Jirisan

Hi, all. Last weekend I, (K) did a hike with a few of the foreign teachers in the area, scattered across school districts in about a two hour radius. The hike originated from Gurye, which you may recall from previous posts as a place where J and I often go to enjoy the scenery and temple at the base of Jirisan Mountain (which is a bit like saying ATM machine, since the "san" part of Jirisan means mountain in Korean). The fact that I agreed to go on the hike was a bit silly in the first place, though.

Generally one doesn't agree to an 18km day with a 1000meter climb without any prep or strenuous hiking experience in the last two years unless, like me, you are still shaky on the metric conversion and really had no idea what you were getting into. And to top it all off, also unbeknownst to me, this "sunrise hike" required an hour bus ride to the base, and a steep first three kilometers before we got to the first peak where we were to watch the sunrise. This meant that for a sunrise at 5:15am, we should be hiking by 4:30 am, be on a bus at 3:30am, and be waking up at 2:45am. All things I was informed of around 11pm the night before. So while I genuinely think that what turns out to be roughly 11miles, at a climb of 3280ft, is doable at my current fitness level, doing so on three hours of sleep and at the pace required to beat the sun was a bit foolish.

But we made it! Just in time for the sunrise, and after a bit of Konglish finagling at the gate of the peak which we were unaware required a pre-reserved entrance pass, we were able to enjoy the sea of clouds below us cascading over the mountain range at that perfect moment when the sun just appeared over the highest peak. And here are the pictures to prove it.

Our crew, teachers from Goheung, Suncheon, and Gurye

Descending from sunrise peak to start the biggest climb of the day before the heat set in.

After watching the sunrise for awhile, we had to descend a short distance to find the trail-head to the Banyabong Peak, our final destination.

We traveled along the Piagolsamgeon road until the fork at which
point we began ascending Banyabong.

 

While much of the climb was well guided with stairs, ribbons, and a clear path. The end felt a bit more like bouldering to reach the 1732meter high peak. To make matters worse, hiking early in the morning to avoid the heat meant that the clouds had just washed over the mountain leaving a heavy mist below the tree canopy which condensed onto leaves and rained down on us as we attempted to find footing on the muddy trail, or slippery rocks. We finally arrived at the summit around 8:30am, and tore into packs for our breakfast of kimbab, waffle cookies, and fruit.

That guy there in the blue, with only one shoe on... Yeah he did the Banyabong climb barefoot, only putting his shoes
(toe shoes) on for the descent.

The views were absolutely breathtaking and we could see as far as Gwangju when the clouds cleared enough to do so. We lingered for a good half hour at the top, catching our breath, snacking and sharing the excitement with other early bird Korean hikers, before starting our descent to catch the bus back to Gurye at 11:40am.

While the whole trip might have been a bit misguided for someone as under prepared as I was, I am so glad I went, and, the next few days of ultra-sore muscles was absolutely worth it. I've done climbing and hiking like this before, and every time it is fantastic. The endorphin high, the scenery, and the company are always the highlights, and I'm glad to check one off the Korean bucket list just weeks before I head home.

Cheers,
K