Sweat, Tears and Dreaming of Hell

By now, most of the leaves have fallen and I am entering my first “real” winter. This was brought to my attention yesterday with the announcement, “It might snow tonight.” For a normal person, this is probably a pretty standard statement. For me, a proud “native” and desert rat for 25+ years, I started to panic! Like any Arizona native will tell you, ANY weather is grounds for a state of emergency. A slight drizzle will send drivers into a snail’s frenzy on the freeway and I personally use it as an excuse to stay inside and watch a good flick. 

Anyways, to bring us back to my present predicament… the mention of snow seems absurd to me and sends a CHILL down my spine at the realization that it isn’t even December! I have some fantastic autumn hiking pics that must be published before the first snow falls and someone finds me frozen on the sidewalk from the long walk home…

 

A few weeks ago, I had a chance to go hiking with a Korean hiking club (translation: 30+ Koreans that like to take long bus rides on an occasional weekend to booze it up while climbing mountains). This trip was to Deaya San.

 

The hike itself had its share of ups and downs, as well as my emotions. At one point, I was following the group and before I knew it we were scrambling up the sheer side of a cliff (scrambling = using anything from my hands, feet and my assigned Korean hiking guide, “Padju Man”, to get up this rock). I made it, obviously, to tell this daring tale… but at the time a whole wave of fear and panic washed over me. “I’m going to die in Korea, here on this mountain, and my parents will have to ship my mangled body back home” was my mental dialoge, verbatim. Once I was past the crux, I couldn’t hold it back any longer and I lost it for no tangible reason. I was on solid ground, intact without even a scratch. Well, like any respectable woman, I quickly dried my eyes, “manned up” and pulled it together to enjoy my lunch and a few photo ops.

I am still not sure what prompted the sudden outburst (probably the realization that I no longer have health insurance), but I will forever remember that cliff as Crying Rock (the picture does NO justice for the scale and sheerness...plus, I didn't want to get too close to the edge).

 

At that point, all I could think about was the decent. There was no way in (warm, beautifully sweltering and snow-less) hell that I was going back DOWN the Crying Rock. Fortunately, it was a loop and we were far from being finished. After our picnic lunch, the team proceeded up the mountain. 

As we approached the very top there were ropes drapped down the rocks for assistance and I started to really enjoy this new style of hiking. It was like a giant, more periolous, jungle gym. On my way up I climbed using the rope like I was playing tug-of-war with someone at the top. On the way down, I rappelled (sort-of) like Indiana Jones! The summit was pretty incredible but weather was moving in, so we didn’t take too much time to catch our breath... but there was time for a victory pose!

The decent from that point got VERY challenging. Between the ropes and rocks covered in colorful, slippery fallen leaves, my pace slowed down substantially. Luckily, Padju Man was there by my side with his walking stick and an extended hand to help me over the tricky parts. We didn’t make it back to the bus until after sunset so it was a long day of trekking. On my way back to the bus, I decided that it was the BEST HIKE I’ve ever been on. The rope course, amazing scenery, sweat and tears made it fun, memorable and it left me with a great sense of accomplishment.

  Padju Man (right)

Now, my recap of this adventure would be incomplete if I forgot to mention the noraebus on the ride home. Norae is Korean for singing and bus is… well, you get the idea. Asians love karaoke!!! My favorite part of this segment was the mood-lighting on the bus, like an awesome discoteche on wheels we were jamming out. The one problem with the noraebus was the fact that I was exhausted and only wanted to sleep…but that was nearly impossible since the music was head-splitting loud. Good thing I usually travel with earplugs so I was able to drown it out a bit and enjoy the atmosphere.