Sorak-san, early winter

Sorak-San in winter

25.11.06

There is a story about Sokcho, a very old legend really that says after there have been three snowfalls on the mountains that the next one will fall on the sea. Don’t know if I believe it myself but it has snowed twice already on the high peaks, so we must be due for a little white stuff in town proper pretty quick.

Today started out pretty blah after spending the previous evening drinking beer and eating chicken at the local Hof after work.

Hof-Noun

A Korean drinking establishment that serves beer, soju, and snacks, usually chicken based

Anyway, after having a few with Karen, Kirsty, and Helen as we demolished a few plates of salt and pepper chicken getting up early was not that big a priority!

Finally rolled out of bed around eleven because of a phone call and try as I might could not get back to sleep so I rang up Wojtek and we decided to hike into the park and get some good pictures of the snow that has been falling on the high peaks for the better part of the last week.

After meeting him downtown we caught the number seven and headed into the park. We must have had the same idea as about a million other people because the road into the main entrance was backed up about five miles and we got the bus driver to let us out long before the entrance gate, we figured we would make better time heading in on foot

Our first views of the park were just amazing. Over the river, to our left, we could see a huge peak, one of the largest in the park, framed by two others that were almost all white down to about the thousand-meter line. You could see where the snow was clinging to rocks and trees and they shone through in their darkness against the white of the fresh powder.

In front of us where the two twin peaks that one sees just past the Buddhist gate that is the entrance to the park. The back peak, the taller one, is a shear triangle and it too was completely covered with snow, while the one in front, only a hundred meters shorter only had a light dusting.

To the far left of them is a narrow valley, really just a cleft between the ridges of the mountains, and that to was covered with a new snowfield that looked completely smooth, covering its rock strewn face with a velvety blanket of fresh, white, snow.

When we reached the entrance we decided, since the vast majority of trails were closed, to hike up to the waterfall.

This isn’t much of a hike, and to be honest, there is not much scenery to look at. The tree cover is too strong to see the mountains, and well, with the leaves all down; it just wasn’t a nice hike. When we finally reached the falls we were slightly impressed by the amount of water cascading down the lip into an emerald green pool at the bottom but it just wasn’t a great time and we headed back quickly, stopping only to grab some homemade wine and eat some potato pancakes before heading back into town.

Pictures

1. Snow on the peaks, the ones on the left are just a little shorter, yet the snow line has not reached them yet

2. The waterfall at the end of the trail

3. I took this just as I was leaving the park, right when the clouds were starting to come down for another night of snowfall

4. Almost the same picture as number three but from a little farther away

5. And one more