Backdate: Korea Jeju Jun 2019 Day 3

19/6/19 Weds: We woke up at 7am, ate some sweet buns we bought from 7-11 yesterday night and drove out to한라산 (Hallasan). I did my research, and read that there were five trails to climb, but only two could bring us to the summit, which was the 9.6km 성판악 탐방로 (Seongpanak trail) and the 8.7km 관음사 탐방로 (Gwaneumsa trail). 
You can get the best of both worlds by climbing up one and coming down the other (read that the latter was even more physically challenging though shorter~), but as we drove, it was better to come down from the same Seongpanak trail as the two carparks were at different ends of the foot of Hallasan. 

About 8.30am by the time we reached Seongpanak's carpark, but apparently parking was full! We had to park by the roadside and walk to the entrance. Here at 8.50am, we began the "up-till-now-the-climb-of-our-life" 9 hours' hike up Hallasan... ... 
The start of the 9.6km trail up (one-way) was all green and "light-hearted" as we were in the shades of the forested area. *Funny thing was seeing a few other hikers already "coming back" in our direction at this hour~ it's either they gave up or they were so fit they ran up the mountain and came back down real fast!* 

It was pretty quiet and rather cooling in the morning too. Enjoyed our forest-bathing moments on some of the paths that were paved, while some others were filled with different sizes and uneven rocks. We started from about ASL 900m as Potato saw that landmark somewhere at the start of the trail, and yup the summit was at 1950m. We even had time to pose for photos, but "happiness was short-lived" LOL...

Man-made paths and stairs were pretty well-maintained and they did help us a little (but still we had to CLIMB them~) as compared to the many stoney, rocky-filled steps that came especially we finished 4.1km as we reached the Sokbat public toilet area. It took us 1hour and 45minutes to get here, and you see Potato pointing to that on the signboard... yes we only finished 4.1km of "easy route"~ *On the brighter side, we were very thankful for good weather on that day.* 
Oh right, hiking up Hallasan in June meant that we had to get to the Jindallaebat (somewhere at the 2/3 point of the trail) by 1pm to be allowed to continue the hike up to the top. When I was doing my research, there were mentions of food sold here somewhere, so I thought I could get my hands on a warm cup of kimchi-flavoured ramyeon etc... to my horror, there were no shops around at all! *Lucky Potato told us to bring a bit of food and I brought my hallabong drink along, those saved us a little~*

From then on, we tried to hurry a little because we don't know how long more it would take us before we got to Jindallaebat. I call this entire journey "Part A", which was supposedly the not so difficult part of the whole trail already omg~ While climbing, I sipped on my tiny bottle of hallabong drink now and then (hoping it never finishes but alas~) to save my "low glucose level" haha. We saw more and more hikers now as compared to earlier as the weather began to warm up. There were a mix of tourists and locals it seemed, and even families came here together. *Saw one or two that wore bloody slippers or sandals sia! Bet they got to kiss it goodbye soon.* 

Well, people of all shapes and sizes wanted to come see the beauty of Hallasan I guess. I was pretty well-geared up wearing a rather new pair of North Face biking boots, but was not spared from pain in the ankle, especially the left leg after I complete the whole journey even. At least, it protected my toes from the impact of knocking on countless rocks while climbing and hiking. Potato only "relied" on his pair of Nike sneakers I bought for him in Tokyo, but this is a HIKE after all, so I guess that did not have enough support for his legs, despite his good core balancing and fitness level. *Oh, we saw wild deers a few times too, onc eating leaves from a tree and another one just standing right on the path as we tracked down. Not wild boars though.*
We reached Jindallaebat after 3 hours in total, and hence we've got some time to rest before continuing onto the last 2.3km of the trail. It was hot and windy at about noon time, but the sky was pretty. There were quite a few tour groups around, and some hikers having their lunch at the area. We rested for a bit, and it was onwards to the supposedly most "blood-sucking" part of the trail~ the climb to the summit!

You could see how pale I was here haha. I stopped even more during this part of the journey as it was simply tiring for me. The sun got merciless too. Though it's said that the temperature was only 24 degrees Celcius, we could feel our skin burn a little. Potato saw that I was so drained, he offered to help me carry my bagpack. I rejected him a few times, but still passed it to him to carry it to the top at the last "torturous" part. *That's when I regretted a bit as my left shoulder and upper back was sun-kissed later, and it left a mark which accompanied me to my wedding photoshoot a few days later lol.*
There's this one point where it was filled with dead brunches and trunks of trees, which reminded me somewhat of "Jurassic Park" lol~ 

总得苦中作乐啊~ from the last photo above, we couldn't really tell how long more we had to climb to reach the summit honestly, it felt like forever for me. The 1hour and 45minutes hike up the last 1/3 section was not only physically challenging (my legs and ankles were already very tired from the previous 2/3 of the trail covered), but mentally challenging too. It was especially so when you lift your head up to see and the summit still looked like WHAT!? Miles away. *什么叫“无尽的尽头”？不只是望向大海才会这么想到而已哦。*

It was tempting to give up, but the thought of having to walk back the same way down just makes me wonder why should I come up if not all the way? I don't want our efforts down the drain, especially with Potato who was encouraging and with me all the way. And so, as I stopped and climbed up slowly, we eventually got to the peak of白鹿潭at 1.45pm. *The amount of hikers up there was crazy~* 

白鹿潭was supposedly a lake-filled crater, but eh nothing impressive seriously. *Do my readers feel the "anti-climax" now!? Lol.* I am very impressed by PotaTOHs though. We actually conquered Hallasan together. 一步一脚印攀上的每100米，想起来就觉得很有成就感呢。As I sat on one side of the steps and enjoyed the breeze, the thought of having to hike all the way back down made me a little sian lol~ *We saw a helipad there and how one wish there's a helicopter to bring you down to the foot now haha!*

Everyone had to descend by 2.30pm the latest, and we left at 2.05pm. Saw a Korean young boy who had leg cramps as he and his friend climbed up, so some angmoh lent them a muscle relaxant spray. *I felt like lactic acid has built up to my thighs already too~* It was time for us to literally "traced back" our trails down the same way we came up. It was another long 4 hours back and by then, even Potato admitted he felt weak in his legs too. The 19.2km route was an arduous one, and walking down and balancing on the rocks were tougher than when you stepped on them up.

It was 6.05pm when we finally saw the starting point! *Had to hug ourselves and give each other a pat on the shoulders man!* Potato bought an Isotonic drink from the vending machine for us to replenish the lost ions after the hike~

Truth be told, we drove to a famous Black pork BBQ restaurant at first but it was unfortunately packed with a while group of Koreans that looked like some TV crew, and the famished stomach of ours decided we should not wait further. Since Potato craved for this free flow炒猪肉nearby our Airbnb, we ordered two portions of stir-fried black pork and 2 bottles of Cass beer (39K KRW) to慰劳ourselves after a tedious hike! Cass beer tasted pretty good~ The waiter who served us was from China and he shared with us a little about his life there, and how stingy his Korean couple boss were etc.