We took another "limousine" bus from Yangju to another airport outside of Seoul, Gimpo, for our 3-day excursion to the volcanic island of Jeju-do. Jeju-do (island) is located to the southwest of the South Korean peninsula situated along the Korea Strait (sea passage between Korea and Japan in the Pacific Ocean).Our on board entertainment during the flight was a group of what we presumed were a bunch of students on a school trip. They cheered during the lift-off and landing! And of course, chuckled as they walked by me saying "hi".
Our plane landed in Jeju, the capital of this only autonomous province of South Korea. We promptly deplaned, picked up some brochures, and grabbed our rental car to set out on our journey for the day. Scottie was brave enough to get an international license so we can do our own touring instead of going with a "driver" or crowds of other tourists on an organized tour. It turned out to be a good decision. We didn't end up covering as much of the island as wanted to; however, most people kept telling us it was small and we could do it in a few days. We probably needed the week like in Maui or Kauai. Oh well.
With that, we didn't waste any time as we headed straight for Mt. Halla (Hallasan) in the center of the island. Mt. Halla (Hallasan), a shield volcano, rises 1950m or close to 6400ft above sea level.We decided to take it easy to start with a short hike up the Eoseungsaengak Trail. At the visitors centers, we read a sign gave a little more background on the volcano. From the layering and formation of its rock, Mt. Halla (Hallasan) reveals several dozen periods volcanic activity (from as far back as 10 million years ago). It is generally considered an extinct volcano with the last eruption in 1007 It was listed as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site in 2007.
This trail up the scoria oreum will land us 1,169 meters above sea level. Oreum refers to a tiny volcanic zone that contains a volcanic cone. They say the Eoseungsaengak Trail should take 30 minutes to hike to the peak, 1.3km from the visitor's center, but it took us about 45-minute round trip!
Most of the trees were bare giving us some great views of Mt. Halla (Hallasan); however, the lush vegetation was widespread along the floor of the mountain. About 15 minutes into the hike, we found our first stop for a scenic view (and a breather as the first 10 minutes of the hike were steps straight up).Eoseunsaengak is what's called a scoria cone, which formed during a volcanic eruption when spurting scoria from the vent piled up around it, forming a small volcanic edifice. As magma rises from deep underground (where pressure is high) to the surface, the gas components in the magma rapidly expand and erupt, causing fragments of magma to spurt skyward. These fragments (scoria) are often tinged red and reddish black). Thanks Jeju signage!
At the peak, we had quite the view of Jeju, some of the surrounding islands, and inward to more volcanic mountains. I broke out our honker of a camera lens to get some up close views of the city and volcano. We couldn't tell if that was snow or just the color of the vegetation. We found out later.
Again, we continued not to waste our precious daylight in
Jeju by driving to the beginning of
Olle Trek 10 near Hwasungumorea Beach. "Olle" [Ole] is the Jeju word for a narrow pathway that is connected from the street to the front gate of a house. The olle treks, or walking paths, were made from the hidden, forgotten routes of Jeju Island, which cars often cannot access. The routes go through forests, mountains, beaches, and remote places and offer unrivalled views over Jeju’s unique, dramatic, volcanic landscape."Blue arrows are the route signs for Jeju
Olle trails. We found the blue arrows on the stone walls of local villages, rocks near the seaside and on the road, and sometimes even knotted around trees.
Olle route 10 is a coastal trail, which is why we picked it! We started at Hwansun Beach passing some of the basalt rocks along the shore and looking ahead towards the Sangbang Mountain.
We climbed up these stairs to the smoke mount, which delivered messages as quickly as possible around the island to warn of enemy invasions and emergencies. We later hiked back around the cliffs at the end/far right of this photo, the Yongmeori Tuff Ring. From atop this mount, we had a nice view of the course ahead of us along the Yongmeori coast.
To the left of the above photo, we saw a gigantic replica of a ship. In 1653, the Netherlands ship, De Sperwer, was lost in a storm and landed on this coast with Hendrick Hamel and his shipmates aboard. After staying 13 years in Korea, Hamel returned to the Netherlands to write the first description of Korea ever published in the West.
After passing by the ship, we accidentally went off route lured by this cute little lighthouse, the Wimi Hang East Breakwater, at what we think was the Sagye Port. At this point, we were 4.64km (2.8miles) into the route. Looking back to the Sangbang Mountain, it was getting dark so we decided to head back to the start.
We decided to return via the Yongmeori Coast (dragon's head) hiking around the tuff ring. It is the oldest volcanic crater on Jeju and was created by hydro volcanic activity upon the continental shelf long before the formation of Mt. Halla.
We completed our 5+ mile round-trip and headed to dinner just as it started to get darker and rain. What timing! Dinner was at Joeungshikdang (sp?) near our hotel in the Jungman Resort-area. With the long line of shell-fish items, Scottie opted to order us some Korean BBQ-style pork. It was definitely on the fattier side for me, but I survived another pork dish! For dessert, we stopped at 7-eleven to pick up some makgeolli, which put us right to sleep!
More pictures located here. A map of our trip located here.
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