Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Adventure Korea definitely lived up to their name. It's a company that organizes mini excursions throughout Korea such as DMZ visits, white water rafting trips, temple stays and bungee jumping. Believe it or not, I used to go on hardcore camping trips when I went to Camp Miniwanca. When I say hardcore, I mean packing two weeks worth of gear in one backpack, not showering for days at a time, and even making food over a fire. I figured if I could bike up the coast of Michigan, I could for sure handle a two day hiking trip. So a few friends and I took a chance and went hiking in the Seoraksan National Park.

My journey began at 7:30 a.m. Saturday morning. I'm pretty spoiled with my work schedule so waking up anytime before 11 a.m. is considered torture. We met the bus and drove about 3.5 hours to Sokcho, a city in the northeastern part of Korea. Unfortunately, the weather that day wasn't very nice. It was overcast with a high percentage of rain and there was a ton of snow on the ground. I was not prepared for the weather, to say the least. I packed a few pairs of leggings, my tennis shoes, and luckily I threw in a pair of sweatpants right at the last minute. Before we got off the bus to start hiking, our guide warned us (take note of what he said) that if the weather got bad, we would have to turn around and head back down the mountain because the rocks would be slippery and dangerous. He also said (another mental note) that it would be a difficult hike, but we wouldn't have to propel down the mountain or anything (ha).

The first part of the hike was very enjoyable. We were mainly on flat ground that wasn't covered in snow. We passed a huge Buddha statue, heard Monks chanting, saw some temples, and took a group picture in front of the Heundeulbawi- rumor has it you can move it.

Well, that enjoyment didn't last very long. First of all, it started raining, second of all, the hike became 100 times harder. The trail (or lack there of) was covered in snow, it was a lot steeper, the pace the guide set was really fast (last time they were really late, so I guess he wanted to make sure we made it to the top in record time), and there were a ton of steep, slippery, stairs.

Whenever there were stairs I wanted to kick myself because before the trip I attempted to "train." I told myself that I would climb the stairs, all 17 flights of them, to my apartment instead of taking the elevator. Well, that clearly never happened, but in the end I don't think that would've helped much with what I was faced with. Also, whenever there weren't stairs, there was a rope, yes, a rope, to pull yourself up. I am a very determined person so I kept sending positive vibes to my limbs telling them to keep moving. Every step I made I knew I was one inch closer to the top.

Once I hit the peak of the mountain, I felt very accomplished. It was so windy and wet that we had a brief photo opportunity and then headed back down. The decent was the fun part. While most people propelled down the mountain, I didn't want to risk slipping on the rocks, so I took the easy way out. I sat on the wet, snow covered ground and slid down. Snow pants would've made my trip down a whole lot better, but it was still pretty entertaining.

Summary:

-800+ stairs

-5,603 ft. high

-conquered the 3rd highest mountain in Korea

-a backpack full of wet clothes

-no broken nails

Mission accomplished.