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I wanted to do something
adventurous this weekend that included covering long distances.
My original thoughts were to take the Ridge Trial again from
Palgong Mountain to Gatbawi Rock. But I didn’t really want to
do that because the elevation is quite high and it has been
snowing around Daegu lately. I didn’t want to risk getting
another cold. Leona suggested that I borrow her bike for the
weekend because she was going to be in Busan, not needing her
bicycle. I accepted; heading out Sunday morning.
I decided to travel the
entire length of the Sincheon River—from it’s confluence with
the Geumhogang River to its source south of the Apsan Peaks.
The Sincheon River, as you might recall, bifurcates the city of
Daegu almost the same precision that the Allies used to
bifurcate this peninsula. From the city, it follows a series of
valleys deep into the mountains.
I left the same was as I
always do—through the university to the University Bridge. From
there, I headed south. After roughly six miles, the paved
riverwalk ends at the city line. A few more miles of dirt
pathways follow into the outskirts of the city. I wanted to
travel along the river the whole way to the source, trying to
stay off roads, so I stayed on the paths. When the paths ended
at the dikes, I just got up on top of the dikes and followed the
dike access roads deeper into the mountains. At one point, the
dike ended at a bluff. I thought I’d have to turn around and
cross the river at a bridge and then double back. But I noticed
a steep trail over the bluff. So, I just put the bike on my
back and humped it up the hill and down the other side.
South of the bluff, the
going got tricky. The river entered a wide, flat section of
valley that was criss-crossed with beat-up levy roads and
tributaries. I meandered around all the levies; as one levy
system ended, I was forced to cross the river and continue on
the other side. And finally, at one point, the levies ended. I
threw the bike back up on my shoulder and walked upstream in the
riverbed trying to find another levy to follow. But that was
the end. I forded the river at a shallow point near a
cataract—an operation that ended with me covered in stinking
river water. To get out of the river bed, I had to crawl up a
bank holding trees in one hand and the bike in the other. At
that point, I had humped the bike into a narrow wastewater
runoff channel and if I had fallen, it would have been into the
remnants of kimchi and rice washed down the gutters. I tried
very hard not to fall.
From then on, there was no
choice; I had to ride along the freeway. I couldn’t carry the
bike on my bike the rest of the way. After a couple of miles,
the river curved away from the freeway and I was able to ride
along a country road.
After leaving the freeway,
I was really in the countryside. It was very rural. I had an
amazing time riding along that country road. It was very quiet
and peaceful. At one point, I noticed a tiny temple with a
bamboo forest behind it. I parked the bike and ventured in. As
I was wandering around, being a foreigner, the temple-attendants
(nice old ladies, of course) invited me in for coffee. I was
very thankful because that high up in the mountains, snow was
starting to accumulate along the roads and it was quite cold. I
warmed my hands with that coffee as we chatted about where I was
from, what I was doing there and about another American—who
apparently lived in their tiny village. They were amazed by my
Korean skills and I was very proud to tell them that I was an
American. If I studied Korean for all those years for nothing
except that experience, I would be happy. I enjoyed the coffee,
they enjoyed my company and I got to serve my country by leaving
a good impression of Americans in that remote little village.
After that, the going got
even tougher. The road became very steep—so steep, in fact,
that I had to walk the bike up some hills. Very near the
summit, I came to a small village. There were probably only
about 10 houses. It was very quaint. One restaurant and one
store were all the amenities in town. It was very rural and
traditional in nature, clinging to the hillside. That was about
the end of the bike. At that point, I had to lock up the bike
and continue on foot. Not long after, the road ended and I was
on a small trail. Then, as the trail ended, I was forced to
step into the miniscule riparian and follow it up the cirque. I
ate lunch sitting in the middle of the riparian at a point that
I considered to be the source. There was, of course, no water
in the stream, so I just sat in the middle of the dry ravine. I
had done it. Call me Louis and Clark.
The ride back was
exhilarating—downhill all the way. I calculated the distance
using Google Earth. It was about 38 miles (60 kilometers) round
trip. Well worth it. But now I’m beat! |
