DAY 4 OF 5-DAY stay in Tongyeong
No solid plans today, but wanted to give driving a break. I had a decent breaky at the hostel; some mornings they have coffee in the peculator, and there’s always toast and cereal. I thought I’d hike north and see what happened!
I took a regular bus down to Dara Park (다라공원) as this was the trail head for Mangsan (망산). As I got off the bus at the park, I heard someone calling my name; a car had pulled up and my old colleague from years ago pulled up! We had a quick chat and exchanged numbers then went on our ways. Wow! I took a quick look at the park (small but nice, with views) then started my hike.
It was a wooded trail and didn’t get too high. There were perhaps one or two view points and it was mostly flat ridge. I decided to speed march it.
I was heading to a place called Sanyang-eup where I though i might have lunch and check out a short hike nearby. I had jujube tea and explored the lovely village a little before my next hike.
The next trail started west out of the village and I thought it’d be short and easy; sort, yes, easy, no! The trail had old signs and seemed little used, and when I finally got to some rock, there were immediately ropes. I went up and found some kind of village shrine for a nearby harbour. The access point was a little tricky to get to, but okay so far.
The problem was I couldn’t find a trail to keep going on; I was heading for Pig Rock (돼지바위) and had to get down from the shrine area and double back a bit. As I left I noticed another rope going straight up a sheer part of the rock I’d just been on. Was that the way ahead? Nope, not for me! I followed a trail l into the forest and found more rock, and the trail went up to rockier and rockier part. There were no signs here so it was a lot of guess work and there were a few sketchy moments when I thought I’d have to go back (worrying moments when I’m hiking alone!) but didn’t take too many risks. The most dangerous parts for me was heading down through the forest again; the trail was covered in dead pine needles and old, dry leaves and was quite slippery!
Finally, off the mountain and after a short walk to the bus stop, I headed back towards ‘home’. Wow, an unexpected easy stroll followed by an unexpectedly tricky hike! But pretty cool in the end.
Places I visited on this trip. Click the ‘door’ icon on the left to see a list: