going up guksabong

A couple of Fridays ago, seduced by the fall coolness and color, I decided to go up Guksabong. This is one of the mountains that is behind our apartment. I have only completely gone up this once since we have been here. I know some people that do it several times a week and I am sure that many of the Korean people from Okpo hike it daily. The Koreans are big into trekking up mountains.....and goodness knows, there are alot of them here. At 464 meters, I don't know if Guksabong is considered a mountain or a hill, but it looks high enough to me. Most of the trails in Korea are clearly identified with a sign that has these little bean people on it.

I only have a short walk to the entrance of the trail.
The first part is a killer because it is so steep, but at least it is paved. You cross this little makeshift bridge




and then you are into the wild. Not really.....the most wildlife I saw were a few birds and this.....


But the path is now mostly dirt


and rocks.







Sometimes the path has some steps made of stone that someone kindly made.


I was thankful that I hardly saw anyone on my way up because I am sure that my face was red as a beet. Whenever I did see someone, I usually ended up taking a photo of something so that they couldn't see my redness. By the way, I had never seen hydrangeas in the woods.











Being by myself, I made sure I had my cell phone with me in case I needed to call Ken or someone else.....







You come to an area where you think you have reached the top. You are then greeted with this sign.









When you reach the top (actually I didn't go to the very top today, it is another .4km) there is a clearing that has a gazebo that looks out over the town and the water. This is the view of Okpo from the top.

If you look to the right, you can glimpse a view of the shipyard. If you look closely, you can see the two derricks that are on two of the drillships Ken is working on.


After sitting awhile and enjoying the view, I decided I was getting a little chilly due to the fact that the sweat I had produced was now making me cold. I elected not to warm up on any of the exercise equipment kindly supplied there.
So I headed down.
One of the main reasons I don't like to do these climbs is because after you climb to the top, you have to go down! The steep inclines tend to scare me a bit. So I elected to go the long way down. It definitely has some steeps walks down, but nothing like the path I took up. Since my eyes were mainly on the trail as I managed my way down, you are spared any more of my scenery pictures.

I did have to smile when I saw this along the path at the bottom of the mountain.