Mureung Valley, June 11th

Hopefully you can stomach one more blog about me hiking in the beautiful mountains of Gangwon-do, though I'm sure it won't be the last. I put my quest to hike Noinbong on hold for awhile thinking I should see some new terrain. I got started kind of late on Sunday afternoon but struck out anyway. I took a bus 40 minutes south to Donghae where my guide book told me I could catch a bus every 10 minutes for a 20 minute ride to Mureung Valley. I waited for over 30 minutes and finally caught a bus that took almost 40 minutes. I didn't mind waiting, but it meant that I didn't start hiking until 5PM. Given the late hour, I decided to only do the 1.1km hike up to one of the temples. I might have been better off doing the 2.0km hike to the falls--it took me an hour to hike 1.1km. It was worth it, however. The steep climb provided spectacular views of the valley, and the trail wasn't very crowded. I stopped for a rest and some peaceful reflection at the temple, and it was very restful and peaceful--until a monk started cutting wood with a chainsaw, that is. I just had to laugh, then took off down the mountain. I had no problems with the buses home.