Border Hiking

Yesterday. Very near the DMZ.

Astronauts were sited in Korea.

They wore many colors.

They were middle aged to elderly

They hiked in groups of 5-10.

Here we were on a diesel train that runs from Dongducheon Station near our home going to Godaesan Mountain. An elderly Korean group in front of us were talking and laughing and pouring each other coffee. It's a common site but one that I don't fail to appreciate seeing. The carefree attitude of elderly   people here is very admirable characteristic of Korea, one that I haven't seen in the younger generation. Carefree seems to be a trait shared by the very young and the very old here while the ones in between are running for something or taking a burden of work. It's more complicated than this I'll admit, but its good enough to explain the feeling of happiness  I receive amongst the older Koreans that is a dramatic contrast to stressful faces of Koreans my age.

The trip took 45 minutes. I sometimes caught with my eyes the folliage outside when I wasn't people watching around me. 

As soon as I left the train I saw the quirky decor and the rustic decorations of people with the know how to take any material available to make into planters or sculpture. Very cool. 

It took some 10 minutes of walking before wife and I reached the trail head.

It was a normal day for older Korean and since it's spring I saw many gardens being tended on any available land.

This interests me very much. It's a huge cast iron pot built into an outdoor oven next to the restaurant that uses it. But to me it represents a traditional way of cooking that is cheap and effective.  They use the local wood from the mountain to fuel it.

A very calm doggy stared at me as I passed the restaurant.

Wife was trotting ahead while I started and stopped whenever something natural caught my eyes.

The map at the trail head hadn''t been changed in years.

Very quickly after getting on the trail things got interesting. The water of the river was singing.

The forest was thick which kept us from seeing any vistas until just about the top. The familiar plants I've seen in the beginning of the spring were giving the spotlight to newer plants that were coming into their prime.

I started seeing unintentional and intentional uses of tires and other construction by the soldiers posted on the mountain. 

Here is a  pile.

These became part of the trail. 

A pipe appeared to follow the trail at some point.

I saw familiar plants along the way that I've noticed on mountains.

Man made and natural sites were numerous and interesting. Amongst the modern structures of the solider we saw many old bunkers that were built during the Korean war.

An hour and a half  into hiking we reach a a long stretch of path way till the top of the mountain. The peak itself didn't really stand out and the ridgeway a little further past it provided the best views.

To the Northwest.

To the North, the fence of the DMZ which isn't visible, is not far away.

The sites above disappear behind us as we walked down the mountain. 

This was to the left of me and very cool!. 

   After getting someways along the ridge our hunger compelled us to stop and eat our foodstuff. I finished a few rice cakes left over from a gift box given to teachers Friday as well as some chumok bap that I made. Wife ate some gimpap. I was happy to take in the sun, but wife had itchy feet and I was happy to go with her on a gallop down the mountain.

 I say gallop because once we got to the top we had developed a good rythym going up the mountain. It's hard to explain but going down felt easier if I jumped and shuffled rather than walked because fighting the momentum of gravity felt uncomfortable 

I felt awesome from the combination of pace, beauty, air an company. At the end we felt accomplished.  In the evening time we began to talk about how much hiking we can fit into our weekends. The consensus is two days. 

Hiking junkies? Yes, we are.