her in my Itunes! ;)). I'm also eating every last item of food I can find in my cupboards in an effort to avoid a trip to the outside world. I haven't had a lazy day like this in awhile and it feels great.
I'm also doing my best NOT to think about school. Every day next week will be spent preparing for the big classroom observation on Friday. Though I love the kids and look forward to seeing them, it's going to be a stressful time and I'm already hoping that Friday afternoon will hurry up and get here.
Some photos from the hike this weekend!
Stopping for a break about halfway up the mountain with Tim and Rachel.
There was so much green! :) :)
Still on our way up.
Hiked to Beopgysa Temple which was just a cute little building in the mountain side.
A picture on the side of the temple. Wish I knew the story behind it.
One of the highlights of hiking Jirisan is the 'Sea of Clouds', where the clouds are lower than the peak. We didn't really have the right conditions to see it but the views were still beautiful. I loved seeing peak after peak after peak.
The final stretch! This rope on the mountain side reminded me of a scene from The Princess Bride. And then I thought of my favorite scene. :)
A party at the top!
View from the peak.
Feeling a sense of accomplishment. Now for a nice and easy descent...
Only 3km to the bottom...
3km of rocksssssss.
We asked some hikers on their way up our descent route if the rest of the trail was indeed all rocks. Yes. Yes it was. Having only hiked two other mountains, I was expecting some paths without rocks. And so was Rachel.
And Tim. We were all slightly annoyed with Mother Nature by this point. My favorite quote from Tim post-hike: 'I was reading about Jirisan, and it means 'mountain where those who were innocent become wise.' I feel many things, though I'm not sure wisdom is one of them.' :)
Finally made it to Baengmudong Village for some bibimbop and relaxation.
Ok, Mother Nature. You're alright, I guess.
The village hotel. I couldn't get over the beautiful mountain side view! The leaves must be amazing in the fall!
Not to toot our own horns but we made the estimated ten hour hike in nine hours. Awoowoo. We enjoyed an afternoon snooze before heading back to Seoul with the rest of the hiking group.
No comments:
Post a Comment