13 June 2022
Avoiding the plague
Cheonmasan hike from Cheonmasan station
Last hike.
Weather showed a break in the rain from 6am to early afternoon when storms would arrive, they were 100% right!
Congratulations to the Korean memorial department for collection of reparations related to atmospheric grievances.
If you think back 3 weeks, I went on a hike, with no view, which was the wrong mountain entirely. It was not a great time, especially the descent.
Well today I decided to right my wrong and go to where I wanted to go in the first place. Would I end up wrong again? No. I was right.
Cheonmasan is a very popular hike, even on a wet Monday morning there were a few other people on the trail, including as we shall discuss soon, a young guy who clearly had Monkey Flurona.
Getting to Cheonmasan required a couple of subway changes from Gangnam, but it is not too far out of town. The train I boarded did stop one stop before my stop so I had to wait for the next one, but that was only 20 minutes.
From the Cheonmasan station to the start of the trail is only a 10 minute walk. There are stairs, signs, other people. All the things I had read about when somehow 3 weeks ago I went somewhere different, which you shall see below also.
Also there was fog, not enough to make cool foggy photos, just enough to ruin the view. So now for some view.
Here is where the train I was on ended before the end of the line and I had to wait 20 minutes for the next one. I pad $1.20 or so to exit the station and go back in again to take this photo, it is called Pyeongnae-Hopyeong Station so that should be easy to remember.
Terrible photo, but my mountain for the day is the one in the middle of the screen with the bit of cloud / fog at the top.
On my walk to the start of the hike from Cheonmasan station, I checked for where I went 3 weeks ago by mistake. I believe that is it. There were no views down this way at any time on that hike, but there was a long trail that joined up to today's location.
The start of the right hike had all the stairs and amenities that were promised by previous reviewers.
There was even a swing bridge to jump on and test the cable integrity. Passed.
Fog view. More to come.
You know you are on a popular trail when it has brand new toilet blocks in seemingly random spots.
The stairs gave way to rocks. I was a careful as it was quite wet still, but never slipped once all day.
Probably the best view of the day, we will get it again later on the way down with less fog. And actually, this was the only hike on this whole trip that was an up and back course rather than coming down a different way course. That seems an improbable feat, but I believe it is correct.
I was concerned about coming back down this slippery looking rock, but it was fine. I don't mind slipping going up as I fall onto my soft underbelly and hug a rock, but slipping going down I land on my bony pelvis and continue sliding.
My peak is over there, in the cloud. I was hoping it would be dense fog.
This might have been a great shot in clear weather.
This mountain is well known for its views all the way back to Seoul. Not today.
Getting near the top and it was steep enough for some more stairs.
Unfortunately, this was the best the fog had to offer. Needed more denseness.
OK, here I am holding my breath, as this is where the young guy was sneezing, coughing, flemming massive amounts of flems, crying, wheezing, gargling sputum. There was another woman on the summit, she saw this and put her mask on, after this shot I did the same, but there was more to come.
Summit view away from Seoul.
Bonus view.
There is the sick guy. I had to get back past him. If I come home sick, this is the guy that made me sick. KILL HIM.
Nice tree stump. There are ski resorts near here. I think they sprung up as Korea was hosting the winter olympics, and are possibly already no longer operating.
Here is the same view from earlier. And try as I might to avoid the sick guy, I think he was following me. I let him pass and he stopped soon after. I went fast and he tried to catch up, piss off and leave me alone. I did the whole descent wearing a mask.
Back at the bottom and I was warning everyone about the sick guy. To try and avoid him I did a few sets on the giant steering wheel.
And after only about 3 hours and 20,000 steps I was back at the station. It was a shorter hike, but I beat the rain, it was however a very steep hike, 800 metres ascent with no let up. OK, no more hikes, tomorrow I will do something tourists are supposed to do, or go to the hospital for a covid test when I wake up with whatever super mucus inducing infection today's idiot had.