Bukhansan National Park: Avoid the crowds, hike in the rain!
I had grand plans to go hiking with my partner on Buddha's birthday, but hell hath no fury like me when I'm tired and hungry, and by the time our school's field day was over, I was both. Our director insisted we stay for lunch even after I told her we had plans to go hiking and wanted to make it before it got dark. "But we already ordered!" she said, making me think lunch would be individual meals and it would be a waste if we skipped out. No, it was communal lunch, on the floor, and I was incensed enough about our director's apparent belief that making us stay for takeout would make up for 5 hours of what should have been national holiday overtime that I was in no state to ride a crowded subway and took a 4-hour nap instead.
Ironically, we got up so late on Saturday (that four-hour nap was not good for my sleep schedule) that we left at about the same time we got out from school on Friday. I had been researching ways to get to Bukhansan and routes to hike only to find that there were half a dozen and after much waffling, had my partner pick what seemed like the easiest way.
We took the subway to Gupabal Station on Line 3 (after getting stuck in the Line 6 loop and going the wrong way for a few stops) and then got a map (all in Korean, never ended up using it) from the Information Center, manned by two cheerful old people who didn't speak much English but told us we could take the 34 or the 704 bus to the park entrance. (We took the 704 there and the 34 back.)
Getting off the bus, we made a left and started up the hill, against the hordes of hikers making their way down off the mountain. By this point I was hungry, which by itself can result in as foul moods as hungry and tired combined (I've heard this condition referred to as being "hangry"), and not at all pleased by the closed ranks of ajummas and ajeosshis who seemed entirely shocked to discover that we could not occupy the same space at the same time. This only got worse as we began up the trail, which significantly narrower than previous trails I'd encountered hiking in Korea.
My crankiness level was going off the charts as we made our ascent towards Baekundae Peak, the highest in the park. I had anticipated the kind of mini-mart type places that I'd seen in Seoraksan, but apparently (there are a lot of "before and after" pictures posted around) there was a major effort to clean up and return to nature in the past few years, and there were no such things besides a temple and some bathrooms a quarter of the way up. After half an apple I felt better, but soon reverted to ranting about the pointlessness of existence and announcing that I would make it up this damn mountain if it killed me via lightning strike (because it had started to rain). I tried to run up the rocks, and was rewarded within a few minutes with a beet red face and wheezing, but persevered until we hit the stairs (which in my fervor I may have attempted to crawl up using my hands as well). My knees and calves have still not forgiven me.
All of this rage was eradicated by the view at the top though (I decided to risk the rain, which was only lightly sprinkling, as there were Koreans still hauling themselves up the wire cables that led to the summit).
By the time we started down, the granite had started getting pretty slick, and as we picked our way back down the trail with aching knees and thighs, it was raining in earnest and we broke out the umbrellas. It was eerily empty. We saw, at most, five people on the entire way down. It was also getting pretty dark around 19.00 in addition to the clouds, so any later probably would have been dangerous. To avoid the crowds, hike in the rain at night (it's pretty much the only way)!
(My umbrella-bringer! I would be lost, or at least very damp without him.)
