A Hike Above Our Dong

So I mentioned before that we are surrounded by lush, green hills. Well we finally took a Saturday to explore the hills. Hiking is a national past time here in Korea and they have what sounds like a substantial system of trails throughout the country. Hiking is king, but mountain biking has taken off recently and the two groups of recreationists are quite friendly to each other.

A view from the water tower back toward the start of the hike.

We gathered up our friends Hannah, Luke, and Walker and set off to the hills. Just a block or so from our doorstep there's a fairly steep, paved road leading up to a water tower, marking the junction of a couple trails. Turn right and head through the woods to our school, hang a left and off to the peaks surrounding our dong.

Simple exercise equipment is is all the parks here, and apparently scattered on the hiking trails as well!

I wish you could hear the sound of the woods here (the video clip I took vanished some how). The trees here are alive with cicadas and who knows how many other insects. It seems most of the sound buzzing in the trees is insects. We hardly see or hear birds.

At times the trail was pretty steep! Notice the rope the kids are using to help them climb to the top!

It was probably in the high 80s during the hike and humid too. Which is pretty much every day. Although, in the past week there have been a couple nights cool enough for us to turn the AC off and open the windows. Fall is creeping in and we are excited for what people say is the best season here in Korea.

Haven was giddy with laughter on the way up this stretch. I kept wondering if her laugh was eventually going to end up as tears. But she did it with a smile the entire time.








Reaching the peak was such a reward! Although out of water, dripping with sweat, and having no idea when the hike would end, we were all stunned by our views.

This photo does such a great job showing the juxtaposition of our dong (foreground) compared to the high rises in the background!