JiriSan Hike

Yesterday I had the day off at Kids College for Foundation Day (Gaecheonjeol in Korean), which basically celebrates the very start of the Gojoseon Kingdom in 2333 B.C. Jacob had invited me about a month ago to hike JiriSan (지리산) San means mountain in Korean. It is generally considered to be one of the three most important mountains in Korea. We took the train Thursday night after work and left Cheonan at around 8:40 PM and arrived at Guryegu Station at just after midnight. We stayed at a little motel very close to the train station, it was pretty cheap...about 25,000 Won (around $23) but it was a Korean motel, not a western motel which means you pretty much sleep on a blanket on the floor. HA! But we were able to get a shower and sleep, so it was fine. We woke up at just after 5AM and took a taxi over to the bus station in Gurye. The bus left for Jiri San at 6AM and we rode the bus for about 30 minutes up to the parking lot. The road was really really windy, but it was a beautiful, clear morning and the ride was very nice. After we got off the bus we started our hike...it was quite chilly and I had worn shorts because I knew later in the day it was supposed to be sunny and warm, so once we started hiking I was ok, my legs were a little cold, but not too bad. I have to say Koreans LOVE to hike, and they all dress the part too. They wear very nice hiking clothes, all have nice hiking boots, and most of them also have the hiking poles. I would assume that most of them spend around $500-600 on their "hiking outfits" which include the clothes, boots, poles and backpack. I felt a little under dressed in my shorts, t-shirt and Nikes! HA! Here is a map for a little reference to where we went yesterday http://www.san-shin.net/Jiri-Map.html If you scroll down about 1/3 of the page you can see "NogoDan Peak", well go just a little to the top left of there and you can see the "P" for parking lot. That's where we started at around 6:30 AM. The trail up to NogoDan was very steep, but pretty wide and it was paved, I think that National Park vehicles drive up the road. Near the top there is a shelter and we saw a lot of people that had slept out the night before and they were waking up and eating a typical Korean breakfast, which is the same as a typical Korean lunch or dinner, which includes rice, kimchi, seaweed, etc. They don't really have "breakfast food" as far as I have been able to tell. There is cereal and stuff at the store, but I don't think that most traditional Koreans eat that for breakfast. Anyway...we reached NogoDan at maybe around 7:30 because we stopped and relaxed for a minute at the shelter. As we got to NogoDan it was such a beautiful morning, the sun was just coming up over the mountains and the air was clean and crisp...a little cold but with the sun starting to shine it felt great! I wish that the pictures could accurately describe the beautiful scenery, it was amazing! On the map go to the right and up a little and you will see Banyabang Peak. We hiked to there and I must say, that is by far the most difficult hike I have done. Korean hiking trails are very steep and pretty much go right up the mountain as opposed to most of the trails I have been on which wind their way up the hill. Banyabang is the 3rd highest peak in Korea, and if you click on the name (on the map) you can read a little more about it and see a few pictures from some other guy who hiked it too. We took a short break at the top and ate our lunch and just relaxed for a little while. It is interesting to me to see all of the little rock formations that people make in Korea...they take little rocks and stack them on top of each other to form a little rock tower. They are all over and I think they look really cool. I asked my friend to explain and I think it is just sort of luck a good luck thing, similar to how people might throw a coin in the water. I am not sure, but I really think that they look cool, so I took a few pictures and there was a little tower near the top that you can see in the background. The view from on top was amazing and we relaxed there for a little while and then headed over to Samdo Peak (삼도). Sam is three in Korean and it is where three peaks all come together, you can also click on the name on the map and read a little more about the peak if you are interested. It was also a spectacular view down into the valley and Jacob told me that most of the valley was burned during the Korean war, so most of the trees are only about 50 years old (Korean War was 1950-53). The last part of our hike was all downhill so I thought it would be easy...I was WRONG! When I say hiking down a Korean trail is steep...that is a real understatement! HA! We hiked from Samdo down to Piagol Valley (straight down on the map from SamDo). It was such a difficult hike down that trail and today my legs and knees are definitely feeling it. The hike was beautiful though as the trail went right next to a small river that ran down through the valley. We caught the bus at Piagol at around 4:30 and headed back to the train station for our 6PM train ride back to Cheonan. We had pretty much hiked for 10 hours straight...we took a few breaks here and there, but for the most part we were on the move all day. I have no idea how far we hiked, but it was a long way! HA HA! The weather was so beautiful and it was an ideal day for a hike and I am glad I had a chance to visit one of Korea's most beautiful places!