On Top of the World (or at least a big rock)

I inaugurated my new hiking boots (Christmas present from Mom and Dad) today. I've been wearing them around town to break them in, but this was their first trip up a mountain, and they did their job very well. It was a beautiful, sunny Saturday with the temperature close to 40. I took the Seoul subway as far north as it goes. I was about 20 miles from North Korea. I headed up this direction because it was new territory for me and because it's the area where my dad was stationed in the army in the 70s. I wanted to see what it looked like. I didn't, however, go near the army posts. It was still interesting to see the landscape and think that 30+ years ago, he was looking at the same mountains.

There was a great mountain park within easy walking distance from the train station. First, here's the entrance gate to the park. (I actually turned around and took this picture on my way down the mountain, looking back uphill and into the park.)

I followed a trail halfway up the mountain to a little Buddhist temple. One of the many things I love about Korea is that temples and mountains almost always go together. I like to visit both, and I especially like to photograph both, so it's like a two-for-one deal for me! Here's the temple.

One section of the temple is built under this huge rock. Notice the entrance in the bottom left corner of the picture.

They were having prayers in the temple under the rock when I got there. I generally don't like to take pictures during religious services, but as I stood there watching, a woman kept motioning toward me, saying, I think, that I should take a picture. I was sure to turn the flash off, but I was so anxious about potentially disrupting the prayers that I moved the camera too soon, hence the blurriness. Here's what it looks like on the inside, with a monk praying at the altar.

Also under the big rock is an artesian well. Here's a dragon who gives water.
From the temple, I continued up the mountain. The trail started to get a little more difficult. The only indication that it's even supposed to be a trail is the railing in some places.
Here's the view from 3/4 of the way up.

And, of course, the view from the top, looking back down the valley that I hiked up.

The photo at the top of this post is from the top of the mountain, looking down on the world. I got a really late start on my hike today, so by the time I made it to the top, I didn't have enough time to continue along the ridgeline and had to go back down the way I came so I'd be back in town before dark. I definitely plan to get an earlier start and go back again someday.

I'm a real wimp when it comes to cold weather. Even though it's been an extremely mild winter, I haven't been hiking in a while. On my way back down the mountain, my legs were starting to feel like spaghetti. Not a good sign of things to come, I thought. Rather than heading straight home after my hike, I decided to give my aching muscles a break at a big "jjimjilbang" (public bathhouse) in Seoul. This is another thing I love about Korea. I ate a great dinner (dolsot albap=rice with veggies and fish eggs served sizzling in a hot stone bowl), soaked in the hot tubs for a while, sweated in the salt fomentation room (you lie down on a bed of salt rocks in a very hot room), and then soaked the sweat off in the hot tubs again. My legs are thanking me after that tough climb this afternoon!

I have a couple more photos, but blogspot is being tempermental and won't let me add them tonight, so I'll try again tomorrow. It's well past bedtime for this tired but very happy hiker.