Korea in the Fall ~ Sobaek Mountain

My last post had a lot of writing, sorry, so to balance that out, I thought I would show a lot of pictures this time. Today was the first truly chilly day, so I'm glad I'm doing this fall post before snow is on the ground. The more we are here, the more beautiful I think Korea is... especially in the fall.

Danny and I joined my co-teacher, Mrs. Byeon, and her family as they climbed Gungmangbong mountain in the Sobaek National Forest.

It was soo beautiful with all the trees changing, and I would have to say it is the most beautiful place I've been in Korea so far.

As we hiked to the peak, we saw a lot of these stone piles which is a common site in Korea. My co-teacher said that people pile the stones to represent prayers everytime they come to a place. I think it is mostly a Buddhist thing, but I think the balancing stones are really beautiful to look at all over Korean hiking trails.

This hike let us see tons of little waterfalls and red, yellow, orange, and green leaves everywhere.

This picture definitely solidifies that fall is my favorite season in Korea.

We stopped about a kilometer from the peak to have lunch and we ate the classic "picnic food" Kimbap. This is Korea's version of the california roll, and on this hike I discovered why people eat it so much. I had it before, many times, but never "go chu" style which means "red pepper". Spicy kimbap is definitely the way to go and it really does make an awesome snack.

The whole trail was next to a stream, and Danny got this awesome picture of water flowing down a huge rock covered in fallen leaves...beautiful.

As you can see, we were really happy to finally get to the top of the mountain. Gungmangbong Peak is only 4,662 ft high, but because we start at almost sea level and Korean mountains can be pretty steep, it was a tough hike.

Korea is about 70% mountains and we really got to see that once we reached the summit.

I like this picture. Danny looks like he is at the top of the world.

It's funny that in some ways, even though I come from the best state in the US, coming to Korea has made enjoy the outdoors more. (And it makes me miss Colorado even more because they look similar.) I hope I can just have a little more time before the dreaded Korean cold winter comes in full force. Well, if this past weekend happens to be the last nice one before the winter hits, it was a great way to spend the day!