A Trek of Mine Own/A Country at War

I swear this country is all uphill. I have already blogged (complained) about walking uphill to and from work. It does seem that no matter where I go there are stairs to climb and hills to navigate. The locals seem to enjoy this. Indeed, on the weekends the subway is full of people wearing hiking gear heading for a trek in the nearby mountains.

Last Tuesday, I got the following email:

Dear CFC members

Annual spring field trip will be carried out on a center basis rather than the institute basis this year.

Brain Science Institute will go hiking in Bulam mountain and Dullegil which will be a three-hour walking course.

Above two attractions are famous for their gentle slope and nice walking course. This opportunity will give you a chance to refresh yourself as you will be working out in a pleasant environment,

After hiking, lunch(Korean rib called Galbi) will be served at the restaurant under a wisteria vine

There is a place you can play foot volleyball near there. We hope you have fun playing and cheering your team.

So the Koreans view a mountain hike as refreshing. Alright, if you are continuously walking uphill, you might as well enjoy it. Sign me up. Unfortunately, My hiking shoes are still on the boat. Living out of a suitcase is really becoming a pain. Still, the slope is gentle, and I was told this is a very easy hike.

The day of the trip was absolutely beautiful. The slope was gentle, and I was actually starting to feel refreshed. The scenery was very impressive. We were near the outskirts of Seoul, but the vegetation was pretty thick which gave me the impression that we had left the city. Then a friend of mine noticed a barbed-wire fence running the length of the path we were on. Although I am beginning to be able to sound out Korean characters, I have no idea what the words mean. So the warning on the fence was unclear to us. My friend suggested that they really don't want you to mountain bike here. I guess not.

Barbed-wire fence. Do Not Wonder from the Path!

A little farther down the path some people had stopped to have a snack at some peculiar resting areas. I took a picture of the first empty one I saw.

An odd looking rest area.

As we continued our walk up the mountain, my friend asked me if I had ever played paintball. He thought this would be a perfect place. I have played, and I do enjoy it. I told him about the first time I had played outdoors. There were several guys in bandanas running, diving, and being way too serious. When it was our turn I jogged to the first barrier and took one right in the chest. Ouch. From then on I was running and diving as well. Nothing like negative reinforcement. My friend was suggesting we find a place to play, but I was no longer listening. I had just seen something to freeze me in my tracks.

A fox hole!

This country is still at war. It signed a cease-fire but never a peace treaty. This mountain is fortified with barbed-wire, bunkers, and fox holes! I don't know if it is of strategic importance, a training facility or both. It really doesn't matter though I did see several platoons of South Korean soldiers training during our 'walk'.

I must say that the shock of these sights had put me a little on edge. I was no longer feeling the refreshment of working out in a pleasant environment. I was actually trying to calculate how close to North Korea we were. Too damn was my conclusion. Anyway, the hike was beautiful even if the Korean translation of easy doesn't really fit my definition. It was a mountain after all. There were sections that were definitely not easy especially when you don't have the right shoes.

We didn't go to the summit. Instead we stopped at a heliopad. It was very MASH like.

The journey down was actually much harder than the trip up. We went down the other side of the mountain, and the path was not nearly as well defined. Actually, the path was quite slippery with loose sand and rocks making my choice of basketball shoes a really bad one.

The scenery going down was absolutely beautiful with a small mountain spring running off to our right. This side of the mountain was much more rocky. About half way down we came across a remarkable stack of rocks. The tradition here is to find a loose stone and add it to the stack. If your stone stays your wish will come true. My stone stayed, and my wish to get to the bottom without breaking my neck was granted.

The hike did take roughly three hours, and it was another twenty minute walk to the restaurant. Lunch was an all you can eat pork barbeque. An absolutely outstanding spring trip. I would like to end this post by showing two pictures of my walk to work. Even though I like to complain that it is uphill both ways, the trip is definitely worth it.

My walk to work.