Hiking and Fall Colors

So we haven't written anything for a while... There has not been anything too amazing to report about. Everyday we just work in the daytime and come home and relax until we go to bed. We got ourselves in a good routine and eat a lot of delicious food...

Something we have done lately is hiking. We did three hikes over the past few weeks. The first one to report on happened near where we live. We went on a bus over to an area we had never gone to before and went hiking up one of the ridges to Bukhan San (북한산). I didn't know exactly where I was going and I think Jenna figured that out quickly. We eventually found a trail though.

As you can see it began up a pretty steep hillside. A little creepy... It reminded me of that staircase that Sam and Frodo climbed in the Return of the King. Parts of the stairs were carved into the granite hillside.

After ascending to the ridge line, we hiked up the ridge.



We got to the top after going up some pretty steep rock outcroppings. We saw a guy walk by us up this trail that did it all barefooted!

Here's the top. The city in the distance is about one-tenth of the city of Seoul.



And the journey back down...

Hike Two

Our second hike to report on occurred the day before Ch'useok (추석), or Korean Thanksgiving. We went to an old area of mine when I served as a missionary in the Korea Seoul West Mission called Geumch'eon (금천). There is a mountain I would hike at on my preparation days as a missionary that I enjoyed a lot. It was one of my favorite mountains I hiked in Korea as a missionary. We also met a coworker of ours named Mihye (미혜) who lives nearby this mountain.

At the bottom there is a Buddhist temple. Here's a picture of us next to one of the buildings where you can see a tree with its leaves changing color.


We climbed the mountain pretty quickly. You take a bus half way up the mountain until the apartment buildings stop and then hike up the rest of the way.

Here's Jenna proud of her hiking achievement.


A view of where the apartments meet the forested hillside.


Here's Mihye with Jenna atop the mountain with Seoul in the background. It was a bit smoggy that day...


We got the great idea to do this as well.



I don't know who the guy is in the picture, but I wanted to get a picture of what the top of the mountain looked like with Seoul in the background. This is still one of my favorite places in Korea...


After the hike we went to go get some food in the area. We then went to Mokdong for a movie and had burgers afterward with American friends.

Hike Three

Our most recent hike was last Saturday. It rained very heavily the night before and it was cold and clear the following day. We went over by Dobong San (도봉산) and hiked up one of the ridges. The beginning of the hike was kind of up and down, and the trees were pretty green still.


After hiking up the ridge a ways, we came across countless graves. These graves are maintained by the families of those who died that are buried up here. Most of these graves are pretty old. They are very distinct due to the mound that rests on top of the coffin. The picture below could quite be the best photograph I've ever taken...


A bit of a view...


Here's Jenna. Doesn't she look happy?


Here's me, equally as happy to be up here.


Here's a view of the northernmost tip of Seoul

This is Bukhan San off in the distance...one of the largest mountains in the area. The first hike we did was up one of the ridges about half way up the main mountain.

Now this mountain is Dobong San. We tried climbing to the top of it on our first hike in Korea...the one where we were pressed upon by the masses... No crowds on this side of the mountain that day.

Pretty, pretty, pretty...


The fall colors are starting to get more brilliant. Fall is the best season in Korea.