South Korean hiking

A beautiful mountain flower.

No matter how easy or strenuous the hike, most Koreans prefer to gear up in style. It's definitely a THING here. Take note of the hiking shoes, pants, Goretex shirts, backpacks, walking sticks, gloves, hats, and probably more items that are unseen in this photo. Many Westerners feel quite plain next to these folks. Still, Nike shorts and cotton shirts have always served me well in these environments.

Beomeosa Temple.

This picture was from our Sept. 13th hike. On this mountain, we had the opportunity to see the historical temple of Beomeosa and embark upon an incredibly lovely, strenuous hike. 

Unless you live right next to a mountain, the first step to accessing any hiking trail in Busan is to take the public transportation. This is quite the contrast from any hiking I've done in the states. I've hiked trails in both the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains, and each trail head was several miles away from the fast-paced urban scenes. 

Pepper and I loved the diminishing focal point of this scene. This covered path led to our third hiking excursion (This was our second actual mountain experience, as we'd enjoyed our first hike enough to take it twice in the same month).

Why this picture, you ask? Look carefully and you'll notice that this street ascends toward a large wall of greenery. During our first hike, we huffed up this road, turned right, and found the trail head. From this point on, the journey was incredibly steep, yet rewarding.

I captured this shot during our very first hike. I named this bench "the flintstone workout bench" because, let's face it, if Fred Flintstone had been a buff guy, this is the equipment he'd use. Pepper lifted it. I did not. Actually, you won't see many people lifting heavy weights like this in SK; from my observation, Koreans don't seem to be into the macho thing like North Americans. In fact, some men (not ALL, but many) are critical of their weight and prefer to stay as slim as possible. Imagine that, ladies! This cultural desire differs greatly from our Magic Mike-aspirations.

The great thing about this hike (hike number one) is that it's located on a mountain that's behind the city district we live in. For our maiden voyage, we sped up the process by taking a city bus for about a mile, then hopped off, walked a short way, then found a trail head. The second time, we were more confident about the trail head's location, so we simply walked from our apartment.

I watched as this family bowed to the traditional statues of "Buddha." Taking this picture felt incredibly risky because I feared I was acting as rude, irreverent foreigner. Though I can't relate to their beliefs, I do want to respect their cultural traditions and customs. The glass table to their left encases white, lit candles; their significance unbeknownst to Pepper and myself. We could only observe with interest.

Another view that made us glad we left the comfort of our apartment.

Welcome to the steepest hike we've ever had. No lazies, wimpies, or slowskys allowed. The staircase ended at a lookout, but connecting earthen trails led to higher, more woodsy sights. So pretty, and such a great getaway from the busy city.

Pepp, standing over a stream at Beomeosa.

Temple time.

We found stray cats by the temple, identical except for size. Mother and daughter, perhaps? The mother was overly cautious, but we think the kitten wanted to play.

Hiking signs.....though these aren't incredibly helpful for foreigners who have limited Korean-speaking skills ;)

Just goofing off before the hiking journey began. p.s nature fun fact: can you see the green moss in the left-hand side? Moss grows on the north (or in Korean, BUK) side of trees. Therefore, which direction am I facing in this pic? ;)