Fall in Korea is like fall in New York. The temperature is similar throughout the day and the crispness in the air feels the same. As the days get shorter and the leaves start to change, it reminds me of drives upstate with George Winston’s Autumn album playing in the car. As we drove out of the city, past Albany the landscape slowly changed from an urban one to a natural one. We’d avoid taking the throughway, opting for the slightly longer, but more scenic route surrounded by the autumnal mountains. This is what fall in Korea reminds me of, surrounded by similar mountains preparing for winter, it is now time for me to put on George Winston.
Fall in Korea is the perfect time to go hiking. I wouldn’t call myself a big hiker because I hardly ever do it. I enjoy it while I’m doing it and usually think, “I should do this more often,” but I’m not usually the one to suggest or plan it. This past weekend was an exception. Last year around this time, I did a hike with my girlfriend at the time and three of my friends. This year I thought it would be a good idea to do it again, so I planned it with my friends and we did it this past weekend on Saturday. It’s called the temple to temple hike because you start the hike at one temple, hike 6.5 km (4 miles) and end at the other temple.
The names of the temples are Seonamasa and Songgwangsa. It’s up to you on which one you want to start with, but because last year we started with Seonamasa, we started with the same one this year, plus Seonggwangsa is the more beautiful of the two. It’s a more rewarding finish. Halfway in the hike at the trails unofficial midway point is the best part, the one and only spot to stop for lunch. Run out of a shack with the typical Korean 평상 (it’s like a big table close to the ground that you eat and sit on) to eat on. They serve the best 파전 (Korean pancake) and 보리밥 (rice with vegetables). If this was in the U.S the prices would be astronomically high, but they weren’t any different than what you’d expect to pay. It came out to $7.50 a person.
The hike was a lot more strenuous than either Tom (my friend I did it last year with) or I remembered. For some reason, we thought of it has a relatively flat that was mostly downhill. It was not. It was more like 50% uphill and downhill with the uphills being pretty steep. The hardest part was actually figuring out where to go and which path to take, our friends constantly asked us if we were sure, like we were supposed to remember a trail from a year ago. There were signs, but they were hard to read and it was hard to know which direction they were pointing. By the end, all of our legs felt rubbery and the last temple was a welcome relief. Even better was the hour-plus bus ride back to the city where we started.
