Tag Archives for fall

On the Lost Palm Oasis/Mastadon Peak and Ryan Mountain

In the beginning of the summer I went camping in Joshua Tree National Park. I had a friend in town from Northern California back in Fall and we headed back out there for a long weekend. Last time I was out there I don’t feel that I took enough photos of the hikes we did, so I took this opportunity of revisiting to take photos and share my two favorite hikes in Joshua Tree.

Joshua Tree

This time we camped at the Cottonwood campground, which is located close to the north entrance.

Tent

Proper Camping Meal

Desert Coffee

On Friday we hiked the Lost Palm Oasis trail and Mastodon Peak.

Trail Marker

Scenery

Indigo Bush

Cholla

Collecting Chia

Pinacate Beetle

Creosote

Gambel’s Quail

Boulders

A. Bouldering

Atop the Boulder

Sandy Trail

Mastodon Mine

Mine

Mine Stuff

Makgeolli At The Top

The View

The Wildness

Heading Back

 Ryan Mountain

Proof

Making Noodles on the Mountain

The Range

Blue Sky

Desert Beauty

Cache Found

On the way back we stopped  for gas in a small town off of the 10. Tired, dirty and hungry we filled the tank, my buddy got an ice cream and we had a giant bag of chile and limon Lay’s to share. We sat there for a minute stuffing our faces with the convenience store goods and a British man in a bright yellow Lexus pulls up next to us. The man said, “Are you done? Mind if I use the pump. I’m in a bit of a hurry. I have got to get to Mexico.” – my buddy, who is stunned at this point, takes the ice cream out of his mouth, says something to the effect of “sure” and drives to the entrance of the station. He announces to me that it is Jeremy Clarkson of the Top Gear and they are filming. Watch for it on the BBC.

On Mt. Rainier

On Mt. Rainier. While on a trip to the Pacific Northwest I had the privilege of completing a day hike on Mt. Rainier. This mountain will go down as one of my favorite mountain hikes, ever. We left Portland in our little rented Fiat 500 and arrived to the mountain pretty late in the evening and checked into the Paradise Inn, a cozy, yet large cabin on the mountain. The next morning before starting out, I had to stop by the rangers station as I had been stung by a bee in Portland and my finger had swollen to almost twice the size. It was a gnarly sting. Although, I can’t complain too much as the park rangers were awfully cute. ;)

Paradise Inn

The View

Loft

Mountain Info

Base

Stairs

Here is the part where I admit to being a bad blogger (for going on a super long hiatus – without warning) and then I’ll admit to being a bad information sharer, because I don’t really know all the trails we hiked. It was a good day hike though. We started about 10am and finished close to sunset. So I am unable to give full details of trails, mileage and elevation gain. However, I did take a ridiculous amount of photos and have lots of those to share.

Trail and Information Center

Pink, Green, Blue and White

Trees

Hiding

Hills

Ridge

Alaska Yellow-Cedars and Engelmann Spruce

Valley

Hoary Marmot

Trees, Hills, Streams

Pacific North West

Ice

Skyline Trail

More Trees

Blue Sky

Warning

Boots on Ice

Ledge

Looking Up

Straight Ahead

Compass

Hills

Rocks

Life

Water

Stream

More Hills

Puffballs (…scientific name)

Beauty

Landscape

Path

Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel

Greenery

Melted Ice

Forest

PNW

More Puff Balls

Bridge

Field

Yellow and Purple

Rogue

Walking Away

Step

Lake

Mountain Hemlock (I think)

Looking Down

Pathway

Mineral Lake

Bee

Lakes Trail Marker

Creek

Mt. Rainier

There is my Mt. Rainier day hike. Again, one of the best I have ever done.

More timely blog posts to come in the future.

On the Jagalchi Fish Market (자갈치시장)

On the Jagalchi Fish Market (자갈치시장). The Jagalchi Market is an hour away by subway from Haeundae (해운대) Beach. Although, it’s a much shorter cab ride, the difference is about 10,000w vs. 900w. The super busy market is filled with people selling recently caught fish and restaurants that will prepare the food for you.

A Vendor

Baskets With Live Fish

More Baskets With Live Fish

Halmoni and Clams

Clams

Another Vendor

Various Shell Fish

Another Vendor

More Shellfish

A Very Attractive Displace of Shellfish

If You Dare

Running Amuck

Loads of Dried Fish

More Dried Fish

Dried Squid

Cooked Fish

More Cooked Fish

Even More Cooked Fish

In the end I didn’t end up eating here as I had to rush back to catch the sunset at Haeundae and my appetite just wasn’t on my side. However, it was a really great market to explore.

On My Trip to Busan (부산)

On my trip to Busan (부산). After Boseong, we hopped on an express bus for a three hour ride to Busan. I’m still amazed at how easy and fast it is to get around Korea.

I was super excited as I have had intentions of visiting Busan since I stepped foot in Seoul. I love the ocean and I have noticed missing it when I stay in Seoul too long. It’s a thing. We arrived at the Busan Express Bus Terminal at around 11:00pm and then we hopped on the metro to Haeundae (해운대) and immediately crashed. The next morning we awoke very near the beach and we spent the morning wandered around the area looking for breakfast.

Skyscrapers Lining the Beach

Boardwalk

We got a tip from a kind employee at the tourist information center on the boardwalk and went searching for the restaurant he had recommend. We had a map with a circle behind a major hotel and his description of “hamburger restaurant” to go on. We were not interested in hamburgers for breakfast, but the guy had said they served breakfast food there. This could have meant a number of things, but we chanced it. After wandering in a small circles a few times and getting steered in the wrong direction by a “helpful” man with a bit too much enthusiasm and some confused information about a “British Thanksgiving”, we finally found Breeze Burns, a western restaurant with epic western breakfast plates. After justifiably throwing around the word “vacation” a few times epic western breakfast plates were proper.

Western Breakfast (has now replaced "Lumberjack breakfast" in my terminology)

After a slow and satisfying breakfast and a brief chat about the best brunch places that our hometown offers, we walked along the ridge to Dongbaek Park. The sky was amazingly clear and some time was spent climbing on the rocks around the fishermen and couples posing for pictures.

Walkway

Fisherman

Mermaid

After a spider-dwelling-pine-tree-lined walk up lots of steps, true to Korean hill/mountain form, we reached a small area with a statue of Choi Chi Won Haeundae’s namesake.

One of Many

Choi Chi Won Statue

Pagoda

Pagoda Colors

Gwangan Bridge

After this walk we caught a cab to go to the famous Jagalchi Fish Market and wandered through the very crowded market looking at all the seafood while being called to enter the various restaurants lining the market. This was the first time in South Korea where I feel that I’ve been called at to buy something.

After the market we caught the subway back to Haeundae and drank tall boys of Hite Dry and Max, respectively, staring at the Pacific Ocean while the sun was setting over Dongbaek island and the neon lights of the large hotels surrounding the beach came on around us.

Shoes and Sand

Max and Hite Dry

Light Reflecting Off of the Buildings

Dongbaek

Buildings Lighting Up

After the sun had set and the temperature dropped we headed to find food. We stopped at one the many soju tents behind the beach and ended up with makgeolli and tteokbokki.

Tteokbokki and Makgeolli

After the makgeolli did what it does best we headed into the Wolfhound for the night was young. I’ve been to the Wolfhound in Seoul and it’s fine, but the real draw to western bars in Korea is simply that you don’t have to order food with your drink like you do in Korean bars (Hofs, or the Japanese version Izakayas). After a sangria and a whiskey drink (err something…respectively) I was ready to meet my goal of eating seafood in Busan so I did what made sense and impulsively followed a group of Koreans going into a busy restaurant. Having no clue as to what kind of seafood the restaurant was serving and not having socks on, which always feels shameful when you have to take off your shoes in a restaurant, I still sat down ready for an adventure. After asking the Chinese cashier a question in broken Korean and her turning to the Korean server for help, the server came over and I’m sure we looked helpless. She said the name of a dish claiming that it was delicious, in English, and we said “sure”. All the while looking over at the next table where a family sat, the daughter eating McDonalds and the parents with a red mass of something flopping around over a gas grill. Naturally it turned out that we had ordered the same flopping red mass. The irony lays in the fact that of all the seafood we had seen at the market, the eel looked the least appealing, but there we had gone and ordered it.

Jang Uh Gui (장어구이)

This is where the adventure ends really. We picked at it a bit, gave it our best shot, paid up and left, not disappointed, but not really interested.

The next morning we hopped on an early KTX train back to Seoul.

KTX

On My Second Trip to Boseong (보성) and the Green Tea Fields

On my second trip to Boseong (보성) and the green tea fields. I had gone to Boseong in summer right after the green tea fields had been harvest. This past weekend I revisited Boseong and with the fall colors, it was gorgeous.

A friend from out-of-town and I boarded KTX in Yongsan at 8:00am with some triangle kimbap and ojingeo for breakfast and headed down south arriving in Gwangju five hours later.

Breakfast

After an hour-long misadventure with the wrong bus, we eventually caught the right bus to the Gwanju bus terminal where we caught another bus to Boseong. Once in Boseong we split a Shin ramyun (신라면) and a soju (소주) box and caught yet another bus to the fields.

Soju Box

It was a cold day, but the couple of bus rides through the country in heated busses were really nice. The colors are still vibrant in the south and the leaves are holding  on to the branches rather firmly.

Fall Colors

We skipped the tea museum and chose to hike up the mountain behind the museum before sunset. It was an easy hike; the scenery was lovely and the view from the top was really worth it.

Path

Sunshine Through the Mountains

The Sea in the Background

Green Tea and Houses

Sun and Mountains

After the hike it was very windy and much colder so we headed back to Boseong then back to Gwanju to caught a bus to Busan (부산).

On Bongeunsa (봉은사)

On Bongeunsa (봉은사). I have a friend visiting from California, which means I am getting to revisit places that I think are worth it. One of those places is the Bongeunsa (봉은사)  temple in Gangnam. I feel that this temple is special as it is in surrounded by tall financial buildings and Coex Mall and a huge convention center and still manages to create a space of peace. It is also very active with people visiting to pray or do temple stays. It is possible join in on prayers if you are there at the right time, but finding a mat and a spot to stand might be difficult because the temple is so busy.

The Festive Entrance

Sky Scrapers and Tiled Roofs

Fall Colors

Colors

Drinking Water

Fish and Fall

Details

Looking Up

WIndows

The Temple and I

On Suraksan (수락산)

On Suraksan (수락산). I’ve been on a bit of a hiking streak lately. I have pent-up outdoor energy and the weather  has been perfect for releasing this. Saturday night I geared up and hopped on the subway headed toward Suraksan in northern Seoul. I took it easy and slept at the World Spa jimjilbang that night and the next morning I took a quick subway ride to the mountain. In typical weekend fashion, the morning subway was full of brightly dressed hikers heading for the various mountains. More specifically, Bukansan and Suraksan. It was approximately 7.2 kilometers at a 637.7 meter elevation gain. I started the trail from the Suraksan station and ended at Jangam station which means that I hiked up the mountain first and then down and out through the valley and past

Sunday Morning Hikers

The weather was great for a hike and the fall colors on this mountain were unbelievably gorgeous.

Red Leaves

Yellow Leaves

Restaurant

Orange Leaves

Directions

Duck

Perched

Pagoda and Dobong Mountain in the Background

Suraksan Peak

Stairs Up

Fall Colors For Miles

Dongmakgol Valley

Beautiful Leaves

Temple

Buddha

Buddha and Gochu

Gochu

The Whole Picture

Bell

Chickens

Post Hike Shin Ramyeon and Makgeolli

The hike was wonderful. The trail was excellent and diverse. The colors were inspiring. The weather was perfect. Fall in Korea is amazing.

On Gwanaksan (관악산)

On Gwanaksan (관악산) . Gwanaksan is my home mountain. I can see it from my rooftop and I can see it from my hagwon. I see it every time I leave my house and it welcomes me home when I return from weekend trips. Some of my students can brag that it is their “backyard”. With a 632 meter elevation gain it’s not a bad sized mountain to have so close.

Gwanak Mt.

Additionally, I have been in Seoul for 4 seasons now and I have hiked it during all four of these seasons!

Winter:

Snow on the Trees

Icy Creek

Logs

Snowy Trail

Snow on Everything

Snowy View

Snowy Mountain Top

Spring:

Walkway

Creek

Blue Sky

Sun and Trees

Green for Days

Mountain Top

Sunshine

Summer:

Summer was sketchy because it rained the whole time, I was only able to take a few photos.

Summer Rain

Flowers

Another Flower

Fall:

Hikers

Stone Path

Trail

Fall Colors

A Climb

Fall Pines

Changing Leaves

On Achasan (아차산)

On Achasan (아차산). Following the Seoraksan hike I wanted to continue to enjoy the outdoors. With a smaller 287 meter elevation gain, I choose Achasan in Seoul to hike before work on Monday. I hopped on the line 5 on made my way to one of the trails that leads up the mountain. I never did find the proper trail head and ended up going up and coming down different side trails. It was a pleasant hike.

Hwayangsa Temple

Stairs Leading Up to a Trail

Rocky Trail

Pine Trees Everywhere

Marker

Not Even the Peak

The panoramic view of Seoul from the path was amazing.

View of the Han

The City

Morning Makgeolli

Clearing

Path

Trail

Overgrowth

Park

Tomato Truck

At the end of my hike I walked along a shaded road. At the peaceful intersection there were a few trucks with nuts and fruit. I stopped at the tomato truck because the tomatoes looked really good. I bought one and got another one as ‘service’. I made pasta sauce with it later that night and I’m kicking myself for only buying one because it was delicious.

On Seoraksan (설악산)

On Seoraksan (설악산). Fall is visually dramatic in Korea, the leaves change color, the sky is mostly clear and blue and the air is crisp. It is absolutely fantastic. One popular things for people to do when this season comes around is to head the to mountains to see the leaves change color and the most famous place for this is Seorak mountain. Seorak mountain is in Gangwong-do province in the east. There was a 1,708 meter elevation gain, but as far as how many kilometers I can’t tell it was a good thirteen hours with breaks.

I opted to do have this adventure with a hiking group that I had travelled with to see the cherry blossoms in spring. We loaded at bus at 11:00pm and drove over night to the mountain. I should mention that when I say “over night” I mean about three hours once everyone was on the bus and not counting traffic. We put on our headlamps and got in line at 3:30am to hike. The line was very, very long.

Standing in Line

I’ve never had to stand in line while hiking. It was one step at a time in the dark for a while. The sun started rising right as I reached a lookout spot! There were a few calls of joy as the sun started to come up.

Sun Rise

Still In The Line

When I reached the Daechongbong Peak I was wrecked. After no sleep and no food I was very tired, but in a great mood. The thing to do at the top is sit down with your friends and let the eating, drinking and resting commence. My hiking partner and I found a spot on a rock and stopped to split rations of almonds, oranges, kimbap and dried bananas. This was hardly weather appropriate food and our jolly neighbors started feeding us warm spicy squid and ramyeon noodles. They handed my hiking partner a generous cup of Korean brandy wine and handed me a beer.

The Tired and Hungry at Daechongbong Peak

Ramyeon at the Top

Picnic

Shelter

The weather was not great, so there were no views at the top. I am told that usually you are able to see the East Sea. When our bellies were satisfied and it was too cold to keep sitting there we went on our way to descend into the valley.

Path

Rocks

Directions

Taebaek Mountain Range

Rather quickly we reached a point at which it was clear enough to see the gorgeous mountains straight ahead.

Winter is Coming

In the Valley

Vibrant Colors

After we reached the valley, there was a waterfall whose water we followed for the rest of the hike.

Pool

Rocky Mountains

Hikers at Another Rest Point

Cheonbuldong Valley

Clear Water

This last part of the hike was breathtaking. Although there were still many other people there wasn’t a line anymore. The surroundings were beautiful and the hardest park of the hike was finished. The rocky trails had much milder inclines and declines.

The End

I reached the parking lot right as rain began to come down.