Hiking the road less traveled is not as poetic as Frost would have us believe

Mudeungsan National Park is a stunning, and popular, destination for hiking in Gwangju. Just an hour by bus from my home on the other side of town (40 minutes if I take the 9 and leave before 7 am), I visited the park three times at the end of September and beginning of October to take in the change from Summer to Autumn. Now it's raining and my hiking plans for this weekend, to catch the changing leaves before they all fall, have been washed away, so I thought I'd catch up with a blog post about my adventures there.

The first weekend I went to Mudeungsan, my friend and I were overwhelmed by the beauty and lush green of late summer. Dew painted spider webs wove complicated trails from bushes to flowers to trees. Mossy stone paths led the way along a babbling brook through green woods and into small fields of purple and white flowers. It was quiet, peaceful, and with the exception of an occasional hiker, largely empty in the morning.

Then we came to a sign post. With the aid of a mildly confusing map, we decided to take the 'short cut' to a ridge a few kilometers away; unbeknownst to us, the path led STRAIGHT UP for about a kilometer, only flattening out for a small pine glen and a tiny glade of giant-leaved flowers. Luckily, the view from the top was stunning.

Unfortunately, the climb down was very crowded. Hiking is a popular Korean past-time, and the families we passed of grandchildren with their grandparents, healthy young men with their toddlers hoisted up on their shoulders as they hiked along, and occasionally young couples dressed in their Sunday best, were all heading up the 'easy path' that we had passed earlier in our hike and not taken. (note: because it was steps, and not just steeply graded hills, I likely would never have made it up to the top on this route).

The total hike was only a few hours, and sitting on the balcony at the Mudeungsan Starbucks (because of course there is a Starbucks!) looking back at the green hills of the park, it was hard to believe how many people were hidden by the trees.

On two subsequent visits, I have hiked to Yongsan Monestary (a short, easy hike; but all asphalt and sometimes dangerous with people zooming by in their cars) and again took the hike along the formerly babbling brook which was now a rushing river. My friend and I were aiming to make it to the Barajame Pass, where the leaves were due to be changing. Roughly one kilometer short of the top, we had to turn around because it had become too steep (all steps) and my knees were burning. When we turned around, we had to fight our way back down the mountain through huge tour groups headed for the top: It took twice as long to get back to the bus as it had to get from the bus to near the top.

Korea or Narnia?

Narnia or the Phantom Tollbooth?

The only changing leaves I saw

Mudeungsan is a free, and wonderful, way to experience the natural beauty of Korea. Now, if only it would stop raining so I could break in my new hiking shoes on the trails!