Mt. Yongmasan 10/14/2009
Two weekends ago we hiked Mt. Yongmasan (the other side of Mt. Achasan). Let's get the directions out of the way, here they are: Take Subway Line 7 to Yongmasan Station (Exit 2) → Walk into the entrance of Hanshin Apartments, and walk ahead → Go up the stairs next to the pavilion and take a right past the playground to an exercise facility → Next to the facility, go up the stairs behind the wired fence. Time: From the summit of Mt. Yongmasan to Mt. Achasan, it takes about 2 hours to 2 and a half hours.  out this exit....  down this ramp....  through the apartments... Here are the rules.....does that really mean 'no coughing'?  It is all about the snacks....we had to stop before we even started the hike to eat snacks and feed the birds....  I picked this hike because of the waterfall - I wanted to mix things up a bit. The kids do not want to go hiking every weekend anymore - to them we could be hiking the same mountain each week & they wouldn't know the difference. They just know they are climbing. At first they loved it, now they complain until we get there, but they have a good time once we start climbing. So I thought the waterfall would be a nice change in scenery for them, I totally talked it up. This is what it says about it on the 'official site of Korean tourism'; "... make sure to stop by Yongmasan’s Waterfall Park. The largest man-made waterfall in Asia, where the central falls are 51 meters high, while those on each side are 21 meters. At regular intervals, the water volume increases making a stronger flow." This is what we got....  NOTHING nothing, nada, zip! The waterfall was not flowing AT ALL! So up the hill we went....   2 minutes later, they were taking a break.  I am amazed every time I see this view.... Somehow we got off the main trail and ended up here. This is when things started going awry....  Soon after this picture was taken, we got a little stuck. Boy 1 went ahead to see if he could find the trail again. We were on some pretty big rocks, and I was nervous because of the little ones. Then Boy 1 slipped, and all I saw was him sliding down the mountain then nothing. My heart missed a few beats, and I instantly went numb. I just knew my boy had fallen down the mountain. I couldn't understand why Hubby wasn't moving very fast to go help him. As it turns out he only slipped out of my sight, (I was pretty far away from him), just a few feet, nothing major and he wasn't injured at all. Thank GOD! So, Hubby and Boy 1 found a way back to the trail, however on the way back to the main trail we had to step over ....get ready to gag..... ****HUMAN POOP*** Oh goodness it was awful, we warned EVERYONE...step over the poop!! Everyone but girl stepped over it. I'm gagging just thinking about it. I will stop there. Just know, it was rough.  After my heart attack and the poop episode we got back on track and finished off our hike with a little fun....   And on the way down, we took the stairs...   Hiking Achasan 09/25/2009
This past weekend we were looking for an easy mountain to climb, since this is only the 3rd mountain for the kids to climb. I had narrowed it down to two. Achasan & Iwangsan, after doing more research I realized Hubby and I have already done Iwangsan, so we decided to go with Achasan. The official website of Korean Tourisum says 'Mt. Achasan is an easy 30-minute hike, which is perfect for beginners'. Since we were doing such an easy mountain we invited our friends the T's along. Our friends were game however the did tell us they needed to be home by 4PM so they could go to bible study. I told them no problem, this was a quick hike and we were leaving our house at 11AM. Here are the kids at the begining of our hike.  These guys passed us about 10 minutes into our hike....not something you really want to see.  The top wasn't very far away....  Hubby and I at the top.  I know I have told you about the work out parks that are all over Korea, but I don't know if I have told you they are all over the mountains as well as in the city. If you feel like you aren't getting that great of a workout just hiking, never fear, soon enough you will happen upon a workout park where you can take a break from hiking to do sit-ups, pull-ups, weight lifting and more. In the next picture Hubby is torturing Boy 1 with sit-ups!  Since the hike was so short, (it only took us about 20 minutes to get to the top) we decided to continue on another path. This is what the website said...' It takes about one hour to go up and down the summit of Mt. Achasan. If you plan to start at Mt. Achasan and climb down Mt. Yongmasan, it will take about 2 to 2 and a half hours. " We didn't really know where we were going, but we knew we were not ready to stop just yet.  The views were beautiful.  At one point we ran into this man selling scarves, backpacks and more. Humm..I wonder how he got all this stuff up here...    Hubby showing up all the old men at another 'work-out' spot....   Along this path, about 2 hours into our hike, our friend Tammy mentioned she had not seen any other people in quite some time.  Then in this area, as we were trying to steer the kids away from the slick rocks and towards safety, Tammy hit one of those slick rocks, lost her footing and down she went, and HARD I might add. I thought we were going to have to call those rescue people we saw at the beginning of our hike. Luckily, Tammy was able to get up and continue on, thank goodness, although I am pretty sure she had a nice big bruise on her bum the next day.  Finally after about 3 hours of hiking, our scout, Boy 1 yelled out..."I see cars"! And all the little people ran!!!  Too bad we came down on the other side of the mountain & had no idea where we were. The good thing about hiking in Seoul, no matter where you come down, you always end up in the worlds 2nd largest city, so really you cannot get lost. We ended up at a very populated tourist attraction, so we hopped in a (2) cabs and headed back to the subway station.  At this point we were all famished and the T's had missed their bible study so we stopped in at a local Korean restaurant for lunch.  I'm not sure it the T's will ever go on another hike with us again...we got home at 5:30PM. Moral of this story: Hubby should always wear his super cool Suunto watch so we will always know where we are. (Although it was way fun and we were NEVER once scared that we would not make it back.) Oh, and maybe next time we should pack a few snacks. Hiking Gwanaksan 09/10/2009
Hubby and I enjoy reading the magazine "10". This magazine is geared towards expats living in Seoul and is written in English. Many of the things we have experienced here are ideas sparked from this magazine. For example, the September issue of "10 Magazine" has an article titled "A Hiker's Heaven" and it list the top 10 mountains to hike in and around Seoul. We have decided to do them all over the next 10 weeks as a family. We started with Namsan, then this past week we hiked Gwanaksan. I chose Gwanaksan because the article said, and I quote "These hikes (refering to Gwanaksan) are popular amongst visitors of all ages". Since the kids have only hiked one mountain (if you can call Namsan a mountain) I wanted to start with one of the easier mountains. HA! Thank goodness my kids are tough, because for kids 4,6 & 7 years old, this mountain was hard! I mean check out the 13 year old, he was even having a hard time and had to hang onto the ropes!  OK, OK, that picture was posed, it really wasn't that difficult for him, AND he ran a 5K before hiking the mountain. But seriously, I doubt a 70 year old could hike this mountain unless they were in really great shape. To get to Gwanaksan, take subway line #4 to Gwacheon Station, exit subway exit 7, walk straight up the path. Here are a few pictures for you.  upon exiting the subway, walk straight ahead  I forgot to mention, it was raining...  Go through the cute little tunnel. When the path ends, turn right. This is what you will see.  See that white car on the left? This is where you go, turn in left - you will be right across the street from a Presbyterian church. Look for these steps.....  This is the begining of your hike. And here we go.....    Dripping wet from the rain!  The sad part was that it was so hazy we couldn't see the city.  Almost there!  Boy 3 never complained, he just kept climbing...  And we made it!! Heading down was a little scary with all these little people, but it turn out great!  Boy 2 taking a break....  I am enjoying hiking with the kids much more than I thought I would. They are amazing, and don't really complain at all. Girl has even ask for her own *pink* camelback for her birthday! This next picture is from a little game we played on the hike, we all had to find something 'really cool' that would fit in our pocket and when we got to the bottom we would vote on the 'coolest' item. We voted, now you vote, tell us which item you think is the 'coolest'! 1-green leaf 2-white rock 3-spiky flower looking thing 4-brown rock 5-brown/white rock 6-purple flower  | AuthorProud Army wife and mother of 4 wonderful children. I love to cook, travel, work out and scrapbook life’s adventures when I find the time. We will be living in Yongsan, Korea for 2-3 years. I will be documenting our adventures here. ArchivesNovember 2009 CategoriesAll Friends, Family and Fun reading: |
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