|
My abandoned house is located very near
Biseulsan National Park. The last time I went up to my house, I
got snowed out about halfway up the mountain and couldn’t
summit. Since then, I have been trying to find time to get back
up there. This weekend was the perfect time. Biseul Mountain
is famous for Wild Azaleas. In the spring, the whole
mountainside blossoms a bright pink. Both Rob and I wanted to
see that, so we planned another trip up to the house.
Rob had to go to his Korean class on
Saturday, so we didn’t leave Daegu until after lunch. That was
perfectly fine because our plan for that day was simply to ride
to the Abandoned House and make a fire, which was exactly what
we did. We rode the twenty miles into the mountains in just
about three hours. It was getting dark when we arrived at the
House, so we frantically began collecting firewood—a task that
would be nearly impossible in the dark. After the fire was lit
and we were warm, Kyra arrived and we spent the evening roasting
hotdogs and drinking beer by firelight. It was really nice. I
know you think that roasting hotdogs is very simple and not very
blogworthy, but I can count the number of hot dogs that I’ve
consumed in the last year on one hand. And the number of
campfires I’ve had in the last year is even less. Needless to
say, IT WAS AMAZING.
Rob and I spent the night in the House. It
was extremely cold. It wasn’t cold enough for snow, but I had
less clothes and a lighter blanket than the last time, so I was
probably just as cold or colder. Oops. We woke up early,
contemplated what to do for the day and headed out.
Our first stop for the day was at Yongcheon
Temple. This is one of my favorite temple either due to its
proximity to the Abandoned House or just because it is a clean,
quiet place in the mountains. After filling up our water
bottles with the temple’s spring water, we headed towards the
mountains. The last house on the road that goes to the Biseul
Mountain trailhead is also a coffee shop. Needless to say, we
stopped in for not just one, but two coffees. It was very nice
just sitting there listening to the warm morning. Water was
falling nearby and birds were chirping. We couldn’t hear people
talking or cars or even dogs. Then the store owner turned on
music. Gaahhh! Sometimes Korea really pisses me off. Korean’s
love such cheesy things. Take this for example: a quaint coffee
shop high in the mountains, located along a stream and next to a
bamboo forest. They have speakers wired to the trees playing
music! Gah! We were the only customers, so I asked (as
politely as I could) to turn of the music. He was happy to
comply. Disaster averted (it was Celine Dion playing, ugh).
Koreans either are not aware of the
existence of switchbacks or don’t care about them. I have not
been on a single trail here that either winds its way up a
mountain or has switchbacks on the way up. The Biseul Mountain
trail was just as steep as all of them. If I were talking to
you right now, I would cock my arm to show you the steep angle
of the trail. But, for now, you’ll just have to imagine. It
was steep.
We scrambled to the meadows atop Biseul
Mountain quickly. The view from the top was spectacular. It
was very rocky terrain, however there were many meadows as
well. From there, we hiked a figure eight back to the Abandoned
House. The total hiking distance was about twenty-four
kilometers. It was very nice exploring all the mountains (we
summitted a total of four peaks). Near the southern peak (Chohwa
Peak), there were so many people I couldn’t remember if I was
hiking or waiting in line at Target. Near that peak, there was
a really cool rock formation called Tombawi. I scrambled up top
and right then, I was the King of the World.
We climbed back down and cycled the twenty
miles back to town, the whole way craving McDonalds. We got
McDonalds and made it home safe and sound. I walked in the door
just as the sky opened up in downpour. When stuff like that
happens, you know someone is watching out for you. |
