Sokcho Trip - Day 1: Seoraksan National Park

For our April-May term break Jonathan and I had already decided to head to the East Coast. My coworkers had mentioned that we should go there last term break, but we chose to wait until the area had some colour and would probably be even more beautiful. Were we ever glad we did! The scenery surrounding Sokcho, our base-city for this break, was breathtaking with unique mountains stretching along one side of the city and the East Sea (AKA what Japan is advocating to be called the Sea of Japan) shimmering on the other. Of the five provinces we've explored so far in South Korea, Gangwon-do shot straight up to the top of my list. (Although to be fair, I'm a sucker for mountains, large bodies of water, and colourful scenery, the last one having been absent in all our prior trips and cities-lived-in until near the end of April.) I was in scenic heaven for the four days we spent in the small coastal town of Sokcho.

Day 1, April 28, was Sabbath and we decided to spend it in one of the most gorgeous places in all of Korea (as voted by most Koreans we've talked to, and our guidebooks), Seoraksan National Park. Seoraksan (Mt. Seorak, meaning Snow Peak Mountain) is just one mountain in the long range of Taebeak mountains that is the backbone of Gangwon-do province. And even just that one mountain has days and days and days worth of hiking and exploring possibilities. The park is divdied into three parts: Oeseorak (Outer Seorak), Naeseorak (Inner Seorak), and Namseorak (South Seorak). The part near the city of Sokcho is Oeseorak and we just got the very tippiest of the tip of the iceberg of that section. I'm already dying to go back. On Sabbath morning we left our cool, funky little backpacking hostel with our two jackets and Jonathan's camera backpack filled with his equipment, sandwiches and our two water bottles. A half-hour bus ride later and we scampered off the bus and discovered that our jackets were useless baggage. We'd brought them remembering our Daedunsan hike where we almost froze to death before the bus arrived to take us back to Jeonju, our base-town for that trip. This time we hung the jackets off the back of Jonathan's camera backpack nearly as soon as we set out on the hike and there they stayed until we got back to town that evening. First we set off on a nice hike to Biryongpokpo (pokpo = falls). It was a nice hike that probably would have taken us about two hours there and back had we not spent quite a nice long time relaxing and wetting our feet/legs and hair in the cold water of the river when we reached the end of the trail. Back at our starting point later in the afternoon, we continued on following the river in the opposite direction on the Biseondae Cliffs-Sinheungsa Course (trail). We eventually arrived at our destination, Geumganggul (gul = cave). But boy was it an adventure getting up to the cave in the middle of a rock outcroping. Instead of telling you more about it, I'll let you take a look at our many pictures of the day. By the time we descended back to solid ground we had to hurry to get back to the park gate by sundown to catch a bus back to town. Our feet and legs were sore, but our spirits were soaring!

Ali with the Asian Black Bear statue, also known as Moon Bears

Of course, I had to stand by it as well

A little way past the entrance of the park, we found a faucet that created water from thin air!

Ali took a video of the phenomenon

Ali posing on Biryong-gyo Bridge that leads us towards our first destination - I think we went up into that valley on the left side

Skink - first wildlife we saw, besides the flies

Still spring here

There were many, many small waterfalls along the way - I've only posted a few of them

Ali found some really interesting branches to photograph

This falls is pretty decently sized, but was hard to get a good shot of because of trees

Looking ahead

And we finally reached the big falls!

Required portrait in front of landmark

Cold! There's still snow in ravines up in the mountains!

Quite the angular falls

We weren't allowed to swim, but some Koreans were dipping their heads, so I followed suit - it was a pretty hot day

Ali opted for a cool, refreshing drink, instead

Candid Canon Camera Captures Canon Camera

Just below the big pool

Back at the Biryong-gyo Bridge - we didn't go on the tram today, though it looked like a great view

We wanted to hike to these rocks, but it was about a 5 hour trip, and after today's hikes our legs were too tired

Some of the striking peaks in the park

Lotus

Had to get a picture of the resident Buddha

Near the beginning of our second trek of the day, we spied a hunchback chipmunk pottering about

We stopped at this aqueduct-fed reservoir for a rest

More falls - again, I've only posted a very few compared to how many we saw

A picturesque bridge - had to wait quite a while for no one to be on it

And then there was someone on it again! :)

Ali liked the Chinese carved into these rocks

Biseondae Rock behind us. This is a destination of sorts, there was a snack shop here,
but our destination was a good 0.6 km further, and straight up, we were to find

Nearing the top of the steep climb

Ali snapped this great picture at an overlook - I like the boulders in the foreground

She also took this one, but I think the foreground isn't much improvement on the boulders :P (AG here - he's wrong)

Looking down at the bridge and snack shop at the base of the climb (we were standing on that bridge four pictures back)

Now we've climbed up to the mouth of the cave, and this is looking down on the previous overlook

And here's the overall view - Snack shop, bridge, overlook, and mountain range

Panorama 1, from the first overlook (click to view larger)

Looking up at the cave from the first overlook - still an arduous climb, though it doesn't look it

Showing the steepness as well as the view

We were rushing a bit, since the sun was setting soon

Panorama 2, from the mouth of the cave (click to view larger)

The view from near the top

A bit anticlimactic, to be honest, but there it is

And yes, even way up there, we found acrobatic chipmunks

Back down at the bridge, looking up at what we didn't know was our destination last time we were here

Zooming in

And zooming again

The stream we walked by much of the afternoon

By the path was some sort of garden of rock towers

Ali got a good overall view

Detail

We spied some brilliant yellow-orange flowers as we neared the park entrance again

We're pretty sure that nub sticking up on the mountain is the one with the cave we climbed to

Great scenes

Parting shot by Ali before we left the park

For pictures and commentary about our other days in Sokcho, click the links below.
Day 2: Naksan Beach
Day 3: Biking around Sokcho
Day 4: Sunrise and foot tour
Wrap-Up: Extras