10 April 2019
Not slippery when wet
Hiking Yongmasan in the rain from Yongmasan station
Well it is still raining. The scariest thing about the rain is not slipping off the mountain, it is umbrellas. And now I have a new reason to fear umbrellas which is nothing to do with losing an eye.
Nearly every subway station has an escalator up to the surface, with a little roof over it, you then step out into the rain. This is the most danger I have been in for some time.
You see whenever a Korean person gets to this step at the end of an escalator, they stop, and try and put up their umbrella, before they dare step out into the rain. When exiting a station, 200 people will all try and do this, one after the other, causing those at the back of the line on the escalator to have to walk backwards down a moving escalator. Truly terrifying, and repeated 3 times so far today!
Because of the continuing rain (forecast to end this afternoon) I selected a small mountain, one which I was assured was all a staircase. Well it was a staircase until I veered from the path. I chose the location specifically because I was worried I might slip off the granite face of a mountain, but I discovered that damp rocks and especially damp fine gravel, are far GRIPPIER than dry. So I explored numerous awesome paths, regaining my composure after nearly dying exiting the subway.
Also, this will be the last mountain in Korea, I am off to Hong Kong tomorrow, to have a look at the mountains there!
Oh yeah, I should probably have mentioned that todays 'mountain' was called Yongmasan, in the eastern part of Seoul, there is a subway station named the same so it is very easy to find.
The start of todays hike was an ancient quarry. How ancient? Signs tell me 700 BC, I am not sure I believe it. There is now a running track and a rock climbing wall. This photo does not do very well at demonstrating how high the quarry walls are.
Here is a bit more of the quarry, someone has planted millions of whatever hedge thing produce those yellow flowers. I ran a few laps in the rain.
Despite being a small mountain, the path was really great, excellent views, nice foliage, well marked trail, nothing slippery enough to be worried about.
Before too long a view opened up, as usual I have taken way too many shots of indistinguishable view.
More view.
Staircase with Lotte tower in the middle. After this staircase I took a detour for even more view.
RIP whoever this guy is. The grave had no plaque, but there was a sign saying there used to be a big city wall here. Not anymore.
The path then became really picturesque.
So picturesque that I declare this to be PICTURE OF THE DAY!
On slippery rain day I was not expecting to scale a cliff, but as I mentioned, it was surprisingly a lot less slippery than in the dry, so cliff scaling I went.
Time for a bit more view. I was not quite sure which way I was facing but whichever way it was I am sure I have climbed that mountain in the distance at some point.
The far side of this small mountain revealed a lot more paths to explore, but theres no subway down there, so I would not be going that way today.
Summit view, suitably rocky and yellow. A runner up for the much coveted photo of the day award.
A sore thumb of a tower, 123 floors, 5th tallest in the world. Next week I will see number 7 in Guangzhou, China.
Me and my many chins, in the rain.
Just below the summit the old guys have set up a weight training gym. The most impressive part is at some point they have carried all this equipment up the hill.
I found yet another great path back down, a path I had all to myself.
The view down this way was no less awesome.
Random pile of rocks.
Just when I thought I was down, another cliff to descend. You cant really see it here, but just after the rocks end in this photo was very steep, I had to descend backwards.
Having selected a quiet path to nowhere, I emerged from the forest in the middle of nowhere. There were many churches, wires strung everywhere, but no shops. Really steep streets, far slipperier than the actual rocks on the mountain.
I was back quite early and it was still raining, so I decided to sit in one of the trillions of bakeries and enjoy a sandwich and a cake. Look, a photo thats not a mountain!