Well, as I always say, there’s always one leg of every trip that doesn’t go quite as planned. I’ve been a bit sick since about day three in Seoul. In retrospect, I think it was allergies, all the cherry blossoms and azaleas blooming all over the place. I also developed a shin splint that’s been slowing me down quite a bit. Anyway, I left Busan for Suncheon intending to do a big hike through Jogyesan Provincial Park, but between my throbbing leg and the torrential rains on the day of the big hike I didn’t make it much past the hotel room. So I moved on to my next stop, Mokpo.

The couple of days of rest actually worked wonders because when I arrived in Mokpo and got checked in to my hotel my leg was feeling much better. So, I headed out to explore. Mokpo is very much a coastal city, lots of seafood, a very significant naval history, lots of islands just off shore and it’s home to Korea’s only maritime museum. The Maritime Museum was really cool. It focuses mainly on all the shipwrecks that have been found in the archipelago spanning pretty much all of history. Mostly Chinese and Japanese ships and their treasure troves of cargo. Mokpo is also where Admiral Yi Sun Shin defeated the Japanese and liberated Korea in the 16th century. He’s one of Korea’s greatest national heroes and renowned by naval historians and commanders all over the world for his genius. He’s kind of a big deal! (below, a couple of ship wrecks at the Maritime Museum)

• 

• 

Also in town I visited the Gatbawi Rocks, two rocks on the coast that look like monks wearing traditional Korean hats, and climbed up Yudalsan mountain which starts just a couple of blocks from my hotel. Unfortunately, the fog rolled in in a big way and the reportedly magnificent views from the top were not present. Oh well!

The real reason I came to Mokpo, though, was to hike nearby Wolchulsan National Park. I hopped on a bus and took it to a junction just outside the park and walked along the road to Dogabsa Temple. After exploring the temple a bit I started up the extremely rocky slopes for two hours until I reached Gujeong Peak. As it turned out, the temple was the only chance I had to see any real scenery. The fog came in with a vengeance and visibility was down to about 20ft for the entire day. It’s a shame too because the views from the top of the rocky peaks are the reason to come here in the first place. It was still nice to get out and hike in any case.

From Gujeong Peak I traversed over and around lots of steep, rocky cliffs until I reached the highest peak in the park, Cheonhwang Peak at 2,677ft. From there it was another couple of hours of knee pounding descent to get to Cheonhwangsa Temple on the opposite side of the park. Along the way I crossed a suspension bridge that goes from one ridge to the next. Because of the fog, not only did I not get any views, but I also got to miss out on how terrifying that bridge probably really is.

Here’s where the story of Jeollanam Province gets its happy ending. About the time I reached the bridge I realized I was going to miss the last bus from the park to Yeongam, where I would need to catch the other bus back to Mokpo. To walk to Yeongam would have been doable, but my knees were definitely not looking forward to that extra two miles. What’s a lucky tiger to do? Nothing. Ha! The old Korean man at the gate with his two friends, who were all very interested to know about this strange American that just appeared out of the fog, and who were getting ready to leave, in their car, were happy to give me a ride. I didn’t even ask, they just offered. Interestingly, they were also the only people I saw the whole day. I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before or not, but Koreans are some of the friendliest and most helpful people I’ve encountered anywhere in the world!

The second real reason I came to Mokpo was because this is the most convenient place to catch a boat to my next stop. That’s right, I said boat! Stay tuned… but before you do, check out all the pics from Mokpo and Wolchulsan here