Distance: 19.1km (410.9km), time spent: 08:50 (214:36).
Altitude (start / end / highest): 800m / 689m / 1315m.
Weather: Rainy and windy.
The sound of raindrops on the tent in the morning is a good indication of which weather sign this day is born under. I quickly get out of the sleeping bag, fortunately enough it is not so early in the morning. The pavilion at the pass is quite handy in this situation, I take everything I have got in the tent and put it in the pavilion in shelter for the rain. Then I put down the tent. While I sit inside under the roof of the jeongja and eat breakfast, tired, the rain is declining. Quiet before the storm, this reminds me of the morning at Ihwaryeong.
Morning in the jeongja at Jeosuryeong. Tired. Early morning, awakened by rain on the tent.
Leaving Jeosuryeong in an increasing rain, a walk under a grey sky heavy with water is awaiting me.
I am now effectively outside of Woraksan, which I left at Beoljae. To Jukryeong the trail is going over no less than eleven summits, where seven of them are named. After that, I will be in Sobaeksan National Park. It is quiet in the start when I set out from Jeosuryeong, and then the first raindrops breaks the silence. The path is luckily enough good to walk on, because that is what I mainly is mentally preparing myself for now. The rain increases in scale.
No views to be had. The trees and the valley disappears in the mist and rain.
I can forget about getting any views now, a grey wall of nothingness is what you get to see. In the forest, the clouds are floating ghosts that drifts through the trees, which makes them indistinct from each other. Everything is melting into each other. In the rain and mist the peaks and passes looks the same. Rainy weather here somewhat resembles the topography, it is undulating; it is lifting a little bit, before it gets even worse, interchangeably. The path is vanishing in the weather; you have to keep a closer look at the ribbons. There is no views to be able to separate the ridges from each other at this point.
In the mounting mists, the atmosphere in the forest enters a mystical realm.
Close by the summit of Myojeokbong, the landscape hidden today.
At Myojeokryeong, I slip across the southern border of Sobaeksan, with the border also marking a small change in the path. It becomes more challenging, though it is not an exposed ridge the trail is passing over today. There is no typhoon either, but it is still wet. The views are limited to the grey world that resides where the leaves on the trees ends. Stairs brings me out of the same grey world to the summit of Dosolbong (1315m), at the same time it has become a welcome break in the rainy weather.
Stairs brings me out of the grey world just before Dosolbong. By climbing out onto some rocks, I could glimpse out over the grey sea of clouds.
On both the way up and at the summit, I can look down upon a grey sea, where the trees disappears slowly down into the deep. It is quiet, but in between there are some sounds rising up from the veiled forest below. I have not met anyone during the walk today, the Koreans probably knows better than to be out and walking here on days like these. Still, it is quite cool to be standing up here. A sign is marked with 'Falling!', but even in this weather, it is quite obvious that it is a long way down behind the fence.
View from Dosolbong. Nothing much to see, where the forest disappears down into the deep.
I tear myself loose from the summit and continues further on the trail, which passes over yet another summit, Samhyeongjebong (1225m). Getting nearer to Jukryeong, I hear gradually growing sounds through the forest. The trail is going steep down through low shoots of bamboo, before I break out of the trees next to a huge and magnificent jeongja at Jukryeong. The sounds I have been hearing is coming from the restaurant at the pass, which is playing loud music. I can, slightly confused, acknowledge that I have arrived at my destination for today. I saunter tired over to the northern side of the pass, where I smilingly sees the Hangeul writing for minbak (민박) on a restaurant.
At the summit of Dosolbong, where there was a respite from the rain when I arrived.
Everything is good again when you get a shower (though cold this time) and changed to dry clothes. The room has a heated floor (so-called ondolbang), so I spread my clothes on the floor to dry. I am the only guest at the place. The person working there is not speaking English, but he seems nice, and we are able to communicate a little bit. He shakes his head when I am telling where I have been walking from, but he looks impressed of the time I spent walking. Then again, I have not been doing much other than walk today either.
Descent to Jukryeong through low shoots of bamboo.
The dinner he is making is at least very good, with a lot of meat, so I eat heartily. Mr. Cho is calling, and we have a pleasant talk in the afternoon. Outside it is raining relentlessly; the clouds are still drifting through the loud music that is played outside of the restaurant. I have get to experience a lot more of Korean weather in the later days.
The huge jeongja at Jukryeong.
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