Jeju is relatively flat for the most part. There are a few beautiful mountains poking up here and there, but other than that it is basically flat. Other then the heat and the sun, we sort of envied the dozens of groups of people we saw who were riding their bikes around the island. We even met one guy who was walking around the coast. Halla Mountain (Halla-san in Korean), however, is the largest mountain in South Korea and is located in the center of the island, as it is the reason for the island being there in the first place. The mountain takes up about one third of the island and is 1,950 m tall. For english testing at Jeremy's school the kids had to write essay, which I helped mark. One of the questions was about the place they found most memorable and I got to read many essays about Jeju island, specifically Halla Mountain. They said that they were so proud of themselves for climbing it and that it was what they would recommend to anyone (Jeremy) who was to visit South Korea. So, mostly because of their recommendation, I was very excited to climb it (although I must confess I was also nervous as I am not overly confident in my mountain climbing abilities). But we did it! It took us almost exactly 8 hours and was totally awesome! We were both sore for days afterwards. Funny that your muscles rebel when you climb a mountain after sitting on your butt for a few months straight. We took Seongpanak Trail up, which is 9.6km, and then took Donnaeko Trail down, which is 9.1km. The trail down was much more difficult then the one up, but to make up for its steepness and sketchy paths it was far more beautiful. We were so glad that we decided to see more of the mountain by going down a different route. It was super cloudy when we got to the top, so we didn't get to see the crater lake or appreciate the size of the volcano. In fact, it was so cloudy up on Halla-san that even from the island down below we only saw the top of the mountain 2 times. On the way down the mountain the clouds parted for a short time and the sky and sun was beautiful, we felt so lucky to have the cloud break just as we reached the best views of the hike.
When we were almost at the bottom Jeremy was pooped and grumpy, but I kept thinking “I wonder if we have time to climb it again before we leave?” My muscles would not have approved of such an attempt, but those thoughts show how much I enjoyed the hike.
