Gwanaksan: A Mountain's Mountain

When I thought about what I wanted to title this post, A Mountain's Mountain came to mind first, I dont know why or if it works as a title or not, so let me know.

Anyways, for those of you who read the Chuseok post, you will remember that I had a few extra holidays on my hand so I spent Tuesday hiking the tallest mountain in Seoul: Gwanaksan. Gwanaksan is moderately sized mountain in the southern part of the city with about a half dozen peaks that precede the summit. Heres the view from one of those peaks:
When my 3 friends and I started out, we didnt know anything other that what subway stop to get off at. We ended up getting directions fairly easy once we got out of the subway but were directed to the hardest possible route to the top without knowing it. We knew we were in for a hike when we were hiking a very steep concrete slope before the trail even started. While we anticipated the almost 3 hour hike to the top, we did not anticipate the handful of sections where hikers became climbers and we had to use ropes bolted into the rock to prevent us from falling down the face of the mountain. Im not kidding, at least 5 times we had to take hold of thick ropes or heavy chains to keep from falling down a steep slope or off of an almost impassable narrow ledge. The trick is not to look down but I cant say we always followed it. The hardest of these was the last push to the top where we had no more than 6 inches to put our feet on, only a chain to steady us, and then had to hoist ourselves over the last big rock to get to the top.

Although my legs were exhausted the rest of the week, I dont regret a bit of it. Along with some amazing views, it was nice to get above the pollution cloud and experience what so many other Koreans enjoy. The city of Seoul is located in valley so there are mountains, some big and some small, surrounding it and Koreans love hiking, absolutely love it. When we were trying to decide whether or not to attempt some of the roped sections, there were old men and women passing us at a pretty fast pace, one friend said he thought they are part mountain goat (DNA tests are pending). On top of that, they dress the part to the nines. I plan on covering Korean fashion in another post but I will say a few words quickly: whether they are out for a 30 min walk or hiking the biggest mountain Seoul has to offer, they look like they are about to tackle Everest. 95% of the hikers we saw had packs, shirts, pants, and shoes designed for hiking. We felt like the outcasts dressed in the typical North American workout gear of mesh shorts and a t-shirt.

A few cool things we saw on our hike: it was once feared that North Korea would try to surround Seoul and hide in these mountains so the South built bunkers everywhere. They were almost always surrounded with barb wire but occasionally we would see one that had been broken into or collapsed. Heres an pic of an open one:

We also saw about 4 helipads throughout the hike, mostly located on the ridge line. We couldnt read the signs so Im not sure whether or not they are for injuries or the army.

Finally, and perhaps the most impressive, there were people selling things on the mountain! We saw two people with cooler shaped packs that had ascended the same way we had, both of them selling ice cream. We had expected and hoped for water, but I guess the Koreans have their priorities.

Im not embarrassed to say that we took an easier way down, we were all doubtful of returning the same way we had come. The way we took was still an hour and a half and was particularly hard on the knees.

Exhaustion aside, the hike was great and we are going to try another mountain sometime soon, maybe the next weekend. Heres a picture of the survivors:
I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend, Ive had a pretty productive Saturday so far, stay tuned for details.