Daedunsan Hike

So the details on the hike. I wish that my writing abilities were about 18 times higher so that I could do this day justice.

After a 2.5 hour bus ride we finally arrive at the mountain. We pile in to a restaurant and have a quick meal of bibimbap .

When we finish lunch we all pile into a cable car and take it a good way up the mountain. The weather was less than cooperative however, it was drizzly, cold and incredibly foggy. Riding up the in cable car the mountain had an eerie feel.

The way up we went over a large suspension bridge that moved and swung when you jumped on it... awesome. One of the fellow hikers had a fear of heights so this was a challenge for him. Some more hiking then we reached a huge metal staircase. This staircase was intense to say the least, and it was even more intense by the fact that it was raining and slippery. Thankfully no one slipped and we all made it to the top. More hiking and we reached a peak, I'm not sure if it was the top peak or just the top peak in that area... with the fog we couldn't see more than a few meters in front of us. We had to wait there for 15-20 minutes for everyone else to get there and then we were able to start our way down.

There was a choice to hike down or take the cable car back down (now taking the cable car still took about half an hour of hiking). The majority of the group chose to hike and while at first I was happy to see that I soon wished that most of them had opted for the cable car.

Let me stop here to tell you what out guide said to us on the bus... "this hike will be very hard. It is steep and very slippery. If you don't have cleats you should just take the cable car down. Again, let me say, this hike is very hard. Also there is no path, you must stay with the group because you will get lost and we won't be able to find you". Yikes. I am not a hiker, this is my first hike... I was scared, but didn't come all the way to take a cable car. Unfortunately others felt the same way. Jeff and I stayed in the top 6 the entire time and the guide often made our group stop and wait for 10 minutes at a time for everyone else to catch up. What was the point on working so hard to just have to sit around and wait for the slow people.

Granted though this hike was insane.. it was raining and snowing and windy. For at least a third of the time we were hiking through mud and puddles and there really was no marked path. Ribbons on trees basically, although I rarely saw them. There was no set way and a few times we accidentally chose the most difficult and dangerous route. After clearing the mud we were then on the rocks. My upper body hurts so much today because so many times the rocks were so high you had to squat down and then use your upper body to lower you to the next rock. A few people biffed hard... I slipped a few times but luckily caught myself most times... my agility shining through again.

After reaching the bottom I did a little dance, I was so proud of myself for completing this hike and being in the front group as well. When the others found out that this was my first hike they were impressed with how well I was and told me that I was obviously a natural hiker. I corrected them and assured them that I was not, I'm just to competitive to not be in the front group.

The day was great, only two things would have made it better. First, the weather. It would have been nice to see what was around us. Secondly was the fact that we were in such a large group and had to keep waiting. Not sure if we'll do a hike with a big group again or not, might try and tackle them on our own so we can go at our own pace.

Overall, first Adventure Korea trip was a huge success! Already signing up for a different trip in a few weeks. More details on that to come later.

Please click on this photo and read the Caution... Oh we laughed and laughed

The suspension bridge

One of our rest stops where you could drink the spring water out of obviously sanitary scoops

Jeff and Heather starting their climb on the death staircase

The mountain... we hiked down the red line on the right