From Sokcho, we took a local bus to Seoraksan, which took another hour or so because there was soooo much traffic! It was a really nice day, so I guess a lot of Koreans had the same idea of getting out of the city and taking in some nature. I have definitely never hiked with so many people before, even at the M (in Bozeman)!! We got a lot of excited hellos due to our obvious status as foreigners, but everyone seemed really friendly and nice.
Once we arrived, we started walking up a river. We didn't have a map, so we tried to follow some signs, but ended up just picking random paths. Everything was well marked, if you knew Korean better than us!! The picture to the right shows the terrain. We, of course, were on a well-traveled path complete with flights of stairs and guardrails, another (in my experience) uniquely Korean experience. It does seem to make sense to develop paths in this manner if you have the resources, especially since they are used by so many, because it must decrease erosion and human impact on the land. It still seemed a bit bizarre to this Montana girl, accustomed to scrambling up steep slopes.Though I am getting used to the humidity here, it's very irritating while hiking. I've never sweated so much in my life!! To beat the heat, we stopped after a while to wade in the river. It was a really pretty green color when it formed pools and wasn't too cold, either. I really wanted to swim, but I knew it would be unthinkable to remove my shirt
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because of the conservative dress code here and cotton would take hours to dry in the humidity. So instead, I suffered. I seriously don't understand how Koreans can stand it. I was dying in shorts and a T-shirt, and I saw many people in pants, long-sleeved shirts, hats, and handkerchiefs. I heard the other day that some Asians don't sweat because of some genetic difference. I don't know whether this is true or not, but it would explain a lot...like the fact that they never seem to melt in the heat like I do. And why guys at the club in Seoul last weekend could wear jeans and beanies and not sweat or even look hot. I'm jealous, I admit.
After our swim break, we split up. Julia and I went ahead. She's a good hiking buddy for me--we hiked together at Songnisan, too. We both like to go quickly and quietly--it's an ideal matchup. The others seemed more inclined to take their time and chat a lot. We hiked up about 6.5 kilometers, I think...definitely not as far as I would have liked, since 3.5 more would have brought us to the peak, but we had some major time constraints because the last bus back to Chuncheon left at 7 pm. I actually wanted to stay the night there so we could get a full day and a half in, but no one else shared that wish. Guess I'm just too hardcore. Or silly. The picture to the left shows one of the more spectacular views we had during our hike (note the railing and path!). It was one of those cases where the limits of cameras are really frustrating for me, because the view was actually quite spectacular in every direction and I don't feel this picture conveys the true majesty of the place very accurately. But this is a crude representation of where I was today.After we came back down, Julia and I met the others at the Buddhist temple at the bottom (shown to the right). It was quite pretty and seemed and ideal location for finding nirvana to me. And after that, unfortunately, we had to begin our slow journey home. I managed to keep my food down this time and it was a bit faster, so it was a good end to a fabulous day. On the way back home, though, I had my first patpingsu disaster. I guess they were running low on fruit and were compensating by adding extra red beans, my least favorite topping which now comprised about half of the bowl. It was a tragedy from which I am still trying to recover.