On Your Own Steam
I've always been excited and energized by going places on my own two feet, through and by my own energy. Still am.
There is something beautiful, simple, and organic in going places afoot, or by the power of your own body. Be that walking, hiking, cycling, skiing, swimming or several other means. And think of how much in this world would never have got done if someone waited around for a train, a bus, a plane and didn’t set out on their own two feet.
For me, it is something I really got motivated by. I remember as a young kid - we lived far from everyone and everything, out in the “sticks”, the “boonies”. I’d walk or run to my friend’s houses, miles away. Always just loved the feeling of achievement upon arrival - I did it MYSELF.
I’d run the 6-7 miles to school often. Or into town, 20 miles. Later in life, ran far, just to test myself. Prague - Vienna. Around Lake Geneva. Toronto - North Bay. Across Korea. Such satisfaction to know it was your own muscle and breath that got you there.
As a runner, I always hated it when friends said, “Let’s go for a run at X.” Which usually meant driving there and then going for a run. WTF? Why drive somewhere to go for a run? I’d often run there, run with them and then run home. Didn’t make sense to me to drive somewhere to go for a run. Maybe I’m extreme but it’s how I roll. And I guess that is still in me.
This weekend, I checked another thing off my private mental list in life - hiking South Korea’s highest point, Mt. Halla (Hallasan), on Jeju Island, the Hawaii of Korea, a pearl drop island of natural beauty on its southern tip.
My hotel was in Jeju Shin, the new part of Jeju city. I got up early in the morning to get a taxi to the start of the trail, about 15 km up and away. I bought some water at the 24/7 7-11 and then went in search of a taxi. But then I said to myself, “What kind of idiot are you? Just go. You got all the time in the world. One step at a time. Do it under your own steam.” So I did.
A wonderful 8 hours on my feet (see the full photo album if you’d like). The hike was a stunner, beautiful. The last half is brutally steep but like all things Korean, very well-kept, kind of hiking light - many steps, wooden walkways. 2,5 hours up the Gwaneumsa Trail. 2 hours back down the Seongpanak trail.
The trail was just like this gorgeous video except for at the top it was a howling, cold mess. You couldn’t see but a few meters.
Hallasan is something all Koreans want to summit once in their lives. Usually, you need to reserve far in advance but it is off-season so I was able to get my QR code through a reservation and then get into the park by flashing my phone at a gate turnstile.
The first 4 kilometers are fairly gentle, through lovely open forest.
Then, you start to really climb and go through enchanting pine forests.
After this, you hit an open area (the time cut-off point - you can’t go further if not there by 12pm) and I hit a blizzard. Snow, wind, you couldn’t see much once near the summit. Whiteout. I even didn’t bother with photos, visibility was maybe 2 meters. I was frozen stiff and just wanted to get the hell down.
Then it was back down the other side to the other trailhead. Within 30 minutes, it was warm again, the sting of my defrosting hands subsided and I began to enjoy the trail again …
Proud of myself - still got that spirit in me. Going from A to B under my own steam. Thought of my dog Marshmallow and all our hikes up so many mountains, him always right there with me. Did this for him, for me, a kind of resolution and way to deal with his death.
The hike, it’s not terribly difficult as far as hikes go. I’ve done some brutal ones in my life - thinking of two I’d also recommend for serious folk - (Kilarney Park La Cloche 100k, in Ontario, and the full, high part of the GR 20 in Corsica). But Hallasan is not easy peasy either. Got back to the hotel 8 hours + gone. 25 miles total distance. 49,000 steps on my watch. A visit to the local sauna and I was like new again.
Jeju itself is just beautiful, enchanting, a lot different from mainland Korea. If only I could find a way to walk on water … then I could literally go anywhere. Got to work my way towards sainthood and beatification, I guess …
Jeju downtown says Merry Christmas! Quite a difference in temperature from the top to the bottom! Sea to summit.