Day 6.065: Jongnamsan for breakfast

On Saturday morning, I set off shortly after dawn, and before breakfast to climb a mountain.  My hike started with a two mile walk through the streets to this industrial area.  The mountain is in the center.

At the far end of the street, the road up the mountain started, briefly passing through some fruit farms:

They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.  It was true for me.  I was able to read the top line of this sign "Jongnamsan" - the name of the peak I was heading for, so I followed the arrow through an open gate.

It was not the right way.

Soon, I was back on the road and starting to get some impressive views:

This may be the strangest collection of trash I've ever seen dumped - a broken office chair, two punctured drums and some perfectly serviceable Lego.

Signs of spring were everywhere:

As were glimpses of things we'd seen driving around the area.  We drove past this wind turbine yesterday.

I had water with me, but this looked quite inviting:

The views kept getting better.

And better.

Soon after the first vehicle passed me - taking the narrow, twisting and, at times alarming road up the mountain - I came to the top of the road - a small parking lot, a sign and the beginning of an even steeper climb.

And finally, I reached the summit.

And settled down to eat some breakfast and read a book.

And then it was time to head back down.

I took a small detour to the smaller peak you can see above - this is the view back to the top from there.  You can see someone climbing - if you look very carefully!

The second peak has what can only be a helicopter landing area on it.  I wondered who you would call for an airlift, but decided I was able to walk down.

I found an alternative route down from there. This is an approximation to the whole route I took.

My final adventure, along the river, was seeing this at the side of the road.  It was open and accessible, and well - how could I resist?

It was a little wobblier than I expected, but seemed safe enough.  There were some nice views from the top.

However, the view down the steeper, more overgrown and possibly even more wobbly stairs on the other side made me wonder if I'd made a mistake.

I made it down safely - and back to the hotel.  Some 11 miles or so in total.