Cheonwangbong, the top of mainland South Korea
Korea's largest national park lies in the heart of the south-central lands. Jirisan National Park is home to the highest point on the South Korean mainland. We traveled there last weekend to summit this 1950 meter peak. Jirisan is translated into Mt. Jiri, which is interesting and a little confusing because the entire park is actually one big mountain according to this naming. There are many "bongs", or peaks there, but they are all connecting and radiating out from the central high peak named "Cheonwangbong". Though not too tall for American standards, the spreading out of Mt. Jiri means that it is a huge mountain. It is also the only place in Korea where you can find bears. The Asiatic Black Bear, thought to be extinct in Korea, was found to still be living in Jirisan back in the 1990's. Jirisan was also known to be home to North Korean soldiers trapped after the end of the Korean War, though they are probably all gone by now.
There are many ways to approach Mt. Jiri, though most are from temples that sit at the bottom and have bus connections to nearby cities. There are also many "Minbaks" at these gateways where local families rent out a room or two in their homes and cook for you. We chose to stay up on the mountain instead, in a shelter. The crew embarked from the Daewonsa temple around midday and began the ascent through the Korean jungle. Hiking in Korea is difficult because the mountains are steep here and the trails do not use cutbacks. There are lots of staircases and ropes to climb, making it a little slow-going at times. The weather on Saturday was cloudy and drizzling, so it had a creepy jungle vibe. There were also bear warning signs every quarter mile, showing some mean looking bears. You can also get find out where to go for cell phone reception every 200-300 meters with markers that show which direction to go depending on your service provider.
We reached the ridge, where the shelter was located, in the afternoon and had a big lunch and got out of the rain, killing time until the shelter opened for bed. We each purchased a spot on the 6 man wooden bunks for $5 and two blankets for rent for $1 each. We laid down at about 7pm and tried to get some sleep. We saw pretty quickly that this was going to be impossible. The bed was hard wood with only a thin blanket cushion, no pillows, everyone was packed like sardines so that you couldn't move without knocking your neighbor. There was also a raging party going on out back which Reid and I eventually went to check out. This weekend was a recreational outing for some members of the district courts all over Korea. We met a few judges from Seoul and shared some drinks and stories about the U.S. The guy from the local district hiked in a cooler backpack full of fresh fish and they made a huge stew out of it. It was delicious compared to our fruits and nuts. We discussed some politics with them which was interesting because they were pretty high up in the judicial system and attended American law schools. The only thing I really recall is their insistence that the U.S. needs to be more generous. Once the party started to die down, we packed it in and thought we would go get a much needed rest. At this point, however, the shelter became a real nightmare as many people had moved in there. It was almost unbearably hot and stuffy - we had all these blankets that we rented and didn't want now - there was no air circulation at all, so it started to smell a bit - these old men snored horribly loud with night tremors and the whole nine yards. I moved from the bunk down to the floor where it was a little cooler, but still spent most of the night sitting up in silence amazed that people could sleep in this thing. I guess it is a Korean thing, because the Korean - Sung Min - that we came with slept like a baby. I think I may have got an hour of sleep with the others maybe doing a little better or worse. By around 3:30 AM we had had enough and packed up the gear and hit the trail in the dark.
In the mountain shelter from hell.
Legend has it that anyone who sees the sunrise from the top of Jirisan will have good luck for 3 generations. Now, we also heard another version that that person would have good luck for their past 3 generations, which doesn't quite make as much sense. While we didn't quite make it to the top by sunrise, we found a nice peak which was maybe 3rd or 4th largest and paused for the rising in the East. We figured we earned good luck for maybe a generation or two from this noble act.
There's the famed sunrise.
At the very top. (L to R) Thomas, Jamie, Sung Min, Reid, Weirdo
We reached the highest peak around 7 AM and celebrated with individually-wrapped cheesecake slices courtesy of our Korean friend. The view from the top was amazing, in fact the whole hike that day had been amazing because we were above the clouds with magnificent views from steep cliffs and Korean jungles. It was almost like being up in an airplane looking down at the sea of clouds rolling gently across the hills. The Koreans used to believe that the Gods lived atop these mountains above the clouds. I remember thinking that it definitely had a heavenly feel. We descended back down to the mundane in the later morning hours and the brutality of earthly life. It seemed as we got lower the more brutal the trail got with one steep rock staircase after another. The whole trail was essentially rock and my legs were quivering by the end of it. We made it down to our bus in about 3 hours and slept deeply on the way back to Daegu, where we returned at around 3 PM.
We are welcoming the summer with the opening of the Ice Cream Shop and a Popsicle-making station at our school. This past week we spent some late nights out watching the Confederations Cup (World Cup warm up) down in South Africa. The U.S. advanced to its first final in a FIFA competiton, so it was very exciting. A great effort in the final, but they fell to Brazil 3-2 as I am sure many of you saw. We also had dinner with Thomas' mother and sister last week and introduced them to Makeoli, the Korean rice wine, as well as Bondaegi, the silk worm larvae. A delicious combination. This weekend the Americans will be having a get together on the roof to celebrate the 4th. There will be a little grilling, beer pong and all the hottest American cuts (music).
Living out the last days in Korea with Moon and Thomas.
