Today, this happened…

You might notice something a bit special about this photo. That’s right, I’m not alone in it.

This is the only hiking summit photo that I have taken in the whole of Korea that has another person in it. And I just know this will become one of my favourite photos of my trip.

The person standing with me is Jae. He’s 64. He lives in Jeonju, but is spending a few days hiking in the Yeongnam Alps; a ridge of tall mountains that sit south of Gyeongju and west of Ulsan.

Today I’ve come to hike Sinbulsan. Sitting at 1159m, it’s the highest peak in this range, though that’s not the reason I am here. I have chosen to hike here slightly on a whim, after recently seeing some extraordinary photos on Facebook of the silver grasses along the ridgeline. I wasn’t too far from it (an hour or so driving) so I thought, why the heck not?

I had to do some investigation on this one though. I had been given a rough idea of where the ridge was, but then had to track down a map of the area, a nearby parking place, and some type of route. At times like this, the internet is the best thing in the world.

My original plan was to hike up to Sinbulsan peak and the across towards Yeongchuksan peak, and it was to be along this ridgeline where I was to find my special grasses. I wasn’t necessarily planning on completing the whole route, being a little longer than my little legs can generally carry me in one day (plus, you know, climbing a mountain as well to get there), but I wanted to go as far as I felt able.

I set off from Gyeongju not long after sunrise to make it to Yeongam and start hiking by 9am. I felt a little apprehensive about today, I knew it would be a fairly tough hike, but there was the added anxiety of the choice between two routes up to Sinbulsan peak. One path was marked as tough, but almost half the length of the other moderate path. I was still debating in my head over which to take by the time I reached the sign to choose.

I stood there for a bit and tried to reason which was best. In the end, the shorter distance won out. I decided that by this point I had hiked in 9 national parks in Korea, including a few peaks taller than what I was aiming for today, and figured I had climbed enough stairs and rock faces to know what I was headed for. All of which was true, but still, the difficulty of today’s hike was a real surprise and actually did kick my ass quite a bit I can tell you.   

It started off well enough, a bit of a rock path to follow, fair enough.

And then within 15 minutes became this…

Just a bit of a random boulder field with no clear directional signs or markings. Hmm. Well, that went to pot a bit quickly. I knew my first waypoint was supposed to be a waterfall of some sort, so I picked the clearest area I could find and headed upwards. But then got quickly confused in thinking I spotted an actual path on the opposite side of the rocks, and so crossed over.

I stopped again, now thoroughly confused.

And it was at this point, Jae appeared.

I hadn’t heard him approaching at all, I just turned around to look back at where I had previously been (thinking maybe I needed to re-cross, or maybe just head back to the start and take the long path) and there he was, looking just as confused as me.

He called across the divide in Korean, asking me if I spoke it. I told him a little, and then the next call I get is in English “Are you looking for the waterfall, too?”

And that’s how we met.

Without planning or meaning too, Jae and I spent the rest of the day hiking together. The key ingredients to our hiking partnership success are as follows: we were able to talk to each other between English (mostly) and Korean (a smidge), we hiked at roughly the same pace (Jae was always just 3 minutes behind me by his count), we were able to hike alone as we climbed and then socialise when we stopped for rest, and finally, Jae seemed to delight in feeding me new foods and I liked eating them.

Our hike was a constant upward climb, and I do mean constant. The whole climb was tough. It was literally nothing but a rock climb and lots of ropes. Just like me, Jae admitted he had debated his route and ended up choosing the short option, thinking less distance was better. Oh, how we laughed at ourselves for that.

I liked having Jae just a few moments behind me all the time, it was comforting in a way. I would climb and stop, making sure I could hear his poles clicking behind me somewhere down the slope. When we stopped to take in the view (and some air and water), I would ask him if he’d like to go first, but he always declined. He told me that I was obviously an experienced hiker and set a good pace for him to follow at. When I would set off, he would tell me ‘I’ll just rest for 3 minutes and be with you’. And guaranteed he was indeed always 3 minutes behind me when I reached the next rest stop.

I took this picture just after we officially introduced ourselves. “I’m Jae”, he tells me. “Kerry” I say. And he holds up his fist to me, I do the same and we bump them and smile.

Jae asked me my thoughts on his country. He told me that he had recently retired and had started hiking. ‘I never knew my country was this beautiful’, he told me. I watched him peel an apple (in the way that all Koreans seem to do) and then he insisted I eat some. I helped him with his water bottle when he couldn’t reach it. He told me that he wanted to travel more and now he was retired he could go all over the world and just spend a month at a time living in other countries. He laughed when he asked me what I did for work and I told him I work doing anything to make money to then go traveling. He thought that was a good plan.

When Jae asked me about my hiking plan today, my brain should have twigged a little when I told him Sinbulsan peak and he enquired if I was going via ‘kalbawi’. Having not looked too closely at my map recently, and bearing in mind there seem to only be one path and we were on it, I simply said yes, without doing the translation in my head. ‘Kal’ meaning knife and ‘bawi’ meaning rock.

So I was a tad shocked when I crested what seemed the last climb and then saw this…

Ah. What the name was really telling me is that we were climbing a knife-edge of rock.

There was no path. You pretty much just need to shut your eyes, put your arms out for balance, and make a dash across the crest of rocks and hope like hell you don’t tumble off either sheer side into the abyss. Which is pretty much what I did.

As always, Jae is just a few steps behind, and as I am climbing down from the knife-edge, using my hands to lower myself and hopscotching from one rock to the other, he gives me probably the best compliment I have ever had. “Kerry,” he tells me, “you are a great adventuress”.

I think I have a lot of people in my life who see me as a bit different from others, a tad off, a smidge weird, maybe a dash of crazy. I’ve certainly had people call me these things. But not once has anyone called me an adventuress, let alone a great one. And I think that will stick with me for a long time. That this person who I met by random chance for one day on a mountain in Korea would look at me and see that inside me, and think it was an incredible and positive thing.   

The rock scramble continues, but does eventually abate and merges into something a little more woodland and path like before finally being delivered to the peak.

We made it!

And as we approach the peak, Jae asks if I would like him to take a photo of me next to the summit stone. I take a deep breath and tell him that actually instead, if he doesn’t mind, I would really like it if he was in my picture with me. And that’s how we conquered Sinbulsan together.

The summit of Sinbulsan has an amazing wooden platform for resting at taking in the view, it’s the best place I have hung out on a summit. The sun is just right and keeps you from cooling too much after the climb, and there is not much wind to speak of, perfect conditions for hanging out for a while.

Jae and I sit to have lunch. Here he introduces me to two new snacks, roasted chestnuts and dried sweet potato (now my hiking go-to’s when I see them in the shops). He likes watching me try them and give my opinion on the taste. At this moment he reminds me very much of Bunny who used to do this to me all the time on the AT (and beyond). I tell him how interesting I find it that Korean hikers seem to pack so much food into their bags, pointing out a group who seems to have hot soup, rice and banchan spread out in front of them.

It’s at this point he reminds me not to eat too much right now as we have to save space for ramen! Now, Jae has been talking about this mythical ramen since about halfway up the mountain. He swears blind there is a hut where you can buy hot ramen and eat it on the mountain ridge. Which sounds pretty cool and all, but again I am having AT flashbacks where people promised they’d heard about amazing trail magic 10 miles down the path that just never seems to materialise and you always end up disappointed.

It’s also at this point that I realise my plan for the day has changed. Yeongchuksan peak is in one direction, and fabled ramen is in the other. Well, that’s just how life goes, isn’t it? I make the choice to stick with Jae for a little while longer, but also do so with the reasoning that from the leafless trees and dry grasses I have seen on the way up, that I have most likely missed the height of the season for the silver grass photos anyway.

As usual, I stand to make my way to find the hut, and Jae gives his 3 minute signal.

I begin to make my way across the ridge via a rather nice boardwalk and stairs and then get a rather nice surprise along the way….

Despite what I thought, it seems I have found some of my grasses regardless. And while not necessarily silver, they are a beautiful autumnal golden brown with light plump fluffy heads to them and sway gently to and fro in the minimal breeze.      

Also, it appears Jae has indeed come up trumps on the ramen front! Slowly plodding along the boardwalk, I can hear the sounds of people carrying on the wind from the dip in the valley below. I look carefully in the distance and low and behold, there is a building sat at a crossroads, the ramen hut!

We arrive together and head into the building to find a tiny store that sells ramen of many, many flavours, eggs, and water. Once you purchase you wares, you head into the main portion of the building where there is a homogenous hot water tank for you to use to cook your ramen.

This is awesome.

I grab the mildest ramen I can, and Jae also gets some roasted (baked) eggs of which he of course then promptly feeds me one (now another one of my staple eats), before also pulling out of his pack some kimchi bulgogi gimbap (also fed to me – spicy!). We sit at a table with two other Korean chaps and slurp down our ramen. The other men seem quite surprised and in awe to find out that I am hiking and travelling alone (normal reaction I have found).

Food done, it has come time for Jae and I to part ways.

The path down the mountain starts from here and I still have a drive back to Gyeongju to think about. Jae on the other hand tells me “I feel it’s time for a bit of a nap”, which makes me smile from ear to ear.

We fist bump one more time and agree that today has been a fantastic experience and offer each other our gratitude. I leave Jae in search of his napping location and down the road I trek.

And this, today, this will be one of my most favourite memories of South Korea.