Palgongsan (Palgong Mountain)

This past Sunday (September 19, 2010) we went on a hiking trip to Palgongsan (San means mountain).
I went with my friend Nic, Jack, Kevin, and a new friend Kayla.

Jack getting ready to go

"Hiking, Hiking on a hiking trail...."

We all squeezed into a cab (of course I sat on everyone's lap....uncomfortable) for about 20 minutes. Well the cab driver drove us past the drop off spot an additional 15 minutes, so we had to turn around. At that  point I just wanted to get out of the cab! When we finally arrived, it felt so good to stand up.

Where to Jack?

Jack was the only one who had been here before, but he still didn't know where we were going. We just found a trail head and took off on the adventure. We lost Kayla before we even got on our way...she couldn't handle the altitude (she ended up going on an adventure of her own. She ran into one of her students with her family and she joined them. She went to a temple, which she said was beautiful). After a long way up we ended up having to hike up about 200 stairs!  This was really tough, but we powered through. The following picture was after we hiked the stairs....we still went straight up for a long while.

After we hiked up 200 stairs we went straight up again!

The scenery was amazing...not like So Cal




We finally made it somewhere!  We really had no clue where we were going, so when we made it to the "top" we were inspired by the view.  Apparently, this was nowhere near the real top of the mountain (next time.... I guess; once I learn to read the Korean map we ended up getting at the end of our hike). 

Holy Cow!!!!!

Queen of the Mountain

Kevin, Me, Jack, and Nic...We made it!

We found the spot where the gondola stops.
We were wondering why so many people looked refreshed at the top of the mountain.

What a beautiful day!

Not sure what these represent, but they were really cool looking.


The rest of these pictures are from the way down. We took a different route and it was beautiful.
We were the only people on this trail...........AMAZING!!!!!!!

Can't wait to return during fall

Baby waterfall

Beetle

This picture is for you MOM!

If the water was deeper we would have made this a water slide.

Finished!

If you look closely, you can see where the gondola drops you off.

We took a bus home, which was way better than the cab ride here. A group of kids got on the bus and they had a blast just not holding on as the bus moved. It was cute to see them laughing and having so much fun for such a low low price :)

These kids were having a blast...not holding on!

Say cheese!

Next time we will go higher and higher.


Today was amazing and I can't wait to go back. There are so many mountains to hike, so I hope to get back to this one sooner than later. It only takes about 30 minutes on the bus. You only have to change buses once, so it is really easy. Now I only have to remember where to get off and change buses.  I hope you enjoyed these photos!