Mt. Sorak

 

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Before getting to Mt. Sorak we made a stop at a place that had a bunch of weird totem pole like carvings. Here is a neat blue one.
Here is another shot of some of the totem poles.
Here is a shot of one of the rocky mountains in the area from the bus. The bus driver had told us to look for a "golden fog" along the hillsides. I thought I could see a frog shape here-- but he continued to tell us to look as we drove along the mountain side. So, I am not sure if I was seeing what he wanted me to see or if I was seeing my own frog.
In this rock formation, the driver told us to look for faces. There are a lot there and I saw those before he even pointed them out. But then I see faces and animals in plaster walls too.

The area we first went to was a big long trail that followed a stream called Yongsopok Falls. This is near the beginning of the trail.
Here are some more trees near the beginning of the trail.
Another nice shot of some trees.
Here is part of the stream that we were following. In this area there were two big tree filled hillsides with the trail and stream running down the middle in a small rocky valley-like area.

Here are some smooth rocks surrounded by trees.
My friend and teaching partner Patricia sitting on one of the large rocks.
A pretty view of the trail leading downward below. I like how the tree branch frames this picture.
Here is another slightly different version of the previous picture. If you look in the bottom left corner of these two pictures you can see the twisted metal remains of a bridge that used to be part of the trail. I'm guessing they had a bad flood here. We saw lots of twisted metal bridges wrapped around big rocks on this trail. You'd think they would remove them so that they don't mar the landscape so much.

Patricia sitting on another rock with the stream running behind her.
Here I am standing on the same rock.
Here is a small spot where the water is running down over some rocks.
A view of the rocky valley trail surrounded by trees.

Here is a small waterfall on the trail.
The trail was actually quite difficult and had lots of steep parts like this with hardly anything to hold on to. Patricia is climbing down in this picture.
Another shot of some rocks and trees with the creek running through.
Large rocks sitting in water.

In place of the metal bridges they put up these log bridges. They were very narrow and were just 3 small trees tied together. It was hard walking across them. They were not high up, about 3-4 feet above the rocks, but I still did not want to fall off. It was even harder because some people were walking in the opposite direction on the same log bridges.
Here is a fallen tree along the trail.
I like this rock formation. When I came home and looked at my pictures again, I thought it looked like Clayface from Batman the Animated Series! :D
Here is a nice silhouette of some trees.

Rocky hills covered with trees.
Here is a nice shot of some young trees growing near rocks.
Some larger trees growing around big jagged rocks.
Two big rocks.

A pile of big round rocks and dirt.
Here are some people walking by some large boulders. The trail was VERY crowded. There were hundreds of people there all walking down in a big long line. It was amazing how many pictures I was able to take without any people in them.
Another neat rock formation.
Here's a really bad picture of me stacking a rock on a small rock pile. You're supposed to stack one and make a wish without knocking it over this is not always easy. I picked a pile that didn't look too hard to stack on. :)

Here is Patricia adding her rock to the pile.
Another nice tree silhouette.
A picture of the rocky cliffs rising out of the trail area and some of the surrounding mountains in the background.
A flat area of the stream.

This picture is pretty boring, but I liked the sunbeams on the left side.
After we finished the trail, the bus took us to the shore of the Sea of Japan, or as they like to call it in Korea The East Sea.
I was surprised so many people were on the beach and in the water. It was October, so it wasn't THAT warm. It was maybe 65-70 degrees.
Here are some boats on the beach. The drivers of the boats were giving rides. Part of the ride was to run the boat right out of the water and crash it up on the beach. I watched a few of them do that. It looked like a good way to tear up the bottom of your boat.

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