On our second to last day in Korea, we took the train to Daegu and then a bus to get to the national park area there. Mollee had read about it, and it was supposed to be a really great hike to this temple on the top of a mountain. We all agreed that it would be fun. Mollee had researched it and said that it was a simple 1.5-2 hour hike. Yeah….that short hike turned into a seven hour/multiple peak/about 8 kilometers hike. Before I get ahead of myself, let’s start at the beginning…..
We started off so fresh and genki! After touring another temple that was at the base of the mountain, (once again with the beautiful paper lanterns) we started our hike. The lady at the information counter pointed us in the direction of the temple that we wanted to go to. While the roadway up was paved and easy to walk on, it was STRAIGHT UP. The grade was so steep that every couple hundred of meters we had to break….or rather Ian and I had to ask the mountain goats Melissa and Mollee to stop so that Ian and I could break before dying.
We made it to another temple, and from there we could see the cliff that we needed to go to….only it seemed a LOOOOOOOOONG way up. From there we had two options: the steeper, rockier path or the flatter dirt path. Melissa even asked a guy if the flatter, dirt path led to the same place. She said that he kind of laughed (Remember this! You’ll understand later…) and said yes. So the easier path we took! After the ridiculously steep road we came up on, the path was nice and much more like a nature walk than a hike.
…..until we came to the ropes. The first one wasn’t a big deal. It was a steeper incline with a rope to grab onto for support. We didn’t think anything of it because there are places on Ichifusa’s trail that requires you to do the same. However, the ropes became increasingly challenging until we were at a solid slab of rock, and the only way up was to use the rope. It was a little too late to back out because that would require us to go DOWN the ropes. It would be possible but not easy and pretty dangerous. We knew that the only way was up.
Ian went first, followed by Melissa, myself, and Mollee. I was terrified the entire time because I don’t have the upper body strength to pull myself up! Doing stuff like that in the safety of a gym where there are mats and harnesses is no big deal, but doing it on the side of a mountain when one wrong error could send you a long, long, long, long way down is another thing. One slip and I’d be injured…on the side of a mountain…several hours away from civilization. I kept telling myself Hugo’s words, “You’re body is capable of almost anything. It’s your mind that gets in the way.” When I made it up, I sighed a breath of relief! I think we were all a little shaken up after literally climbing to the top because we didn’t stay long to enjoy the view. It was a breathtaking view, but I think Mollee was the only one to capture an image from the very top (below) because we were too focused on finding a different way down the mountain.
Getting out our handy map again, we realized that there was a trail behind us and the “trail” that we came up on wasn’t even marked on the map. The trail was better and had significantly less ropes. Although there was one spot in which we had to rappel down a 10 foot drop. (The only other time I’ve been rappelling was once during our senior year of high school. Not only was I in a harness and gear, but that was a LONG time ago.) Ian went down the drop first, followed by me, Mollee, and Melissa. I knew that it was only a ten foot drop, and if I did fall it wouldn’t kill me, BUT it was terrifying. I took the first step off the ledge and completely froze. I couldn’t do it. I had to get back on the ledge, shake the nerves from my system, and try again. When my feet hit solid ground, I said “NEXT!” I was done….done, done, done, done, done, done, DONE with it and so grateful to be! Both Mollee and Melissa had difficult times getting down as well due to nerves, but we all made it!
At this time, we had a decision to make. We could either head back down to the village where we started or continue hiking along the ridge to the temple. Since we got lost, it was already pushing mid-afternoon, but we assumed that the hike would only last for another two hours…..in plenty of time before darkness. My vote was to head back down to the village and catch the bus back to town, but I was outvoted. The temple was another six kilometers and several peaks away, and I was already worn out, but to the temple we went!
I lost track of how many peaks we crossed while walking along the ridge. I was too concerned with putting one exhausted foot in front of the other. Both Mollee and Melissa were still hyper and excited, which made me want to push them off the dang mountain. Since it was cloudy, we were loosing daylight quicker, and there were a couple of times when we wanted to stop and break, but we just didn’t have the time. We got lost only one more time before arriving at the temple.
I’m not going to lie….seeing civilization again was a beautiful, beautiful moment of that day. We turned around and looked across the peaks to see where we had started. I could hardly believe how far away it was!! The four of us weary hikers climbed the last few sets of steps to the top of temple where the giant Buddha dating back to HUNDREDS of years ago rested for us. At the very top of the mountain and temple was an area where people could pray. The Buddhist mantra (prayers) played on a loop. Standing there under the colorful paper lanterns, looking at the gorgeous Korean mountains and giant stone Buddha as the mantra was chanted, it was such an enlightening experience. I’m not Buddhist nor do I ever plan of being, but it felt religious and spiritual. I think after a looooooong day of hiking, all we needed/wanted was a little love from the great Buddha!
I hate how catching up from Korea has taken me almost three weeks, but I promise that I only have one more to go, and then I’ll be ready to move onto more fun things…like my current life back in Japan!!
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