Recovering from Jirisan in Seoul

One more post while I have wifi (and it got pretty long, sorry) to share pictures of what I spent the last three days doing. Jirisan was a big deal for me because it was my first proper solo hike, as well as the longest and most difficult trail I've done so far and my first time hiking at night. (In case this sounds insane, I'll add that I chose very busy, popular trails and went at the weekend). It was also the first time I turned up in a village looking for a homestay, which I was a bit nervous about, but which turned out to be fine.

I did my research, reading about various trails online, spending half a day scouring Busan for a trail map (and another evening translating it into English) and learning the basics of reading Korean characters so I could verify my path by reading trail and village names on signs. I had my trusty compass, raincoat, water purification equipment, spare socks, plenty of food and a few bars of chocolate. It was on.

The first day and a half were brilliant. I easily found a homestay and a gigantic hot meal. I clambered on ropes across a river and successfully translated Korean words on signs. I felt pretty clever, I have to tell you :-) It got steep, and sometimes the trail was hard to find, but it was all under control. And then it started to get misty and the mist turned to rain. I began to find that slogging up the horrible bits wasn't nearly as much fun without my hiking friends there to share the pain. The rain meant there was no reward: every view was like standing inside a cloud. Without someone else to say "Wow, we're seriously supposed to go up _that_?", it was hard to get enthusiastic about the climbs. Near the end of the day I just wanted to be out of the rain so I didn't stop to eat when I got hungry. (Tip: this is stupid.)

The penultimate peak, Jungbong, was a great celebration. I had it to myself for a few minutes and I stood in the white mist, arms in the air, declaring the third highest peak in South Korea to be mine. From there, it was a hard but triumphant 45 minutes up to Jirisan's 1915m peak, Cheonwangbong. And it was _rubbish_. The top was crowded with a group of noisy people, all very comfortable with the height, leaning back off the ridge to take photographs, trusting their hiking boots and poles. They bustled and shoved and barged into each other at the edge of this sheer mountain top and I, without mountaineering in my blood and with low blood sugar, was suddenly really scared that they'd knock me off the edge. I inched back down to flatter ground and sat and ate chocolate until I  was un-scared again. Lesson learned.

After that, the hour scrambling downhill to the shelter in rain, cold and no visibility was horrible and being the only person at the shelter without a stove or a circle of friends was miserable too. In New York I'd have been fine with mooching a mug of hot water for tea off a stranger, but I didn't have the energy to conquer the language barrier. It was all a bit sad and lonely on Sunday evening, so I wrapped up in my blanket in my corner of the cosy (and heated!) shelter and went asleep. Sleep is usually a good remedy for things.

Since I'd never really hiked at night before, and since the day before had ended so badly, I wasn't sure I wanted to take out my headlamp and join the group climbing back up to the same peak at 5am. I was awake anyway though so I ate a huge breakfast and decided to tag along and bow out if it got at all scary. This turned out to be a great call: I ended up in the middle of the pack, which meant help and encouragement for the rough bits,  hearing other people wheezing around me, and feeling like I was part of things. Before I knew it, it was brilliant again.

We got up there just after dawn to shouts of welcome from two guys who'd arrived just before us. One of them saw that there was a non-Korean and shouted "Welcome to Jiri Mountain!". I felt personally welcomed :-) They gathered the ten or so of us into a circle and shared a bottle of soju. The first glass, with much bowing, laughter, thanks, applause and great ceremony, was given to the mountain itself, then they filled a glass for everyone else.

In great spirits (and warmed by great spirits), we set off in various directions down the mountain. I was going to the same place as two young guys, Han and Jon, and we trudged downhill at a solid pace for the next six hours, declaring "Very easy!" after every horrible slope and  chanting "bus bus bus bus bus bus" to try to convince the bus terminal to move up the mountain to meet us. (It didn't work). Han spoke a bit of English and Jon didn't and we had good conversations anyway.

Overall, it was a good experience and a learning experience and, if my knees ever recover, I would like to hike in Korean mountains again. I'm in bits today though. I couldn't get out of bed the first couple of times I tried and I stayed in Busan for an extra half day until I was sure I could manage the subway stairs. Every time I stand up or sit down it's with an oof of pain. All of that downhill is rough on the joints.

Finally, I should mention that when Tiarnan was heading off to hike the Appalachian Trail and I was looking at visiting random dictatorships, I joked that he'd probably get kidnapped by militants and I'd get eaten by bears. The very first sign I saw on Jirisan? "Asian bear. Carnivorous" with a lot more text in Korean. So that was reassuring. (I'm pleased to report that Tiarnan got  home safe and unkidnapped from the forest and that I have not yet been eaten by a bear.)