Songnisan Hike!

Today we went on an awesome hike with a group from the church! It was an amazing way to spend an autumn day!

We were a bit unsure of what to expect, some people had told us it was a tough hike, and then we had read that it was an easy hike that anyone can do... so we were a little unsure going there. And hey, I'm from Alberta, we got the rockies, it couldn't be that hard right? 

Well, their idea of hiking is a bit different than ours... First a TON of people were in the park and on the trail, and I mean a ton... You had to fight for a spot on the trail, and had to be careful otherwise the Koreans might stab you with their hiking poles (that all of them use). Everyone said it was not normally like that though, and that it was unusual. Also, their "trails" really aren't trails. I'm used to trails that leveled out, wide, and pretty much clear of any obstacles. Korean trails are the opposite, it was all rock, rock stairs, roots, or just a really skinny trail. And the path went up and down steep parts countless times. 

It took us 1 1/2 hours to reach the top, and the view was amazing! Once again, like the fortress, you could see mountains and trees for MILES! It was beautiful. Plus, the leaves were all changing so everything was red, yellow and orange. It was very windy and cold at the top, so we only stopped to eat some lunch and then kept going down the other side of the mountain... 

The way down was almost worse than the way up... it was STRAIGHT down, there were points (see one of the pictures) where you really didn't know there was a trail in front of you, it was rock climbing. Brian also made another Korean friend on the way down. His name was James with an 'uh' sound at the end. When we told him we were from Canada, he got very excited, and when we said some Canadian city names he got even MORE excited, apparently he's been to Toronto... He invited us to go out with his friends for some Korean wine, but we had to politely decline because we had to meet the rest of the group at the bottom. The hike ended up taking us 3 1/2 hours and it was about 14km.

At the bottom of the mountain there was also a temple ground with a VERY large buddha statue. We explored around there a bit. It was interesting to walk around, because there are monks that live on the grounds, however, because of business of the park that day, it really just seemed like a tourist attraction more than anything. 

To get back to the bus we had to walk through a small village which was also very neat. There were a ton of street vendors and little markets set up selling souvenirs (we didn't buy anything, we figure we have a year here to collect that kind of stuff...) and fruits and veggies. It was neat to walk through the village and take it all in.

When we got back to the church, our legs were pretty stiff from the 1 hr bus ride, and to top of the day, it was IMPOSSIBLE to catch a cab, so we ended up walking the 40 minutes home! Our legs definitely got a work out today! 

Tomorrow we plan to go to church, have a Korean lesson, and then have a relaxing day at home! Then our weekend is done already! We have officially been here a month and so far time is really flying! Who knows, before we know it, we'll be writing a post about coming home!