How we made it to the top

We went hiking at Suraksan this weekend (not to be confused with Seoraksan, which we did on Halloween, and is supposedly a 3 hour bus ride away from Seoul). I think it's one of my favorite hikes. It felt like it lasted forever and the peak always just out of reach, so once we hit the summit (at least one of them) we felt like we'd really accomplished something.
This hike was a combination of stairs (I really hate stairs), boulders, and trail. There was a pretty big group of us -- ESPN, her hubby, SOawesomelastname, E=mc2, SOawesomelastname's friend, and the Pirate (honestly, it's getting pretty annoying to give people 'awesome'/fake gangsta names on my blog. I forget who I've previously named what. And SOawesomelastname is NOT gonna last... I'm tired of spelling it 3 times already.) There were enough people there that whether you were ahead or behind, there was someone there to keep you company. So it was a nice hike up and down.
At one point, however, I decided to try leave the path and climb up the side of a mountain. It looked easy enough. There was a Korean in front of me who realized I was following him and when I started to wonder if I'd made a mistake, he said "Ne" (yes) and motioned me forward.
Let's pause. In the U.S. I probably wouldn't have followed some stranger up a mountain. Although, these people are here to hike. They're serious hikers, climbers, etc, which doesn't mean they can't also be axe murders but I'm just saying. But also, this is Korea and I felt pretty safe (with him, not nec on the mountain) and I usually trust my instincts and I didn't feel like I was taking an unnecessary risk. That's not until later.

So, my adopted guide pointed out where I should step and what I should hold onto and even held my hand to help me across a slab of rock. Suddenly we were on a hill and he wanted me to climb around a smallish overhang on a hill. What this meant was that, I was holding onto the bottom of a flat rock (meaning I was holding onto pretty much nothing), walking on a hill, leaning back and edging my way around.

I looked at it and looked at him. I thought he must be kidding. He encouraged me forward. I looked at it again and knew that one misstep would have me falling off that rock. This was not the sort of thing where I could slide down and stop myself. Because I'd be leaning back, that would be it. My heart raced. It wasn't that I saw my life flash, it was that I could almost taste myself falling. And yet. And yet. I knew that if I did it, it would be something I would always know that I had done.

The entire time, I kept saying "Aniyo, aniyo" (no) and he kept saying "Ne, ne, yes." My backpack weighed me back, which added to my terror of slipping and falling back, so once we were almost all the way around, he grabbed my bag, lifting up, taking some of the weight.

Oh, god, I finally made it. I was a little light-headed and some Koreans clapped, but I made it. My adopted guide was so nice, I can't believe he was so encouraging and helpful. I said "Kamsamneedah" over and over again, trying to express my eternal thanks.

After my adrenaline fix, I waited for the rest of my group to meet me on the path and we continued our climb. I always think it's more about the climb than the destination, but this time, the destination was such an accomplishment; we did it!

Where the arrow is pointing is (or is similar) to the scary overhang.

P.S. The guy who took the first picture told us to make fists because we had made it up. He was so right. What a great shot! He also pointed to my shoes and made approving sounds but looked at SOa and his friend's shoes and shook his head. "Aniyo," he said disapprovingly. My shoes got the nod of approval; I'm now an honorary Korean hiker!