Typically Awesome

Yesterday was a great big hike with delicious food and squishy mud capping the whole experience. Our tour group must have been about 40 strong, and we competed with cold winds and impenetrable mists to climb to the top of one of Korea’s most famous mountains. “Manisan” mountain is known to climbers throughout the country for its spectacular views. On clear days, the peak provides climbers with a panoramic view straight to the ocean. Its unique combination of rocky mountain hiking and ocean views makes it one of the most beloved areas in the country to see and enjoy nature.

But before going into any more detail about it, I’d just like to say that the most exciting thing about this whole expedition was that it was completely typical of daylong hiking trips in Korea. The winter is thawing at last, and the weather is finally warm enough to allow for frequent hiking. This hiking trip included a big group lunch with some interesting people, stops at several locations, a good climb and a visit to a very peaceful and beautiful Buddhist temple. In other words, it was completely normal in almost every way for a Korean hike. And yet it was very interesting, introduced me to several nice people, and cost barely anything (barely 20 bucks for a very full Saturday). With spring nearly here, good times are ahead. I can’t wait.

This particular group was organized by a Korean guy named Warren (that’s his English name, anyway). He’s been putting these hikes together for about 2 years. He’s warm and friendly, and endlessly energetic. Warren’s English is mediocre, but his enthusiasm and knowledgability make him the perfect man for the job. He’s kind enough to organize the hikes at cost—the group pays only what it cost Warren to book the buses and pay for the lunches. Everyone likes Warren. He’s a stand up guy.
The bus left Seoul at about 10 AM. We were westbound, headed for the coast, though we did have one stop along the way. We swung by a “dolmen” site. A dolmen is a stone structure in the shape of pi. Kind of like one of the parts of Stonehenge, but not quite so large. Ancient Koreans built quite a few of them it seems. Truth be told, the dolmen wasn’t too exciting but it was interesting to look at the diagrams explaining how they were constructed. You learn something new every day.

Soon after getting back on the bus, we arrived at the coast. Lunch came first. Fresh fish. Kimchi. Quail eggs. Tofu soup. Rice wine infused with ginseng. I ate with no regard to the hike ahead. When a meal is all you can eat, I eat ALL I can eat. If anyone asks me what I learned in college, I will say “the value of free food”.

We stumbled out of the restaurant and headed down to the beach. I should describe the weather at this point. It was fairly cold, quite windy, and completely overcast. Not exactly ideal beach weather. But then, this was no ordinary beach. The beach at Manisan is a “mud beach”. When the tide is out, a huge plateau of mud is left behind. For hundreds and hundreds of yards, there is wet muddy sand that sucks your feet two or three inches deep. It was, of course, very cold mud, but that was beside the point. When you see hundreds of yards of mud, you must walk on it (or in it). There is no choice.

Mark, Anthony, and I waded out a few hundred feet into the stuff, our feet growing numb, surrounded by endless gray and brown. The featureless terrain seemed to stretch on forever, but Anthony, up ahead, found the perfect stopping point. A single large stone, maybe 2 feet across and 6 inches high was resting all alone in the middle of nowhere. That was it. The stone’s job was to provide a destination for cold mud-waders. We stood on the rock in turns, then turned back to wash our feet thoroughly before getting back on the bus.

At last came the hike. Manisan is about 1500 feet high. We climbed it in about an hour and a half. So, let’s do the math. 90 minutes/1500 feet = 16.66… feet per minute. Shit, son! It was a truly invigorating hike. It was quick and just the right amount of strenuous. Big rocks were all over the place, and continuing upward often meant finding a way to all but leap up to the next spot. Find a place to put your hands and jump up on to the net big rock. The path zigzagged all over the place and the mountain mist was so close you couldn’t see past a fifty foot bubble, shrinking the world down to a small window of scraggly leafless trees, jagged stones and slopes and drops. Each patch of trail was a small test to pass, each test made of the same components, yet each completely different. It was physically demanding, but there was a constant sense of progress. I am putting a mountain beneath me, bit by bit.

Time disappeared, of course, but at some point the top came near. To our surprise, there were stairs near the top. These finished off the last burst of elevation and we reached the ridge. It was incredibly misty here. I mean, there was almost no visibility at all. And the wind was howling with incredible strength. Just standing upright seemed dangerous. The wind was strong enough to feel like it could push you down. There’s an additional 30 minutes of hiking here, along the ridge, but Warren made an executive decision for all of our safety and declared that we would be turning around. No one disagreed with his thinking. It would have been nice to keep going, but we had already reached the top, at least, and no one had gotten hurt. We’ll just have to save exploring the ridge for another day.

After descending, we visited the mountain’s temple. It was great in the way that temples are great. It’s not an experience subject to being put into words. I’ll just say I felt very good there, and enjoyed it very much.

That brought the tour to a close, and it was time to head back to Seoul. About 12 of us got dinner together at a typically excellent and inexpensive Korean restaurant, then Mark and Emma and I headed home to sleep. We’d set out together at 7:30 that morning and we got home at 10 that night. A full day’s adventuring hand built our appetites for rest.

So there it is. Pretty good stuff, eh? You can see why I’m excited for spring now. Soon that will be a routine Saturday. Hooray for warm weather!

Tune in next week, as I go ostrich riding. That’s right, OSTRICH RIDING.

I love you all,

Randy