A three day weekend + three beautiful and adventurous people + two National Parks + two islands + yummy Korean food = One completely unforgettable weekend that will live on in my heart and mind until the day I die.
Having a three day weekend gave Ben, Mary, and I the opportunity to go further off the beaten track and explore not one, but two national parks. We woke up at ungodly hours, and stayed up until all hours in the night, all in the name of optimizing time to see as much and experience as much as possible in our three day weekend. So many amazing memories were made on this trip, and it will be hard to keep this short for me as my heart overflows with joy and happiness when I start thinking about this trip, but here it goes.
First Stop: 월출산 국립 공원 Wolchulsan National Park
Wolchulsan is the smallest of the national parks, and lucky for us, one of the least visited. Being spring this mountain had lush vegetation, adding to the rocky ridge, the nooks and crannies, and the beautiful views of the surrounding countryside. Add to all of this a bridge described as “vertigo inducing” connecting a jumble of jagged rocky maze-like trails.
We cut it close, briskly walking the last half of the hike to ensure we were off the mountain by dark. Having not checked the bus times from Yeongam to Mokpo(our next destination), we were flying by the seat of our pants. We hauled ass out of the park, hailed a taxi, and arrived at the bus station after the sun had set...oops. We went to the ticket booth and said, “bus to mokpo please(in Korean)”, to which the ticket man replied, “없 어”,very loosely translated as “you are shit out of luck.” So we asked if there was a bus that was not direct to Mokpo, we DON’T mind having to transfer! So finally after much discussion we got tickets to the last bus going to some place we’d have to wait for 30 minutes to catch the last bus to Mokpo...perfect!
Second Stop: 홍도 Hongdo (Red Island) - Dadohaehaesang National Park.
After the boat ride we walked around the two small villages on the island, soaking up the laid back island lifestyle.
When we descended the mountain we answered the call of our bellies and went back to our Minbak with a restaurant below for some delicious Korean cuisine. Our meal consisted of the usual plethora of side dishes, rice, kimchi, roots, many unidentified foreign foods, two whole fish complete with teeth, and nice cold Soju to wash it all down with.
After dinner we thought we’d explore the two lonely villages to see what others were doing for their evenings. We stumbled upon a club that had tons of people out front talking loudly, falling over themselves, and laughing uncontrollably. The music was loud and inviting in a very old-school way. What I mean by that is that the music was Ajumma music, Ajumma's are older Korean women that wear a lot of floral prints and grandma shoes. Mary and I were all for checking it out, I mean at the very least it would provide a good laugh! Ben took a little persuading, but eventually he agreed. We walked in and quickly realized that the music was Ajumma music because the club was full of none other than Ajumma's. Again Mary and I were all for it and Ben wanted to crawl out of his skin, but being a trooper he stuck it out with us for a few songs, won over the hearts of many Ajumma's, and I think deep down inside enjoyed himself.
The next morning we strolled to the beach and ferry dock, bought our tickets, and chilled out by the sea. Ben made friends with two very cute Korean kids on the beach and played with them, while Mary and I watched, and read.
Third Stop: 흑산도 Heuksando (Heuksan Island)
We caught a Ferry from Hongdo to Heuksando around 11am. Heuksando is larger than Hongdo, is closer to the mainland, and is more populated. We only had the afternoon to spend there so we planned to buy food upon arrival, find out how to get to the mountain and move our asses. Sangrasan was our destination of choice, we could see it as we got off the ferry so began walking towards it immediately. It definitely looked closer than it actually was, and we eventually decided to stop when we stumbled upon a municipal office building to ask how to hike this mountain in the short amount of time that was available to us.
Being a Sunday, it was no surprise to us that there were very few people inside the office building. Utilizing Ben’s Korean speaking skills we asked how we could reach a hiking trail. Our simple question for directions and advice lead to two of the office workers hopping out of their chairs, grabbing the office truck keys, and telling us to hop in. Excellent! We decided to push our luck and ask to leave our bags with them while we hiked the mountain, and not to our surprise based on their kindness thus far, they took our bags for us. Perfect!
They drove us to the top of the mountain where the hiking trail began. Told us it should take only a couple hours to complete the hike and arrive back at the office building. So with that we set off on our mountain ridge hike. Being spring the flowers were on display, and the trail was absolutely deserted. The trail was not signed well, but did have the occasional sign as the only indicator that we were in fact on a hiking trail. This mountain was obviously not regularly hiked as the vegetation was taking over the trail in many places, and where it wasn’t the trail was small that it was unrecognizable as a trail. It felt as though we were on unexplored ground, finding our own way by looking below us to decipher which blob of building-looking thing may be the office building that is holding our bags. It was almost untouched beauty that was like a dream, and one of the best hikes I have done in Korea. We finally made our way to the bottom of the mountain and to the office building to pick up our bags. 
Our intentions were to just get our bags, say a great big thank you and then march on to the ferry station. We walked in and the man who had driven us up the mountain stood up promptly and pointed to our bags that were sitting just inside the door, and then telling us to wait, walked into another room for a minute, then started walking towards us with a bag of ice cream and car keys in his hands. We accepted the ice cream with open hands, but respectfully declined the ride as they had already gone above and beyond our original simple request for directions.
Walking back to the ferry dock we couldn’t stop talking about the kindness we encountered on this trip. As a traveler it is always a welcome event to meet generous people to help along the way, but it is never expected. It is definitely never expected to come across the kind of generosity and general loveliness of the people we met on this particular trip. These meetings and experiences make for some of the best memories possible. We can not only remember the beauty and wonder of the landscape, but also that of the people we meet on our journey.
This weekend blew the lid off of my wildest expectations; the friends with whom I will always have these memories to share, the landsapes that will forever be etched in my mind, and the endless amount of kindness found in unexpected places all contributed to one of the best weekends of my life thus far.
Thank you Korea!
