First, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth mountain peaks

Hiking does not necessarily equal climbing! That’s fine; I don’t think I would have been brave enough to attempt to climb Palbongsan mountain this past Saturday if I had realized it was mountain climbing, and then I would have missed out on an amazing experience. A friend from church invited me to go on the trip with her, and we joined nearly 40 other people through an online group called Meetup.com.

The charter buses departed from the Sports Complex station (related to the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, I believe) at 8:30 a.m., and that subway stop happens to be about an hour and a half from where I live, so I got up veeery early that Saturday morning. It helped to set out most of my clothes and hiking items the night before, but I was still a little tired before we actually got started. Sleeping well before a big/exciting trip just never really happens for me. I hadn’t been to this station before, but thankfully, Koreans don’t really enjoy getting up super early, so the station wasn’t remotely crowded and it was easy to find my way to the correct exit. I did stop at a ticket booth to pick up a spare English subway map, and a 50-something clerk followed me from the ticket booth to the exit stairs where I was supposed to meet my friend in a few minutes.

The fellow was very friendly, told me he had studied English literature in college, and that he thought I was very beautiful and full of smiles, and he loved Americans and could he have my name and phone number? I didn’t have to worry, because he wasn’t married. …So after chatting lightly with this person and being backed up to the wall about as far as I could go, I was relieved when my friend showed up and rescued me from the uncomfortable encounter. :) We met the other tour people who seemed to know each other fairly well, and the group included a surprising number of Europeans: Hungarian, Romanian, and German. There were a good number of Koreans (the group was organized by a Mr. Kim), and a few other North Americans. My friend and I were glad for each others’ company!

The tour bus turned out to be a “Noraebang bus,” which means it’s equipped with a TV, microphone system, and speakers so the passengers can participate in Karaoke right on the bus. I wasn’t thrilled to discover this, but it ended up only having Korean music, so they skipped the loud and off key singing being blasted in our ears whether we liked it or not. This was particularly a blessing at the end of the day when most of the passengers had imbibed a little too much makgeolli (rice wine) and were rather tipsy. The bus ride there was pretty pleasant actually, and I enjoyed getting to know the gal better (also a Sarah) who had invited me. She pointed out several highlights of Seoul as we passed by them, and since the province (Gangwon-do) was several over to the east, the bus ride was long enough for some great conversation.

Weather-wise, the day could hardly have been more perfect for climbing. It was just slightly on the cool side, so with the exertion from climbing, the temperature equaled out nicely, and there was a good breeze. The sun was bright, and there weren’t many clouds to speak of, so I was glad I had remembered sunscreen. We did some light stretching and joined the group to begin the ascent. Palbongsan (팔봉산) means “eight peak mountain,” and once you got to the top of the first peak, you had to ascent and descend each of the rest of the peaks along the ridge of the mountain before you could make the final descent. There were, in theory, ways to get back down early, but the descents were frighteningly steep and not suitable for beginners like me. The reason this was an issue, was that my friend realized about ¾ of the way to the first peak, that she would not have the stamina to make the climb that day and still survive the week ahead at work, so we somewhat regretfully parted ways. She spend a lovely afternoon in solitude along the riverbanks, and I spent a lovely but challenging afternoon mountain climbing! It did work out, though I would have enjoyed being with her more. I definitely tried to turn back a few times, but the group said I had better just carry on until the end.

One of the more experienced climbers noticed from the beginning that my friend and I were having some trouble, so he stayed nearby as we were initially starting the climb. He was a tremendous help to me along the way since I really had no climbing experience; that experience belonged more to my siblings, who have gone bouldering off and on for years. This climber was from Romania, doing some work for his company in Korea through Samsung, and he was making an effort to get out and about in the country more often, so he had been with this Meetup group several times before. Nice fellow, and ridiculously patient with me. Oh, plus he gave me a spare sandwich when the group stopped for lunch since my friend had been the one with the food in her bag. :) Another hiker (a North American, middle-aged lady who enjoyed extreme sports and had recovered from a badly torn knee injury three years ago) gave me some small citrus fruit, and another man (Korean) shared some makgeolli in spite of my protests.

One of the peaks, possibly the second (Eebong), had a tiny little temple of some sort on top. I wasn’t actually sure what the building was, but the Romanian went to check it out and came back to report it had some candles and stuff inside. It was an intriguing, ornately Asian-looking structure, and actually I think there were two of them, but one was locked up. You could certainly see it from the next mountain peak though, and it came out well in photos. Along the way, we also saw little piles of carefully placed rocks and pebbles. I didn’t actually add a rock to the tops of the piles. It felt vaguely ceremonial, and I wasn’t sure exactly what the piles symbolized for a Korean, so I skipped that part of the experience, but I did get some interesting pictures of them along the climb.

Probably around the third peak (about when we stopped for lunch), I realized this wasn’t going to be an easy task. We had to rely on thick ropes (anchored to the rocks) for some of the more vertical ascents, and metal handles and tiny metal steps jutting out from the rocks for some of the more precarious descents. I did skip (or find a different path around) peak four (Sabong), partially because there was a traffic jam of our group and another that was there, and partially because of the reason for the traffic jam: a narrow squeeze through the rocks that was locally known as the “Birth Canal.” I figured I’ve already been born, twice, so I didn’t really need to experience it again. I did see people emerging from the rocks on the other side though, and I didn’t have a single regret about skipping it. But it was a fascinating experience to watch.

I tried not to think about falling, since I do have some fear of heights (acrophobia), but I only succeeded some of the time. Peak 5 (Ohbong) particularly got to me for some reason, probably related to the intensified wind, the fact that there weren’t any trees at the top to hang onto, and the fact that people sort of traffic jammed there and it was difficult to get around or past. The people who were near enough to hear me mention my nerves were pretty sympathetic, and did their best to look out for me as I made my way down to the trough (?) between peaks five and six.

For the last three peaks or so, I was mainly trying to survive. My muscles were burning and aching in protest, even with the Tylenol I had thought to take that morning and the banana I had eaten right before the hike. It must have been too many hours before, and I was out of shape for the climb, though it was good that I had been climbing loads of stairs at school for the past six weeks. I still felt like my legs were going to buckle under me, but it probably would have been worse. Oh yeah, it’s Tuesday here and I’m still feeling pain from the hike when I go up or down steps. Haha. The wind was whipping my hair in my eyes, and the sunscreen I had applied that morning had run into my eyes, so my vision was blurry, my nose was running constantly, and my eyes hurt. It was quite an experience. I did trip a few times, and one time I picked a bad way down, but a person noticed I had sort of gotten myself stuck and he placed his foot on the rock to give me a step down to safer ground as a lady held onto my arm from below to stabilize me. Overall, the climb was a humbling experience as I realized my smallness, and also my dependency since my strength and skill wasn’t enough to easily get me through the climb.

What a wonderful feeling to reach the final peak though! Palbongsan had been conquered! It felt great, and I got a couple of pictures at the top there, viewable on my Facebook page if you have access there. Each peak provided a spectacular vista of the sprawling landscape below, including rivers, surrounding lower mountains, a distant ski slope, and some agricultural lands. That was certainly a highlight of the trip, and made me glad I went through the rest of the challenge in order to see those sights. Someone passed around little “Jeju Island chocolate” pieces, from a popular vacation spot off the southern coast of the country, and the chocolate was filled with a sweet, pink cactus later, mmm! The all-Korean group ahead of ours poured a toast of makgeolli at each peak (or nearly every one), and the final one was no different.

No simple way off the mountain existed; the method of final descent was almost entirely down the tiny metal steps jutting out at sometimes inconvenient angles and distances between them. The lady who had overcome the knee injury was impressed by my range of extension and flexibility though, so at least I had that going for me. The flexibility was there, just not the cardio endurance or the muscle power that I wish I’d had. I was very glad for the ropes, and by using the tips the Romanian had shared (only moving one “point” (hand or foot) at a time, facing the rock rather than facing out makes an easier descent, and leaning back when using a rope since it provides better tension and a more secure line for gripping), I was able to make it down alive with the group. He stuck close by all the same during the descent to make sure I’d be okay though.

When we reached the base, we were by the river, and most of the group opted to ford the shallow but chilly waters. I opted to stay warm and dry, so I parted ways form the group and strolled, I mean limped, on my own down along the sandy river bank to meet my friend back at the mountain entrance. She and I had texted a few times during the afternoon to check in on each other, and we both seemed to be doing well. Oh, what a lovely river walk! There were some grasses blowing in the wind, some scattered rocks along the shore, and surprisingly soft sand which was a welcome change to my tired feet. For some reason, there were a lot of pinwheels by the entrance to the mountain and the road leading to it from the bus stop. They certainly showed a lot of movement that day.

The Sarahs wandered around the “base town” for a little while, looking at the restaurants, gazebos, scenery, and just enjoying the afternoon. We came across some friendly little Korean girls. Four of them were sisters (the two middle ones may have been twins), and the eldest boldly approached us by a gazebo to tell us hello, tell us about her sisters, let my friend hold her baby sister, and offered us some candy she had (which we politely declined). Brave kid! I don’t think I would have been brave enough to go up to a pair of foreigners at that age and speak to them in their own language like that! We were both impressed by her skill and guts. :)

Dinner was floor-seating style at a restaurant where the group organizer had some connections. Apparently this included a discount, but it may have just been for makgeolli, since we still paid full price for our meal at the end. Who knows… People were quite jolly by the time we realized which restaurant the group was in as we walked in late. We had an interesting conversation with a Korean philosopher (of sorts) and another man who was Korean by ancestry but a citizen of Denmark, where he had apparently been raised. So even though he had family here in the country, the customs and culture were strange to him as well. It was an interesting cultural conversation, and we enjoyed some reasonably good bibimbap for dinner.

Both of us were glad when it was time to leave though, and glad the Noraebang system wasn’t working. We continued out conversation from that morning and ended up stopping right outside the building where we attend church together, so getting back home was simple and stress-free. I’d say we both slept pretty well that night! I’m not sure I’ll go on many more mountain climbing trips, but it was a fantastic experience and I’m so thrilled to have had the opportunity to climb a mountain in Korea!