A Cloudy Volcano

When we decided to extend our stay on Jeju Island we thought we better take a day to hike to the top of the volcano at the center. It's called Mt. Hallasan and we've heard it's just gorgeous up there. It's got a lake at the top and is supposed to just be an awesome experience. It's 10km to the top (about 6 miles) and it's approximately a mile and a half above sea level I think. Anyway after reading about it we chose one of two trails that lead to the top and started preparing. It is supposed to take about 4 1/2 hours to get to the top and you have to reach a certain point by 1pm or you can't go the rest of the way. I was quite nervous about this hike because I get really sore knees coming down the mountain when Jon and I go for 3 or 4 hour hikes sometimes... so approximately 9 hours was scary for me. We loaded up on snacks and sunscreen and water. I mentally prepared myself and we were off. This first photo is what the mountain looks like on a nearly cloudless day. It's so clear up there!

And this is what you would be able to see from the top on a day with minimal cloud cover. Isn't it beautiful?

This is what it looked like the day we hiked it. This is shortly after we got down from the top. Not so cloudless.

We saw these little signs all along the way so we could see how much farther we had to go and how difficult it would be. Yellow is easy... Red is Hard...Green is Moderate. In my opinion they got their red and green mixed up. 

It was wonderful being in the forest and in the shade of the trees. We feel like our lungs got a good cleaning out being here. It was so peaceful.

It gradually got foggier and foggier, and wetter and wetter.

Gotta love when you can refill all your water bottles from a spring shooting out of a rock.

A better view of the trail. Halfway up.

The weather was continuing to get thicker and more intense. It was quite windy, and we were both soaked at this point. Just walking through the clouds. 

This was a good feeling! Almost there!

WE MADE IT! In 3 1/2 hours! We did a good job. Behind us is the non-view of the gorgeous lake. We couldn't see 20 yards in front of us. It was hilarious. The wind was so strong that you almost couldn't take a breath sometimes. And the rain was pelting us in the face pretty hard. It was an accomplishment though. Check out the video below to see a better idea of how intense the weather was. Just an explanation does no justice.

You can't even see the photo from a few feet away, but it had the mountain's name carved into it.

This is about 40 yards from the very top. I look waterlogged, but it was fun. Turn your volume down though, the wind was pretty loud. And if you make it full screen you can actually see the fog/cloudy swirling around. 

We made it back to the bottom in about 3 hours, including stopping for some ramyeon along the way. A total of 12 miles to the top and back in 6 1/2 hours. Not bad considering I was preparing myself for 9!