Pohang: Naeyeonsan

Another city, another mountain. Every place in Korea has got their own. This one sounded particularly interesting to me though because of the 12 waterfalls it boasts. In order to get to the beginning of the trail, we first had to walk through a tourist village of sorts full of restaurants, little stores, and minbaks, then pay for admittance to Bogyeongsa temple, then pass that for the hiking trail. This hiking trail was much more like the ones I've gotten used to, fairly easy, an actual trail, and not at all like the trek up Pisulsan a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I only got to see the first two waterfalls as we had brought along the three year old, and the sky was threatening rain any minute. I really hope I'm able to go back and complete the circuit!

the first waterfall, sangsaeng pokpo

Bogyeonsa

One example of the fantastic roses blooming everywhere.

Pisul-san

I signed up for a hiking trip to Mount Pisul so that I could view the thousands of azaleas in bloom at the top. The path goes through a forest all the way up, but at the top there are no trees, only azalea bushes, and a dizzying view of the surrounding country! The mountains we've been on in Korea all have nice trails to the top, so little did I know that this was no kidding hiking! Climbing over rocks, holding on to ropes (thank God for the ropes!), crawling on my bum a bit on the steep incline down. We even had to cross a mountain stream once. Fortunately, the weather was perfect for hiking, cloudy and breezy, and the recent rain has made everything so vibrantly green, so it was quite beautiful.

part of the trail

And what would a Korean mountain be without a temple and some rock piles...

The flowers go all the way up, and so did we! They are hard to see in the pictures though.