Conquering Ulsanbawi

*Note: all photos with a watermark were taken by me; the rest were taken by my friends using their phones and digital cameras.

Last summer when I visited Seoraksan, I had one goal in mind. To climb Ulsanbawi - I’d seen the peak range on a hiking blog and had got it into my head that I could climb it. Well, fortunately the universe knows better and I had to make do with an easier route that time. Because, having done it now, I can say with confidence that I would never have made it to the top back then!

This time, I also wasn’t alone. My three friends wanted to climb Seoraksan before two of them head back to the States this summer. We’d recently started doing short hikes in Daejeon together and figured this would be a good test for our fledgling “hiking club” (not so much hiking as leisurely walking and not so much club as friends unexpectedly bonded by a mutual fondness of deception and murder whilst playing Among Us). Before attempting to summit the “crying mountain”, I decided to invest in some proper hiking boots because nothing says “I’m a hiker now!” like dropping some major cash on new equipment. Just ask Cheryl Strayed.

Everything worked out perfectly - we all had some time off from school during winter break and headed up to Sokcho on the first bus out of Daejeon. I had been struggling with my vertigo recently and for the first time in years, I got a bit car sick. Luckily I found a pharmacy during the compulsory bus rest stop and at the urge of the old pharmacist behind the counter, drank a small bottle of liquid that not only cured my motion sickness but also made me feel…a little…inebriated and giddy. But who am I to question wise Korean ahjushi’s?!

So we arrived in Sokcho and made our way to the beach. Well, first we found this epic burger place (aptly named Burger Place) on the rooftop of a hostel/coffee shop - seriously one of the best burgers I’ve eaten in Korea (though that might also have been partly because of the hunger). Anyway, it’s been almost a year since I heard crashing waves and felt the cool sea breeze. I didn’t realise I actually missed it that much! As we walked along the pier, two of my friends decided to test my blood pressure limit and hop the railing so they could get on the tetrapods “for the ‘gram!”. Heart failure notwithstanding, it was a lazy, sunny afternoon and we headed to the guesthouse when the sun was setting. It’s about a 20 minute bus ride to the park entrance area where our guesthouse was and there were some restaurants and marts scattered along the main road. In summer, they were closed a lot of the time (or maybe I just caught them at the wrong time) but during our trip we definitely boosted the mini economy there with our constant caterpillar-like munchies.

Our guesthouse was great - the owners were super friendly and accommodating; the room was the perfect size for the four of us and it stayed nice and toasty whilst the winter air seeped into the other areas of the building. The first night we didn’t stay up too late or go too crazy because we had an early start. One thing I did appreciate from my trip in summer was that I got in and out before the massive crowds descended on the park. I felt that was the way to go this time too. So we headed out before even the rooster next door could manage a lethargic crow and got on the bus to the park entrance. It’s not a bad walk to the entrance (about 3km) but as we had quite a climb ahead of us, I wanted to save whatever energy I had, to push until the end.

As we entered the park, the sun pierced through the tree line on the horizon - it’s one of the most serene things I’ve ever seen. Seoraksan is just one of the places where I feel a spiritual connection with nature, especially in the early morning hours when there is little to disturb the quiet of my thoughts. Time waits for no one though, so we trekked on. In the distance, we could see Ulsanbawi. As we got closer, we stopped for a snack break. One of my friends made musubi - something the rest of us had never heard of. However, now that we’ve eaten this whilst hiking, he has been put in charge of musubi duties for all future hikes! It’s a combination of layered rice and spam, wrapped in laver. It’s the perfect source of carbs and energy when you’re faced with Ulsanbawi and you realise it’s going to to take a gargantuan effort, on your part particularly, to summit. As my other friend said, looking at it from that very snack stop, “Surely we won’t go all the way to the top, right?” To which there was a mix of replies that varied from, “Yeah, I don’t see how,” to “Of course we will!”.

So, on we walked. The two more youthful, fit counterparts bounded up the stairs, with my other friend keeping the middle ground and myself trailing behind but making steady ground. Up we went. And up. And up still. And when we (read: I) thought we had reached the top and there were no more stairs, another vertical climbed loomed ahead. It really wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Just monotonous, with the pain of being unfit shooting through my thighs every now and then. Though I am 100% more fit than I was last summer and with every step I thanked the universe for closing the hiking path with mudslides back then, because I would surely have given up before even getting started and what a waste that would have been.

This time, however, I had my friends’ encouragements the whole way and even when the thought of “Can I even do this?!” entered my mind, I pushed on for not wanting to slow them down or disappoint them. Because pride is about all I had left at that point. And that’s how we reached the top! As a team and, this past year having seen how quickly life can be upended, as four friends now dedicated to - how did Mr Keating say? Ah yes! - “sucking the marrow out of life!”. We celebrated by eating more musubi and I drank my coffee which I had lugged all the way up in a flask (no, not that kind of flask!). Note to self for the next time: the coffee might taste amazing but leave it at the bottom, it’s not worth the extra weight in your bag!

A few daring photos on the peak later, we started heading down. Just as the crowds caught up to us and we passed all the other groups of friends heading up. I can’t lie - I felt immensely relieved to hear them struggle as I did, going up. And as we passed each other we gave words of congratulations and encouragement. Hiking in Korea is quickly becoming a trend with younger people because of the pandemic and though I think the older, more experienced hikers might feel annoyed with the onslaught of Insta-famous rookies filling the routes, they’d never show it. Because reaching the peak takes the same perseverance on everyone’s part - whether you’re doing it for endorphins, likes or ramyeon and makgeolli. We met a lovely lady as we headed down, who had lived in South Carolina with her husband when he was an exchange student many moons ago. Her English was great and we exchanged chocolate as a way to say “well done”; though she had to stop half way because of her knee - something we bonded over as I sidestepped down the stairs because it felt like my own might pop at any second! But we all made it safely down and parted ways, agreeing that getting up at dawn had definitely been worth it.

In lieu of taking the cable car with hundreds of other people (perhaps not the wisest decision in a raging pandemic), we decided to head back to our guesthouse in search of food, as it was already midday. We had walked past a restaurant the day before and the lady inside had tried to usher us in but we chose ramyeon and snacks for dinner instead - not wanting to risk any unwanted digestive issues before our hike. Now that we’d completed the hike, however, we headed to that same restaurant and ate our fill on hot stone bibimbab, Korean pancakes and side dishes galore.

In the afternoon, we felt lazy and drowsy so we decided on a games night filled with convenience store snacks. We started with Rummikup (the pronunciation of which caused a debate of its own) and after a winning streak of yours truly, we moved to Phase 10, UNO and a selection of card games. It was a fantastic end to a day which will be hard to beat on future excursions. Though we’ll definitely try!

The next morning we packed up and headed to the beach to see the sunrise…can you guess where this is headed? As if I hadn’t learned my lesson during my month long trip last year, Mother Nature had to prove once again that, just because we get up at 5AM and take a taxi to the beach, it does not mean there will be a sunrise to see. So, after taking a million photos of seagulls on my friend’s über cool digital camera, we went to a coffee shop to have breakfast. I really wanted to visit BossaNova roasters again and, having finally tried their signature Spanish coffee, I’m glad we waited for them to open. Little did we know about the massive journey ahead as we boarded the bus back to Daejeon. Due to construction, and possibly weekday rush hour traffic, it took us nearly 5 hours to get home. Exhausted and scruffy, we parted ways at the bus station; each of us dreaming of a hot shower and an easy dinner. A very successful trip, I’d say!