11 November 2022
Leafpocalypse
Geomdansan from Hanam Geomdansan station
A bit less smoky today, but still quite smoky.
My hike today was in the same direction as the one from the day before yesterday. In fact you will see those mountains at the end, and the mountains from 5 days ago at the start. That is because I climb all the mountains.
The overwhelming feature of today's hike was dead leaves. And also my shorts. It is about 20c today, which I feel is unusually warm for this time of year. It was cold when I set off from my hotel at about 6:30am, but by the time I started up the mountain it was ok, and by the end, quite hot. I am glad I put on sunscreen.
The other thing about today's hike, it started off very developed, and very popular, and ended up with almost no discernible path and no other people and a bus stop. But always leaves. So many leaves.
On this trip I am wearing running boots, which are a weird concept, they are a boot version of a trail running shoe, this was useful today as it stopped leaves from getting into my shoes.
That is enough shoe info, onto the brown smoky photos.
My journey to the start of the hike was all on subway line 1, from practically the front door of my hotel to the last station on the line.
It was only a short walk from the subway station to the start of the actual trail, via a convenience store for some fluids and muesli bars.
Across there is the hike from 5 days ago, with the observatory, you can see it here if you squint.
The early parts of the trail were more a kind of road. There were a lot of people on this bit.
Presumably many of the people were heading up the hill to the outdoor dentist.
The journey up to Geomdansan peak was very nice, across the way between the branches is the observatory from the other day on Yebongsan.
Rocky, picturesque and well roped off at this early stage.
Here is the view from part way up. I am glad I took a shot from here as it got smokier after this shot.
It was well roped off and formed rock steps all the way to the peak of Geomdansan, and many other people.
The leafy bits were well trampled at this stage. It would not last.
The view from here should be great, with multiple rivers and lots of mountains, but alas, smoke.
Presumably up there is the main peak of the day. It seems too early in the day to already be there. Not to worry, I will just keep going up the ridge line for a few more hours.
Today's helicopter spot was a bit overgrown.
And here is a view of the view from the peak. If you put your eyes on those, you will get pink eye.
Shocking. Actually what is shocking is I forgot to do a stance pic in my shorts to show off my girly legs.
A view of the view the other way, away from Seoul. Hmm looks a bit less smoky than the shot in the similar direction from earlier. There was a bit of a breeze today for the first time on this entire trip.
Over the river you can see the observatory again. That mountain is higher than this one. I have used the healing tool in lightroom to remove the dust spots on a few of these shots.
After the main peak, the path got harder to follow, but it never really mattered, and there were no ropes. This is a view somewhere along the way.
Sign posts were few and far between. A map would be a good idea if you intend to come this way. I use Naver which was fine.
A cropped view of the river down below. You can go down that way also, the bus services down there seemed less reliable than where I was aiming for.
Last peak of the day and it does not even get a seat or log to sit on.
Now for the hard part, going down in the leaves. This was really really steep, which is never properly shown in photos, and the leaves were really quite deep. Under the leaves, loose rocks. Still I managed to stay upright.
After leaf swimming for an hour or so, I popped out into some farms. Those mountains across there are the ones from the day where I went up the hill on a bus and walked around the fortress wall.
To get to the bus stop I had to go under the highway, via multiple tunnels. It was not a problem this time like a previous day where I could not find a way across for hours.
And finally, the bus stop. I only had to wait 10 minutes. Also it is a bus stop in the middle of nowhere, with a bus every 20 minutes and a sign telling you how many minutes until it comes. Also the Naver map app shows you live where the bus is. Very convenient. Japan needs this, relying on a bus in Japan is never a good idea.