The peak was the ultimate goal. This was the view of the mountain from the bottom. The mountain is about 5,900 feet and the hike took about four and half hours.
This was the beginning, the entrance to the park. The National Park actually has several hiking trails and would take three to five days to hike them all. We chose this one this time and will come back for a higher peak the next.
It's soo green and a gorgeous day for hiking.
I was tripled layered and needed to unlayer because of the warmth that day. I was pulling down my socks here.
I love the bamboo scenery.
The green pools of water were so pretty. I told Joanna I could come back here when it is warmer and swim in these beautiful pools of crystal green clear water.
These were two women staying at the resort, taking a little stroll in the woods with their resort outfits.
As you can see, the hike was pretty gnarly, really no other word to describe the terrain.
This is me with a huge stick that I was carrying, but promptly ditched it because it was too heavy.
GNARLY!!
I am soo tired here, waiting for Joanna to catch up.
This time she is ahead of me, MORE ROCKS!!
A beautiful waterfall, can't wait until it gets warm enough to take a dip.
Look how RED my face is here...I am tired and probably dehydrated as well.
I took this picture to show how clear the water was there. Jirisan actually makes it's own bottled natural spring water.
Chargers are being well represented here in the mountains of Korea.
More of the trail.
Now sporting just a t-shirt, yeah, it was that nice on the way up the mountain. Quite the contrast from the hike the week before.
There was a sculpture park and many temples throughout the park to visit as well as a huge resort. This is me with the BULL!!
Lets go swimming!!
Nature and it's beauty.
This is Joanna crossing the rocks, some of the trail we had to cross water, pretty cool!
This picture was taken to show you how much I was sweating from the hike. The back of my shirt was drenched. Later I was forced to put my jacket back on because the breeze was too cold for a wet shirt. I need a better undershirt next time.
Yes, time for a short break.
Just soo pretty!
Alright, these rocks are getting ridiculous. Hiking the trail for the first time, we had no idea what was coming next, but the trail didn't disappoint and kept providing trails of uphill like this one above.
A pretty waterfall to enjoy on the way!
At this point we are starting to lose our sun, with about 4km, or roughly 2 and half miles still to go according to the signs. We are getting worried, because we have no flashlight and this trail is tough enough in the daylight.
The sun is slowly fading on us at this point and we dicide to call the emergency number to tell them our situation, maybe they could send someone down the mountain from the top with a flashlight to rescue us.
No such luck, the Koreans on the emergency number just laughed at us and said "Hurry up, you will make it."
We literally were down to the last shred of sunlight from the sunset when we arrived at the fire road, which was the last km to hike.
There was a mini-celebration to say the least as the hike through the rocks was done and the last km to the shelter was on a flat road.
This is me at the sign, 1 km, or roughly 3/4 of a mile. It was pretty dark and 20 degrees cooler, so we had to reapply our clothes, gloves, and hats, and use my cell phone as a flashlight. Joanna was really scared of bears, since there was all kinds of signs with instructions on the trail about what to do if you see one. Just imagine walking on a dark road in the woods at about 5,500 feet after hiking for four and half hours.
The views in the morning made it all worth it.
This was the morning view from the shelter just after sunrise.
This was from a viewpoint that we found that morning on the way back down the fire road.
This was sunrise, a lot of Koreans woke up that morning and drove up the mountain for the sunrise view. Joanna and I were the only ones who hiked the entire trail to see the view. There was one other Korean couple who stayed in the shelter with us, but they drove most of the way up the mountain and even offered to give us a ride back down, which we refused, what were we thinking?
Just AMAZING!!
We are proud of ourselves here. We didn't want to leave and couldn't get enough of this breath taking view.
Hang Loose at 5,500 feet.
We hiked up the middle of this valley here, WOO HOO!!
More views from the shelter.
It was kind of cloudy out, so the sunrise wasn't very good, but as the sun rose and gave the rest of the moutains light, it was awesome as you can see in some of the pictures above.
It was very cold up there and this hat came in handy. I love this hat, bought it here in Korea on the side of the road near my house for $5 and it even says San Diego on the side, go figure!
EPIC!!
We slept above the clouds last night Mom!!
YEAH, I will do it again!!
This is at the bottom, the hike is completed and I took a picture with the dragon to show my appreciation of the mountain.
Jirisan Mountain, we saw, we climbed, we conquered. The trip consisted of not knowing what we were getting into, periods of pure exhaustion, wondering if we were going to make it, laughing so hard to the point of crying, meeting new people, experiencing extreme temperature changes, taking in breathtaking views, running into drunk scary men coming down the mountain, a few twisted ankles with a fall, and lots of picture taking to share with family and friends. I would do it all over again!
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