Last Saturday night at 1030pm, our climbing club picked us up in a big bus...it was all decked out with party lights, frillies, and a water/coffee table. Our destination was Seorak Mountain and half of us would climb, and the other half would hike to the top (different peaks). I was still undecided but leaning towards climbing at that point. Jared was defintiely climbing.
After they picked us up, there was one more stop before we were on our way. Afetr that, there were announcements and introductions, and more announcements, all in Korean, mind you. Jared and I watch them and nod like we understand, but they know we have no idea. Around 1230, announcements were finished and they tunred the lights off. We rested for a few minutes before they stopped the bus for a bathroom break, around 1am. When we got back on the bus, I was tired. We fell asleep until 3am, when the bus stopped again. I got off to the go the bathroom, then was planning on getting back on and sleeping for a couple more hours. When I got back to the bus, everyone had got off and were huddled together. Apparently it was breakfast time, and there's no better breakfast at 3am than rice, soup, and kimchi! We were told that we would drive about 30 minutes and then the hikers would start...then the climbers would be drivie another 30 minutes and they would start. Wow...2 hours of sleep was all we were going to get! We were also told that it was going to rain.
So when we got back on the bus, I had to figure out what to do. The climbing was going to be 10 pitches...very long, but not too hard. But it was going to rain, and be very windy. Hiking was 16km up to the tallest peak in the park, and all I had were my knock off NB tennis shoes, which I thought might give me blisters....
Well, in the end I chose to hike. I talked to a few other people and they said it was pretty scary to climb, even though you're obviously strapped in the whole time. With that, and it predicting to be rainy and windy, I figured I would be more comfortable hiking.
So we started out hiking at 430am, and went up, up, up til 830, when we reached the peak. It was a tough hike, but I was going at a slower pace, staying with one of the 9 yr. olds, that it wasn't too bad at all...it was also beautiful...starting below the clouds, and rising up above them, with moutain tops peaking out. The side that we climbed up was rolling hills. Once we got to the top and went over to the other side to go down, it was a valley full of jagged mountains, which is what SeorakSan is famous for. It was so nice! So when we got to the peak at 830, we had to wait for all the hikers to get there, about 20 of them. I bundled up in all my clothes and layed down in the sun, out of the wind. I was so exhausted, and just fell right asleep for about half an hour, a much needed nap. Around 9a, I was summoned to take pictues, then go down about 6oo meters to a hut for breakfast. It was here I understood why two of the guys had huge, heavy packs, while the rest of us had little day packs. They pulled out mulitple beer cans and started passing them around. So yes, at 9am, I had a beer! We hung around there for awhile, then at 10, started hiking again, just a couple more kms down to another hut for lunch at 1130. I took abother nap since I wasn't too hungry, and then left to hike down at 1230. It only took 2 hours for the last 6 km..and was one of the most amazing hikes I have ever been on....and it never rained! It ended up being a beautiful day, with lots of sun and perfect cool hiking weather. On the way down, it was waterfall after waterfall with a 360 degree view of jagged mounatins all around..I had my camera out the whole time and took tons of pictures, but still managed to get down the mountain wihtin the first few people. Here, we met up with the climbers who had been finished for about an hour and were at a makalie resturant (rice wine). We joined them for a few more hours until everyone was off the mountain. After getting us good and buzzed, we got back on the bus, promptly fell asleep, then were restled awake again about 45 minutes later to get off the bus and have dinner and more makalie..they made cooked rice, had some pig, kimchi, and greens. Around 6, we were able to get back on the bus to head home. It only took us 4 hours to drive to SeorakSan, so we thought we would get home about 10p, a reasonable time. I guess there was a lot of traffic, and we ended up getting home at 1230am..and after eating (we were both startving), didn't get to sleep until around 130a, with school the next morning at 930a...ahh! At least we slept a bunch on the bus.
Jared had a fun time climbing. There were 8 of them total, and he said it wasn't too cold or windy. He also got some great pictures. Even though it didn't rain, I didn't regret hiking at all. I got to see so much more of the park, and was very impressed the whole day!
The next day, we were tired, but not too bad. My calves (I think from waering tennis shoes instead of hiking boots) were ridiculously sore and stayed that way for 4 days. All in all, great trip!
Next blog: Kate's birthday party, which happened a few days after SeorakSan.
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