Climb a Mountain

Alpine Flora.

Yesterday, I climbed a mountain.  This morning I awoke with dreams of a lover (not you) whom I accept, as is, and who also accepts me as I am. I think I have reached the summit.  Then next, still barely awake, I find that Iron Castle has released Seven Arrangements, darkly inspired by Notre Dame, hours before she burns. And, though I took longer than precribed to complete the climb (Yeongsil UP and Eorimok DOWN), and on my way down, I felt like I had spuriously joined some kind of pilgrimage like the ones in Peru or Hawaii or Nepal, this morning, I do not feel that way.  I sense that the up and down added to me somehow.
I am a crone.
I travel alone.
This fine morning, I feel alive with a darkly string quartet and my dreams.

there she blows. Halla lava cap

Deep set eyes
Heavy brow
Long straight nose
Thin lips
Weak chin
The face of my male forebearers
Blue in the eye
Hair flying knotted sliver and brown

We can find our best face in the mirrors and tinted car windows.
But people see us as we are.
Creased brow
Squints of curiosity
Pursed liplines

Yeongsil UP - above tree line

Satisfaction comes when you climb the mountain, alone.  There are other climbers who chatter with their companions, but the languages are foreign so it is the birds and the winds that accompany me.  I cannot see myself.  I hear my breath.  I pause as needed.  This is not a race.
Hallasan is a volcano.  When I arrived on Jeju, I thought that the first mountain I had seen, from the ferry terminal, was probably Halla.

Crater on Oreum visible
Coniferous visible.

It is a small island, how big can its main mountain be?  Yesterday, I was faced with the folly of my know-it-all style.  Halla's crown is a solid volcanic bubble, a collar, high above its skirt of meadows and then forests. I did not make it to the crater, <<the trail I chose does not go that far>> but I did get to see her cup.  I feel achievement and also, that I do not deserve her full majesty, not yet.

Stone and timber trail DOWN

So, yes, climbing Hallasan is a "must-do" for the Jeju tourist, and I would not say to avoid it. The forest is very lovely.  I attended at the end of winter, and the tree buds still were not out, but the upside there, is that the view is retained. 

The trails are challenging.  

View thru winter
deciduous forest

Yeongsil is mostly stairs (countless) and walkways, with intermittent rocky (think stream hopping) segments.  Eorimok is almost all volcanic rock trails with 8x8 timber steps locked in.  Neither is easy.

6 hours. About 17 kms. Feels like more. They said it should take me 4.

click on the pictures to get a better view

~~nem Post33 Day49/75