Hiking Mount Bukansan

The mountains that surround the city. I have stared at these from the city for three months and finally made it Saturday. We left around 8:30 am . My coworkers Meghan, Daryl, Craig, and me.THE TIPPY TOP: I saw a lot of rock climbers dangling from the side. Got a little itch to try it out now.
Autumn in Seoul.

THE FIRST FEW STEPS: It was pretty crowded on the mountain and at times people were crawling over each other. Really, actually, heels in your stomach, "speed! speed!", walking sticks jabbing your feet, crawling over each other. But honestly, that is a typical day anywhere in Seoul, at least getting knocked to my back in the woods promises a nice view.
OUT OF SHAPE: A very quick break. 30 minutes into the hike we sat down...and watched about 30 elderly men and women run past us at lightening speed. When I saw the woman with a toddler strapped to her back, I put my water away, got up, and carried on. We didn't take many breaks after that.
THE TOP IS WHEREVER YOU WANT IT TO BE: By this point it was raining pretty hard. An old man, upset seeing me soaked to the bone, offered me his raincoat. Meghan and I opted out of the last 100 feet of the hike because it was nearly straight up using rope on very slick rock. But the boys were intent -- to them the top was the entire point of going. As we waited on more sturdy ground, a man mentioned to us that this was a dangerous stretch, but if we got over this part, the top was only an hour away. Ugggggggggggh. When the boys returned walking proud, we patted them on the back, said good job, and never said a word.
5 HOURS LATER: Craig likes to thumbs up everything. Not sure if he was exhausted from the hike or what, but he's not looking at the camera. I wore that hat the entire way home because it rained the last 2 hours and however goofy I looked with the hat, the hair was worse.

By the way. It's Sunday now, a day after the hike, and I can barely walk down the stairs. My knees ache and my calves have turned to stone. I do have to say, though, that I was in heaven. I couldn't feel my hands, and my muscles were quivering...but I was finally on a mountain. I haven't seen a tree in a very long time. Rain and all, it was a beautiful day.