We were not prepared for this hike. HAHAHA but no regrets :--) after weeks looking back at it. We didn't even climb up to the famous peaks hehehe.
There are only waterfalls and cooling streams near the bottom of the trails and mountains, so do experience refreshing water by drinking some and wiping your arms and neck with it. Feels so good while you hike up and the water evaporates from your skin wew.
This was where we should have gotten the memo that we had taken the hard route HAHA. All we wanted was a chill hike, what happened :')
Amazing that they have an exercise area along the hike up, as if hiking wasn't tough enough. You can't see but there's actually a mirror hung on a tree to the right of this exercise spot HAHA. Initially, I thought it was some kind of talisman to ward off evil but it seemed to big and non-decorative for that. So I concluded that it was for people to check if their hair was alright HAHA. But seriously, there are full body mirrors in train stations for commuters to check themselves out, which they do like it's normal. Pretty interesting sight!
A temple up in the mountains!
Didn't take pictures of this part but we had to climb our way up using ropes HAHA. It was really fun like some sort of challenge course.
Doesn't look step but it really was heh! Professional hikers <AKA OLDER PEOPLE WHO ARE SO DOPE IN HIKING GEAR> had hiking sticks that allowed them to quickly maneuver themselves up and down these uneven rocks.
This is the spot we claimed as our peak hehe. We ate our packed lunches, which consisted of egg mayo sandwiches, tomatoes, sausages and a kimbap from the convenience store. IT WAS SUCH A TREAT (check out them views below).
(okay sorry we didn't know but you're not allowed to sit on top of these heh)
We were lost as how to get down from almost 700m above sea level, and we were tired af from climbing steep rocks. One of my friends also cut herself from having to climb up suing her hands. THANKFULLY, very kind uncles saw that we looked lost and they helped us navigate us to the nearest path back down. They literally deciphered where we were in maps and explained where to go. Bless kind old men THANK YOU!
Walking down is way easier, but also way easier to slip too.
I think eating lunch on smooth rocks along the stream would have been awesome too hehe. It's really a sight to take in.
Not recorded down in photos is the tedious exit from the national park down to the nearest point where we could take a bus back to Seoul city. We were literally walking without a sense of how long it would take us to get out HAHA. However, along the way I noticed the same yellow bus pass by twice - once near the visitor's centre (which is nowhere near the town area) and once at the town area. So I conclude that there are buses for people to take in and out of the park?? Nonetheless, we managed to get out wew.