Seoraksan
I am glad I got the chance to head to my favorite area of Korea again. Last year it was simply impossible due to my location. It would have taken forever. As it is, even with a car instead of having to take a bus, it's a minimum 7 hour drive. Perhaps you could make it under 7 hours if there were no traffic, but you pretty much have to head up toward Seoul and get on highway 50 heading east, and the traffic on that road is nerve-wracking and very heavy.
Either way, it was a great drive with a good traveling friend, Andy. It's sometimes difficult to find people that don't mind going out at getting lost (I knew where we're going, but without a gps in the car, it can be a bit of an adventure sometimes). Some people can't stand traveling without following a strict itinerary. I don't mind scheduling things, but I am not going to make the schedule so tight that you're rushing to get to the next thing.
Passing through Pyeongchang, where the next winter Olympics will be was pretty cool. The area is extremely rural and very beautiful. I still don't know if their mountains are high enough to hold Olympic type skiing, but evidently they must be. It is the Taebaek mountain chain, which is pretty much the biggest collective chain in South Korea and it goes all the way up into the Hermit Kingdom.
Sokcho was awesome as always, and I actually got to walk and explore the city. Whenever I'd been there before, it was for short day trips and I spent all the time in the Seoraksan National Park. The park is my choice for best locations in Korea. It's huge, and would actually like to see more of it. Even with the time there this trip, and due to the weather, I didn't see as much of it as I'd hoped. Perhaps I can make a winter trip of it, but I don't have that much cold weather gear and I bet it will be cold up there.
Rather than rambling, I'll just post a ton of pics from the trip. I still need to process a lot of videos. That just takes time...and I am lazy.
Either way, it was a great drive with a good traveling friend, Andy. It's sometimes difficult to find people that don't mind going out at getting lost (I knew where we're going, but without a gps in the car, it can be a bit of an adventure sometimes). Some people can't stand traveling without following a strict itinerary. I don't mind scheduling things, but I am not going to make the schedule so tight that you're rushing to get to the next thing.
Passing through Pyeongchang, where the next winter Olympics will be was pretty cool. The area is extremely rural and very beautiful. I still don't know if their mountains are high enough to hold Olympic type skiing, but evidently they must be. It is the Taebaek mountain chain, which is pretty much the biggest collective chain in South Korea and it goes all the way up into the Hermit Kingdom.
Sokcho was awesome as always, and I actually got to walk and explore the city. Whenever I'd been there before, it was for short day trips and I spent all the time in the Seoraksan National Park. The park is my choice for best locations in Korea. It's huge, and would actually like to see more of it. Even with the time there this trip, and due to the weather, I didn't see as much of it as I'd hoped. Perhaps I can make a winter trip of it, but I don't have that much cold weather gear and I bet it will be cold up there.
Rather than rambling, I'll just post a ton of pics from the trip. I still need to process a lot of videos. That just takes time...and I am lazy.
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