24 October 2011

Broken

My mom and I ventured out to 오대산 (Odaesan, or Mountain of Five Plains) in Gangwon Province Sunday to kick off our autumn foliage tour that we've tentatively planned for this season. What weather reports timidly conjectured would be AM showers turned out to be full-blown wind-whipping and pouring for the better part of the morning/early afternoon, followed by an almost-continuous smattering of drops throughout the day. In spite of the prickly predicament this landed us (especially for me, the only one in the entire mountain without full-on gear worthy of the Himalayas) the views, I think, were made the better for it. Our initial ascent to 노인봉 ("No-In Bong," or Old Man Peak, although technically "no-in" is not gender-specific but I always just assume this patriarchal society attributes male characteristics to good things) was replete with witchy wonder fit for a Washington Irving tale to be made terrible by Johnny Depp, and then our long descent was punctuated by gushing waterfalls and really vivid colors, thanks to the previous hours' showers. Certainly the day would have been more enjoyable had I not sprained my ankle with about 6m left to go. Photos became a lot more sporadic afterwards.





More pictures to come. Now I'm off to the hospital to pay for not wearing hiking shoes that day. It's really no big deal, but does put a hamper on Halloween prospects. Maybe I'll be a mummy to go with my splint?

No comments:

Post a Comment