A Walk in the Park


korea, seorak-san (3)

joylani 130pxYesterday was bright and sunny.  But since we arrived mid-afternoon, I reasoned with Matt to forget going into the park yesterday in favor of exploring Sokcho, the northern-most town in South Korea, and where we are staying.  So we wandered around for a few hours, nothing too exciting.  Then today we woke up early to head out to Seorak-san National Park in hopes of fitting in lots of hiking and nature.  On our way out down the dimly lit hall I remembered seeing a few clouds around the mountains yesterday.  “Let’s get the rain cover for the pack, just in case.”  We turned around and headed back to the room.

“Should we bring the raincoats too?” Matt asked.  I opened the [frosted] window in our room to get a look at the weather.  It was pouring rain.  The jump in our step came to a halt as we both stood in front of the window looking at the rain, which showed no sign of letting up.  I regretted not going to the park the day before, but there was nothing that could be done now except to carry on as planned.  Matt traded his sneakers for sandals, I rolled up my pants, and we both grabbed our rain jackets.  Heading out to the street, we quickly realized this was a cold rain and not one of the tropical storms we’d grown accustomed to.

After watching cars slide through puddles on the road for 10 minutes, bus number seven came, and we climbed aboard the fogged up bus for the half-hour drive into the park.  We passed by rice paddies and small towns on the way, picking up drenched passengers along the way.  Each closed umbrella dripped its dewy contents onto the floor of the bus, creating tiny streams that led to a wide puddle in the middle of the vehicle.  The last passengers on the bus, we were the only ones who got off as the bus reached its terminus at the Seorak-san National Park entrance.

Rain was falling down steadily, and I knew that we would soon be soaked.  The temperature was actually a little chilly; it felt strange to be in cold rain again.  We huddled under our one small but trusty umbrella and began walking towards the entrance.  I tried my best to avoid deep puddles, my efforts proved unnecessary as soon my shoes were soaked from the water coming from above.  Matt purchased our entry tickets while I contemplated buying a hot coffee from a vending machine, then we walked through the entrance gate and into the park.  The place was practically void of people.  In fact, we probably saw just as many if not more park employees than visitors throughout the day (which I preferred).  The surrounding mountains seemed beautiful, from what I could see.  However, much of the view was blocked by misty rain clouds hugging the hills.

korea, seorak-san (2)

Already soggy, Matt and I trudged along the path toward the start of our desired trail.  Along the way we passed a great Buddha.  It stood about three-stories high, and sat solemnly in the rain.  For a few minutes we watched as water streamed down the Buddah’s face before gathering in streams at the base of its feet.  Not having achieved the same state of contentment as the Buddah, we continued on to our destination: a rock named Heundeul-Bawi, or “rocking boulder.”  This large boulder sits atop an even grander rock, surrounded by many other huge boulders and the Gyejo-am hermitage (a place used by monks for meditation and study for the last 1000+ years).  This particular rock stands out from the rest by its ability to be rocked by visitors without being rolled from its perch near the ledge of the larger stone.  Many puddles and stairs later we realized that we’d actually passed the rock in our hurry to get to it, and not wanting to hike further than we needed, promptly turned back around to head back.  Luckily it was easy to spot coming from the opposite direction.  Matt and I climbed up the first boulder and admired the carvings on the rock before I tried (unsuccessfully) to move Heundeul-Bawi.  It wouldn’t budge.

korea, seorak-san

Happy to have reached our desired objective, Matt and I continued back down the trail to our new destination: our hotel.  It was a soggy but good day.

korea, seorak-san (4)

eves of a temple inside the park

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>