Geum to Beomeosa

This week is special for Korea. They celebrate the holiday of Chuseok on the night of the largest full moon of the year, which we call the Harvest Moon. Chuseok falls on the Wednesday the 22nd this year, oh wait that's today! And so we get the day before and the day after off from

school. Most everything closes down for at least wednesday, except for bars and some restaurants, which seem to stay open regardless of anything. This holiday is similar to our Thanksgiving. Young families usually visit grandma's or grandpa's house, where they eat and eat and drink 'n drink 'n drink....

Yesterday, our first day off for the holiday, Amy and I went on an amazing hike.

We took the subway north for a while and then walked to this place called Geum Park. From there, we rode a gondola about three quarters of the way up the first mountain.

We got out to a small hiker camp, complete with a small restaurant. 70% percent of all of Korea is mountains. So, hiking is huge. Throughout the day, we ran across entire families, groups of older men, dudin' it up, and other young couples out for a day of trekking through the wonderful landscape. Koreans know how to do it right. All of them are decked out with hiking boots, hiking pants, jackets, and hiking poles.

After our first ten minute hike, we emerged on an even bigger hikers' camp at the summit of the first mountain. There were about a hundred people up there with three or four food and drink stands. Many of the groups of men, hiking gear and all, were sitting around, mid-way through their hike, eating, smoking, and drinking beer and soju. Wow. I thought Texans and the Irish drank a lot. HA! It is really impressive and simultaneously disturbing.

We didn't have a map of the trails at first, but luckily ran into a man who knew enough english to tell us which trail to take for our trip to Beomeosa Temple. It took us a while to get it across that we were going to this temple.

"Oh, Beomeosa? Very far."

"Yeah, that's it."

He pointed north and smiled while he checked out our lack of any gear. Before we came to Korea, I got my first pair of hiking boots. I'd worn them a couple times for walks in Texas, but hadn't really gone out in them for a day. They had to be broken in, and it was going to be a little unpleasant.

We made our way north until we found the "Fortress Wall." After the Chinese and Japanese invaded Korea during the 15th and 16th centuries, the emperor realized the urgent need for a strong national defense. So, he built a massive fortress in the mountain range lining the backside of Busan, away from the sea. There were four gates (North, South, East, and West), and a wall (from 2-3 meters in height) that connects each.

First, we made our way up to the East Gate. From there, we followed trails that ran somewhat along the wall, all the way to the 2nd and 4th watchtowers, and then to the North Gate. Throughout the hike, we went up and over four different peaks. The last of which was the biggest, about 690 meters. You have to remember that, unlike the Rockies or Appalachians, we are starting at sea level. It was kind of hard for me to judge how high we were actually going. Amy seemed to think that the mountains were about the same as the Flat Iron Mts. near Boulder.

Once on top of the highest mountain, you could see virtually all of Busan. It was spectacular! We could just make out our neighborhood. We could see the Gwangalli Bridge, Haeundae, the Busan Tower, and the ocean.

About six miles or so later, we reached the North Gate. We ran into some friends we made the weekend before at a bar in Kyungsung, a university area of town. They were headed for a different trail, but had just come from Beomeosa Temple and pointed us in the right direction. The hike down to the temple was another mile or two through a massive collection of boulders. We reached the bottom, or what we thought was the bottom to a small temple.

It was intensely still in that place. There were no other visitors. I saw a couple monks look out at us, but no one made a sound, and so we decided to keep going down the trail. After another half mile, we found Beomeosa. It was closing down for the day, and so we just looked from the outside. It was quite beautiful. I saw six or so monks walking out, all of which were women. I think movies are to blame for my previous depiction that all monks were women. It might also have to do with the fact that in Christianity, monks are only men, and women are nuns.

Five hours and about seven miles later, we had made it back to roads and subways. There are many synonyms to epic and wonderful I could use to describe this experience...all of the work. I didn't even really care that might feet were numb and possibly bleeding; but my hiking shoes are now worn in.