Distance: 14.8km (101.0km), time spent: 7:24 (52:09).
Altitude (start / end / highest): 1278m / 696m / 1278m.
Weather: Nice, applerain.
There will always be times on a journey such as this one where you ask yourself why I am really doing this, especially when the days get long and tough. Where you find small cracks in your own motivation. It is at a morning like this one that you will find an answer to these questions. When you wake up in the morning, look out of the tent and then behold a marvelous landscape. Where the sky trembles of expectation, a sensation that the air is stirring.
Magical morning at Baegunsan, the tent illuminated by a great light over the summit from the sunrise. In the background the peaks of Jungbong and Kkeutbong and beyond the veils of clouds and far back in the horizon Jirisan and Cheonwangbong.
In the horizon the clouds has descended from the sky and are floating like an ocean around Baegunsan, with peaks jutting up of the ocean like small islands. This is my reward for doing this, this is the magic behind. The sky is at first dark blue, then reddish, and then the first sunray is racing over the sky. The coming heat, and the light. Sunrise from the white cloud mountain and an inner calm. Fantastic.
Sunrise from Baegunsan.
From the sunrise at Baegunsan, the ridge makes a dive down before it continues on its undulating journey through South-Korea. At Yeongchwisan (1075m), the mountain with sacred and beautiful features, is the second of two paths down to Muryeonggogae. The path is steep and even though most of it goes on a 500-meter long and well-built staircase, I dread the climb back up again when I am looking over my shoulder. The possibility of gorging in a good meal is however tempting too much.
A grave with a view, Jungbong, Kkeutbong and the mighty Cheonwangbong in the background.
Down at Muryeonggogae is it completely silent, the place is deserted, there is only one solitary walker looking wonderingly at me from a hammock. The little restaurant, whose owner has a karaoke machine that he plays electric guitar to, is closed. I am not sure of how much groove there would have been here on the day before, on a Tuesday evening. It is a nice and peaceful place, and on an evening with many guests you would probably had a great stay here. I fill up with water, in the silence, and then embarks upon the steep climb back up again.
The ocean of clouds is about to dissolve, mountain ridges is rising up from the remains and in the background the mountains of Deogyusan national park.
Between Baegunsan and Yuksipryeong, the trail is from time to time going past some great rocks (bawi) that you can climb on top of to scout out over the verdant mountains and ridges. The walk is now much more going on a path free of vegetation compared to the last days, and through long passages through tunnels of bamboo. The exception is at Minryeong where the vegetation is doing all that it can to take over the path. The pass is located just where the Yuksipryeong-tunnel is going under the ridge, and you can clearly hear the sound of the road below. I am getting closer to the Deogyusan national park and from Gitdaebong (1024m) you get a good view of the mountains there.
At the summit of Yeongchwisan, the stele reflected in a sign that has lost its content.
I arrive at Yuksipryeong in a state of lesser exaltation; it has been a great day on the Baekdudaegan starting with the marvelous sunrise. In Yuksipryeong, I get a room in a restaurant that looks somewhat worn, since the more modern hyugeso on the other side of the pass no longer operates as a minbak and in addition is closing early. The room mostly resembles a storage room for furniture and stuff that is not in use, the shower is in a bathroom that will win no prices for cleanliness.
Outside the little restaurant in Muryeonggogae.
Then the Baekdudaegan is conjuring up some more magic again, of an entire other and unexpected kind. While I am relaxing outside the restaurant a young Korean is approaching me. He presents himself as Will and is very curious about who I am and what I am doing here. For each answer I give, he gets more and more surprised; it is probably not very common to see people from Norway in this area. Will is buying me a beer and we spend a long time talking, he speaks English and is a pleasant company.
View from Gitdaebong, the mountains of Deogyusan in the background.
The clock is ticking and I begin to feel hungry, and I am thinking of exploiting the fact that Will speaks English so that he can explain to me what is on the menu here. The result is not quite what I had in mind. Will is recommending bulkogi, which is meat that you grill yourself on the table and is served together with rice and vegetables. I ask Will if he would like to join me for dinner and then we order the dish for two, which means to interrupt the owner of the restaurant while he is playing a computer game. The food tastes good, but when we are about to pay for the food and beer, Will is insisting on paying for it. Which is what I had intended (and should, economically speaking).
A water source below Gitdaebong, with superb taste, a good place to come to after walking a long time on a hot day.
However, the tale of jeong does not end there. After the dinner Will is insisting on that I should come with him in his car. So we drive into the night, down from the ridge. We pass through the main street of a small village and then it goes into the mountains, on a bumpy road in pitch-black darkness. I am wondering a little bit now of what it is that I have ventured into. In the end, we arrive at his family's apple orchard that lies deep within the mountains. Now Will starts to gather apples to me, many apples, while I carefully tries to hint that I could not possibly carry with me that much. Not satisfied with only the apples, I receive a bag full of apple juice as well. Then he drives me back to Yuksipryeong.
The restaurant in Yuksipryeong that I spent the night in.
Back at Yuksipryeong I am left with two bags of apples and one bag of apple juice, and I am really wondering what I am going to do with the lot. I am overwhelmed by the generosity, but it is a little bit excessive I think. The rest of the evening, I spend relaxing and eating apples, while looking back at the great, but strange day on the Baekdudaegan.
Will and I eating dinner in the restaurant in Yuksipryeong, bulkogi fried on the grill on the table. Will was a pleasant acquaintance, who also spoke English.
<- BaegunsanSatgatgoljae ->
too many apple..HaHaHa....
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