Just a few more pics from our little jaunt to Dobongsan. Dobongsan is said to be the most popular mountain in the Seoul area for hiking (although I've heard that said about Bukhansan as well), and the first time we went was waaaay back when we first got here, when Ant was still a little unsure about this whole life in the ROK thing, and we were both so overwhelmed by the crowds and having to stand in line to even get to the trailhead (not to mention that I was already crampy and grumpy) that we just checked out one of the many temples in that area and came back home without hiking. Not sure if it was the 60 - 70 mph gusts on the summit or the serious downpour that kept everyone away, but once we got out of the food stall area we barely passed another person the whole time. It was awesome!! The type of person who will hike in that kind of weather is the type of hiker who just wants to get out on the trails, so their trail etiquette is usually better than the typical groups of drunken ajummas and ajushis you have to deal with on a lot of hikes in nicer weather. Almost everyone we passed summoned up every English word they knew to ask us what we thought of the mountain, or to suggest a trail to take, or to tell us we definitely needed to turn around and get ourselves on a real trail. Ant, who has since morphed into a true Korean, carried an umbrella the whole way and dutifully finished his makkolli and shin ramyeon after the hike!! I was so proud!! :)
I forget the names, but first we hiked to some lookout rock, then to one of the summits (Obong peak, maybe?), and then down a path that followed a bunch of waterfalls, and thanks to the monsoons they were awesome!!! Mapmyhike listed it from subway to the point where we stopped as 8.63 miles, but that seems a bit - though not too much - longer than we both thought it had been.
