There are a few old elevation markers scattered along the G-trail.
One of my favorite parts of Mount Halla were these areas where there were as-yet-leafless birch tree forests growing in the midst of the ground cover you see above. The bright green leaves of this ground plant are trimmed in a thick whitish color. The combination of the tall, slender, white and gray birch trees with these little guys gave these areas of the mountain a surreal look and feel–as if I were standing in one of those black-and-white photos that the photographer had touched up with only one splash of color, a bright green for these ubiquitous ground plants.
Now it’s been exactly two weeks since I hiked the Gwaneumsa Trail and I’m completely back to my lazy self (Since then I attempted to play squash for the first time, only to find that there is only one racquet available at the Hyundai foreigner’s compound gym John joined. He and a few expats proceeded to get me drunk at the compound pub instead).
I want you to click on that link for the trail and pay particular attention to the opening of the trail’s description: “This trail is very popular for professional mountaineers…”
John and I read three things in the ol’ guidebook: that this was the most scenic trail, that it was one of only two that reached the summit, and that it was difficult, but doable. Five hours.
The signpost on the left should read: "Really bitchin' trail, Korean mountain people only."
John also checked with the info booth at the Jeju airport while I waited for the car rental people to copy my passport and int’l license. She concurred with the first two points, and added that it would be an 8 hour journey, round-trip (the two of them were sharp enough to realize that with the car, we would have to double back on whichever trail we chose–good for them. It didn’t even occur to me that we might want to go back down a different path than the one we would ascend).
I don’t know if you know this, but John and I are ambitious people. We are ambitious, stubborn people.
