Mt. Dobongsan

We had Tuesday off so Martha, Laila, Alex, Gu won and I decided to climb Mount Dobongsan which is in a National Park just north of Seoul. I think it is the most visited park in Korea and I can attest to that. All the way up the trail are hundreds and hundreds of people. However we actually were able to take a little side path and escape them. Overall it was the most enjoyable hike Ive done in Korea. It was not really steep at any point and we took a leisurely pace and it was nice to take our way to the top rather than rushing there like on tours.

A cool place for a picnic!


The views from the top were pretty nice too. It wasn't too smoggy so you could see Seoul in the front of the mountain and wilderness in the back. It was neat to see all of the apartment buildings in Seoul that were exactly the same height and color. Not much variety. I think they look like dominoes and if you knocked one over, they all might go.

A rare sight in Korea - no buildings in sight!


Dominoes


On the way back down, Tess and I stopped for a dip in the stream that went along the side of the hiking path. The water was cool but it was definately very refreshing after the long hike up the mountain in the heat and humidity. As we were swimming we noticed a sign beside the pool. Some rudimentary Korean translation told us that it meant swimming was prohibited and could result in a $200 fine. Ah well!





Afterwards we went to a restaurant nearby. This place was really cool. It was on the side of the mountain and everything was outside. It was sort of like a BBQ back home, with campires burning everywhere and there was even a band playing music. The food was good but the atmosphere was amazing. It was hard to believe we were only 10 minutes from the big city.

BBQ Zone