In preparation for our trip to Europe, the wife and I decided that this morning we needed to break in our hiking boots. We got ready for a trip to 수동골 (Sutongkol), which remains one of my favorite places to say. There is a bus that goes by our apartment that terminates it’s run through the city in the parking lot to the mountain. This way we didn’t need to hitch a ride with my relatives, and I could avoid having my heart explode while they run up the side of the mountain without taking a break. We did leave Yoshi behind, to avoid any threat of a fine this time though.
This particular mountain is part of the National Park service, but had much less development spent on making it a climbable, safe sort of experience. There is basically a “dead zone” around the trail where people walk up the mountain. Since there are no steps, scrambling up the mountain requires people to grab the nearest tree from time to time for support. There are snapped off limbs, exposed roots, and lots of erosion of the trail. Walking this mountain is taking your life in your hands on a rainy day, I’m sure.
We took a different path than last time, because we ended up descending only after a short period of time. There were a few places with guard ropes for a safety, but the trail was rough with lots of exposed rocks. We saw someone who had climbed the roughest, rockiest area of the mountain barefoot! He was ascending on the rough rocks as we were struggling past on the way down. Amazing.
We worked up a tremendous sweat on the way back down to the bus stop. When the air conditioned bus arrived we were very pleased. We returned to the house, walked Yoshi properly, then went back to our normal routine. While we shopped for food, we picked up a solar powered scale. We are both trying to lose some weight. We also need to make sure we don’t go over airline restrictions and get charged excessively with our bags. Some of the supplies we bought online for the trip also arrived today. Things are finally getting organized.
