It was very difficult for me to determine where I was going to go in Korea after Seoul, because unlike many parts of South East Asia, it is not obvious where the major places are and people tend to go to different places based on what people find interesting.  Most blogs and posts tell you to go to Seoul, Busan and Jei Ju Island which are the first and second largest city as well as a volcanic island similar to Hawaii.  I decided that I wanted to see a bit more of middle peninsula Korea, instead of skipping straight to Busan nd decided to do a few hikes elsewhere instead of try and make Jei Ju work.  My first destination was not too far from Seoul on the East coast of the country.  Sokcho is the home to Seorakssan National park which contains the third highest mountain in South Korea.  I took the bus from Seoul to Sokcho, which in itself was a great experience because the bus was basically all first class sized seats.

They were only three abreast and they reclined pretty far.  There where also very few people on the bus so it gave me the opportunity to spread out and relax.  The journey was only 2 hours and was very comfortable.  I left in the early afternoon and arrived just before check in was allowed at the Hostel.  I left my bag there, changed into my running clothes and then headed out for a run.  It was rainy and cold, but I wanted to explore the town and I wasn’t planning on staying very long, so wanted to run around in order to get the full tour in a short period of time.

It frankly took a lot of motivation to get out there and do the run, but I threw on my Boston jacket which helped cut the wind.  The town was very much a coastal town, with a tone of fish markets and that seaside small town vibe.

I ran along the coast, checked out some of the view points and then continued to the lake which was just north.  I decided to throw down a slightly longer run as I hadn’t run as much as I wanted in Seoul and felt that I needed to make up for it.

It was also a pretty small town and there didn’t seem like much to do except for visit the National Park which was what I had planned to do the next day. When I returned from my run, there was a single guy in the 4 person dorm room and he had spent the previous night alone and had struggled to find a place that would serve a single person food.

This actually became a pretty decent problem in Korea where a lot of the places were cook your own food on the cooking element in the middle of the table and most places wanted you to either have two people or order a minimum of two plates of food in order to sit down.  I found that if you were alone, you generally had to avoid anything that involved a hot pot or cook your own.  This also provided some difficulties though because many of the restaurants were cook yourself type places or involved a hot pot of some sort.

Anyways, Calum was down to head into town to grab food that evening, so we chilled for a bit at the Hostel and then went for a walk to some of the suggestions of the Hostel host.  We ended up at a chicken rib place which provided a stew like mixture, which you guessed it… you cook yourself on a big pan in the middle of the table.  It was pretty good and I am glad I had someone to split it with, because it would have been way too much food for one person (it was designed for 2).  When then headed back to the hostel and I went to sleep because I wanted to get up early the next day to try and beat the crowds at the National Park.

I was on my way at 7:30am and it was not actively raining, but pretty foggy and you could tell the rain was imminent.  I was pretty much all by myself in the national park at this point and figured most people had stayed home due to the bad weather.

I began my ascent of one of the recommended trails up to Ulsanbawi Rock which was supposed to be a fantastic view at the top of some beautiful rock outcroppings.  As I ascended the trail it became pretty clear that today was not going to be a day for views and that the fog would not be lifting while I was in and around the summit.

I made my way to the top and as expected there was nothing but fog to see.  There was a fellow hiker up there who showed me pictures on his phone of what it was supposed to look like.  It was a little disappointing to say the least, but I had gotten an early start and was hoping I would be able to do another hike in the afternoon which would provide some excellent waterfalls.

I hiked back down and the fog began to lift a little bit but not substantially, which was not ideal.  I got to the bottom, ate the sandwich I had brought and got some caffeine.

After a decent rest, I headed up towards the Towangseong Falls Observatory which promised two additional waterfalls along the way.  The fog had cleared up even more and so I was hopeful I would get to see something that day.

The trail followed the river that was the creator of the multiple waterfalls and so you got to enjoy the sound of rushing water the entire time as well as views of larger rapids and nice rock formations.

I took my time getting up to the observatory taking plenty of photos and it was exciting as the fog seemed to be clearing.

When I finally finished climbing all of the stairs up to the observatory, the fog had cleared enough to see all bot the very top of the waterfall and surrounding mountains.  It was still very pretty and I was happy I did the second hike.  The pictures can hopefully speak for themselves.

By the time I got back down to the main area, I was pretty tired and so I opted to head back to the hostel for some relaxation.  That night there were a few people staying at the hostel from around Europe and so we hung out, drank some beers and played some fooseball.

They had also just arrived from the south of Korea and helped me decide on my next destination.  I was trying to decide between going to Jeonju which was the home of Bipimbop which is one of my favorite Korean dishes or Gyeongju which has a more historical significance.  I opted for Gyeongju based on their suggestions and that’s where I headed in the morning.