Leg 31: Gungchon Railbike Station to Deoksan Beach

 

After 50 kilometres the first day of this long weekend, followed by about 30 the second day, I had done one leg, plus returning from Haesindang park, so about 15 kilometres so far on this third day. And my feet hurt. This leg, 31, was only about 8 kilometres, but I was sure it was going to be somewhat painful. So I decided this would cap off the weekend and I would head back afterwards. It hadn't been the original plan, but the annoyance I had over the course the trail planners had chosen, plus the large amount of road walking, and my tired feet, all convinced me to alter the plan and head home early. Hopefully this leg would be somewhat more interesting and wouldn't leave me with a bad taste to brood on until I could next return.

From the start point, I headed up the hill... along the road. There was not much of interest for this early stretch, except that it was along the route of some kind of marathon.

After about half the distance, however, the route turned along the bank of a river. Scenery!!! Not coastal scenery, but sooooo much better than watching cars drive by.

There were newly growing crops...

And fish ladders on the river...

And a guy doing some kind of crop maintenance. It all wasn't a great deal, but it was a refreshing change from the monotonous blacktop stretching away through trees and between hills and mountains. It was a suitable way to end a somewhat frustrating set of legs. Hopefully it will improve again as I get more into the actual touristic areas of Gangwon Province.

Leg 30: Yonghwa Railbike Station to Gungchon Railbike Station

 

And here is what got me so angry. I really am all right with walking along roads when necessary, and it had seemed necessary at times in the past few legs. In order to maintain a course mostly along the coast, the road had been a lonely option, with seemingly very few trails below rocky cliffs on the shore. Perhaps it could be argued that in the absence of shoreside paths, taking the trail up into the surrounding hills would be a good option. It would have made it more interesting and probably less dangerous than walking along the side of a potentially busy road. But when the trail had the opportunity to stop in interesting places, a temple or an interesting beach or park, it had done so, and that had made the monotonous road walking bearable. But...

On the previous leg, I saw this...

And the bike trail, which has been the walking trail for many other sections, saw this...

The bike wound past Haesindang park (known as the penis park, for obvious reasons)...

And I got this. And if I hadn't been looking at the map at pretty much the time I had checked my progress, I would never have known I was passing something I wanted to see until I was long past. That had me angry. Railbike stations are important, but a very interesting cultural park and experience get a detour? That to me is a laughable trail management choice, and shows they have no particular respect for the visitor be they Korean or otherwise.

So I headed out to Haesindang Park first thing on this third day of hiking. My feet were quite sore from the previous two days. I really wasn't sure how well this day was going to go. I also had stayed in Samcheok and had a great deal of trouble finding a place to stay for a reasonable price. This trail may become somewhat more expensive as it comes into the summer tourism season. I will have to see if I can mitigate that somewhat. Otherwise I will be taking a break until fall when prices go back to sane.

Haesindang Park is a park that glorifies penises. There's a story about a maiden who was drowned in the sea after getting caught on a rock and being unable to get back to land. After that the fishing in the area became very difficult. One day a man urinated into the sea and caught some fish. The people thought that the drowned maiden liked the attention and brought the fish back and so they started putting up phalluses all over to honour her... and catch fish. It's an interesting park.

While there I saw a map with some other attractions I missed while being sent up through a fairly boring little pass on a mountain...

Then I descended back to the start point of leg 30 and headed off towards the other end of the railbike route... passing more scenery that was much better than crossing over the mountain.

I passed through the little town and saw a really nice-looking house.

Then it was up the hill to a rather nice view.

The trail wound back to the road and then down along another section of the railbike course... and a memorial to the first Korean Olympic marathon winner, who grew up in the area. (So local sports heroes are okay, but don't go to the penis park... Sigh!)

Then it was back to the beach and I got to see a bunch of people riding those railbikes. It looked kind of fun, but there were so many people... I don't think it would have been that enjoyable, really.

The final portion of this railbike section was past what looked to be new recreation area. There is a nice condo-type bunch of units being put in behind a sand dune on the edge of the water.

I think, however, they had better rethink the strategy... that or find a way to move the sand dune. I certainly wouldn't be charmed by paying whatever amount for a nice condo, and then not be able to see the sea.

Tired feet though I had, I decided to go for one more leg this day. Onward to leg 31!!

Leg 29: Hosan Bus Terminal to Yonghwa Railbike Station

Now, I have to be upfront here. I suppose under other circumstances and in other places, this would have been a fairly nice hike. It went over a little mountain through a pass, and the trees had their leaves so it could really be quite nice. But this is the leg where I really got quite angry about the trail.

From the Hosan Bus Terminal, the trail followed the road (surprise, surprise) out of town and into the mountainous areas just north. Along the way, it passed lots of new construction. (And this continues to confound me as well... everywhere in Korea seems to be building new places to live, and often for lots and lots of people, tens of thousands in many cases... I don't understand where all these people are supposed to come from. Are people supposed to be moving from other spots? What happens to the places they leave? Korea is not a very immigrant friendly country, so it's not likely people coming to Korea from elsewhere. Where are these people supposed to be coming from?)

More concrete...

Other industry of some sort...

And lots of being on the road.

There was one spot where the road bent around a curve that gave a nice view down on the coast. But that was it for coastal scenery. Now I understand that it's a very mountainous area, and they haven't probably got trails that lead along the coastline here. But this is Gangwon Province, billed as some of Korea's most scenic and beautiful terrain. So far...? I'm not impressed.

Then the trail veered off toward a mountain, and away from the coastal highway. Okay, I thought. Maybe there is something up that mountain that is worth seeing. Maybe it's more important than the coastline, which is really what the whole billing of the East Coast Trail is supposed to be about.

There was indeed greenery.

And new crops blowing in the breeze.

And more greenery.

But as I came over the pass and then back down towards the coast, I checked my map. And that's when I noticed that there were a couple of cultural parks of great interest, that showed on my map, and that were along the coastal road. These included Haesindang, a park that has a special lore in Korea. I will put some photos up from there in the post for the next leg, but I had been waiting to pass this park, as it is unique, and promised to be interesting. And instead, the trail had turned up a mountain path to bypass Haesindang Park completely. And that made me very angry. After all the hiking along highways and roads with traffic. After all the concrete plants and power generation plants, they bypass a very interesting cultural park. It boggled my mind. They don't know what they are doing. They really don't.