A beautiful February hike

Jason, myself, and 2 friends got up extra early this past Saturday to hike the newly reopened Donnaeko trail on Mt. Halla. I did a little research before hand and, so, was expecting a 3.5km hike, maybe 1 1/2-2 hours. We found the trailhead easily - which was actually my biggest concern - but were surprised at the first visitor signs telling us that it was 7km up to the "South Fork Wall", another 2.1km to Witseoreum, where we had expected to go, then 2 or 3 km down the other side of the mountain on the Yeongsil or Eurimok trails. Well, having packed the normal 'Jason sandwiches', plenty of fresh fruit, snacks, chocolate, and hot coffee, we started up our trek and decided just to go to the South Fork Wall, then come back the same way. Jason & I have really good luck with climbing Mt. Halla, the weather always cooperates with warmth and sunshine and this time was no exception. With a rainy week behind us and another one in front of us we were a little worried about a wet day. Gray clouds and ever piling snow accompanied us up the quiet mountain. But just as we rounded a corner to view our final destination, the clouds parted to clear blue sky, a shining sun and the back side of Baeknokdam crater, the top of Mt. Halla. We all froze in wonder at this sight, then promptly kept walking as we had just ascended past the tree line and the wind had picked up, blowing snow and freezing temperatures into our faces. We briefly stopped for lunch, then headed back down the way we came. The sun stayed out well into our descent, melting the tiny icicle lined branches along the snow-packed trail. The other wonder of our trek: the trail was empty! We couldn't have seen more than 30 people the whole 7 hours of our hike which is a rarity in Korea. This weekend is a long weekend celebrating Lunar New Year, the real New Year celebration in Korea. Most people travel to be with their families so I guess that worked in our favor. Also, Donnaeko has only been reopened for about 2 months having been shut down for 15 years due to extensive damage to the trail and surrounding area. Unfortunately, my camera battery died 5 minutes into the hike, but Jason took plenty of shots and I'll post them next week. Happy Lunar New Year! Stay tuned for the 2010 Daeboerum Fire Festival in a few weeks...