There’s an English travel group in Seoul that does different trips each weekend. This past weekend was a trip to a Pine Mushroom Festival in Uljin (supposedly Pine Mushrooms grown in Uljin are a “diamond of the forest”) and a trek through the Bulyeong Valley.
The organizers described the trek portion of the trip on the website like this:
We will trek down a valley along a creek with many trees and plants in of the few truly natural and untouched areas in Korea. The trail will be broken in some parts, and we may have to walk through the creek, so be prepared to get wet.
The day started out at 6:00am in order to have breakfast at 7:00am so that we could be on the bus at 8:00am. After an hour drive (nap) we all clambered off the bus and headed down the cement steps to the river valley. Alright, I thought, cement steps, this can’t be that bad. Much like my hiking in China, paths are never as they first appear.
The trail was not “broken in some parts” it was broken in ALL parts. We were immediately faced with the decision to cross the river in knee-deep water or scramble over slippery rock face. I chose the river.
The hike progressed at a snail’s pace (4km in over 4 hours). When we could stay on the “trail”, it was slow going with awkward footing. There were a few more streams that were crossed – I eventually gave up switching from hikers to flip-flops and plunged in with my hikers on. It was when we were climbing a rock face and I heard Jen mutter “Oh shit” that I knew things were only just getting interesting. When I reached the top, I saw a row of people in chest deep water with packs on their head.
Kelly crossed first and instructed us on the best route. Mostly it was about not getting carried away by the current as you cornered a huge boulder. Jen went in second and her five foot and not much more frame was almost completely submersed by water. We all feared for our digital cameras and iPods in our packs. Jen got stuck in the current coming around the boulder and couldn’t move because of the force of the water. When she was finally able to get fully around, we started passing bags along from one side to the other so people had hands free to cross. We emerged triumphant and soaking wet a good ten minutes later to face the next two hours of rock scrambling and more river crossing in the rain.
My hikers are still drying in my apartment. I’m hoping they’ll be ready for me to conquer Mount Seorak tomorrow.*
The organizers described the trek portion of the trip on the website like this:
We will trek down a valley along a creek with many trees and plants in of the few truly natural and untouched areas in Korea. The trail will be broken in some parts, and we may have to walk through the creek, so be prepared to get wet.
The day started out at 6:00am in order to have breakfast at 7:00am so that we could be on the bus at 8:00am. After an hour drive (nap) we all clambered off the bus and headed down the cement steps to the river valley. Alright, I thought, cement steps, this can’t be that bad. Much like my hiking in China, paths are never as they first appear.
The trail was not “broken in some parts” it was broken in ALL parts. We were immediately faced with the decision to cross the river in knee-deep water or scramble over slippery rock face. I chose the river.
The hike progressed at a snail’s pace (4km in over 4 hours). When we could stay on the “trail”, it was slow going with awkward footing. There were a few more streams that were crossed – I eventually gave up switching from hikers to flip-flops and plunged in with my hikers on. It was when we were climbing a rock face and I heard Jen mutter “Oh shit” that I knew things were only just getting interesting. When I reached the top, I saw a row of people in chest deep water with packs on their head.
Kelly crossed first and instructed us on the best route. Mostly it was about not getting carried away by the current as you cornered a huge boulder. Jen went in second and her five foot and not much more frame was almost completely submersed by water. We all feared for our digital cameras and iPods in our packs. Jen got stuck in the current coming around the boulder and couldn’t move because of the force of the water. When she was finally able to get fully around, we started passing bags along from one side to the other so people had hands free to cross. We emerged triumphant and soaking wet a good ten minutes later to face the next two hours of rock scrambling and more river crossing in the rain.
My hikers are still drying in my apartment. I’m hoping they’ll be ready for me to conquer Mount Seorak tomorrow.*
*I tried to post this at work on Monday but blogger seems to be blocked. It's now Tuesday evening, a few hours before I head to Seoraksan, and my hikers are dry!
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