2009년 11월 22일 일요일

Geocaching in Mt. Gwanak




 Pin Box 2 GCKRM6 Created by: WxGuesser
Difficulty: 1 out of 5 Terrain: 2.5 out of 5
Date Hidden: 10/10/2004 Cache Size: Size: Small
I heard that Shinyred’s hunting place on this Saturday was Mt. Gwanak, and he asked me to go along with him and his wife. I gladly accepted the suggestion. Thank you again for your suggestion, shinyred!
 
We met at SNU subway station in the morning, and had a breakfast with kongnamul-gukbap (Bean Sprout Soup with Rice) at the restaurant Wansanjung, which is one of my favorites. Then we took a bus, which goes inside the campus of SNU, and got off the bus near the cache GC14XM4.
We decided to go to the cache Pin Box 2. Shinyred and bieini said that they had a trouble at their last visit here, shinyred’s trousers was torn while crashing his way through the thicket because they couldn’t find a path to the cache. We also failed to find a path at this time. We had to give up in front of the zero point, just 20~30m away. I think we had to approach the cache from the opposite side.
We prepared important stuffs for this climbing here, changing bottles of Makgeolli to pressure bottles because draft Makgeollis tends to be bottled loosely.


전체화면
 Dragon's Last StandGC14XM4Created by: CoMotion
Difficulty: 2 out of 5Terrain: 1.5 out of 5
Date Hidden: 8/5/2007Cache Size: Size: Small
We returned back to the bus stop, and went to the next cache. We could easily find it, because it was at the place where it should be.



전체화면
 Collapsing FortGC14XMDCreated by: CoMotion
Difficulty: 2.5 out of 5Terrain: 2.5 out of 5
Date Hidden: 8/5/2007Cache Size: Size: Small
After that, our trekking started. We entered into a trail, which was next to the second engineering building. Please keep in mind that the entrance of trail will move to about 300m upward on early December. We did not know that the new entrance would be better entrance point for the next cache! I had to cut across a small valley to reach there. Shinyred and bieini followed the trail, which took a little bit longer.

When we arrived at a zero point, we could see a small fort. It seemed wonderful even though I had no idea what it really was. We searched carefully around there, but we could not find the cache. Frankly speaking, I don't like this kind of cache hidden behind cultural assets or art works, because I have to fight against my greediness. To find the cache, I have to dig up, and it may cause damage to something more important! I'm sorry for the owner, but we had to give up this cache.

전체화면
 Easy Does ItGC14XM8Created by: CoMotion
Difficulty: 3 out of 5Terrain: 3.5 out of 5
Date Hidden: 8/5/2007Cache Size: Size: Small
On the way to the next cache, we met some steep climbs on large rocks. But later, we knew that it was just a beginning.

After relatively easy :-( rock climbing, we saw that our gpsr approached 0m. Huh, as you know, this mountain is very famous, and muggles having a rest at the zero points are never strange! We had to rest here till the muggles went their own way. We had a cup of Makgeolli, took several pictures, and chat. When the muggles were leaving, shinyred shouted 'Wow, that place is great! let's rest there!" And as a matter of course, we easily secured the zero point. A few minutes later, shinyred found the cache.
While we wrote a log, a middle age man stepped on the rocks with breathing heavily, and two middle age women followed him. He looked at us, and then suddenly he shouted to the two madams, 'Hey! Look! that students are climbing a mountain to save money." Hey! What? Students? To save money? My thought was that he was too tired to recognize ages, but he had to pretend not tired because two women were following him. Poor man!
Anyway, I took a coin here, and leave a TB.


전체화면
 Top of GwanaksanGC1F98ACreated by: Qoolman
Difficulty: 1 out of 5Terrain: 4 out of 5
Date Hidden: 8/16/2008Cache Size: Size: Micro
We had to continue the rock climbing.

Snow laid on our way, and it made our climb more difficult.

During a short break, we could see a Seoul city view covered with thick and dark smog.

There were several resting place on the way to the top of Mt. Gwanak from SNU campus. You could see a large rock on the edge of a precipice.

bieini and shinyred had a short discussion about the direction to the top at the resting place where it was seen.

In front of large rocks, we met a mid-age guy, who guided us a lot, frankly too much. We were helped by him because it became suddenly difficult. But we were worrying the cache hunting if he did not leave us.

After hard rock-climbing, we reached at a little bit large resting place where Taegeukgi (national flag) was flying. It was very impressive. To reach at the flag, you have to do a REAL rock-climbing!
Also there was a beautiful pine tree. What an impressive place!
We met another mid-age person, who seemed accomplished at photography just according to what he said. He strongly recommended taking some pictures of several rocks, especially female-shaped rocks or the rocks possibly associated with 'some human actions'. I politely rejected his recommendation because my wife would see pictures that I took. It seemed that he disappointed a little bit. Then, he and our volunteering guide (he waited for us to go till that time :-() became a company, because they had too many boasts to tell each other.
Finally, we became free.

After several additional rock-climbing, we could finally stand on the top. There were many muggles having cup-noodles. It seemed that cup-noodle was famous in this mountain.
We wanted to have a rest, and have a lunch, but because of its gradient, we decided to have it at other calmer place.
On the descent from the top, we could find the cache a little bit hardly.
전체화면

 Gwanaksan ViewGC1N1K0Created by: Jiho Kim
Difficulty: 2.5 out of 5Terrain: 3.5 out of 5
Date Hidden: 2/22/2009Cache Size: Size: Micro

We did not know when we passed by Yeonjuam that we were lost. After a few hundred meters descent, we perceived that the cache became far and far. We had to return back to the temple, and then we went up to the trail to the cache!

Soon, we felt hungry. At the ridge, we could find a scenic point. We decided to have lunch here. Shinyred and bieini brought four rolls of Gimbap, and I did Makgeolli! Each of us also had a cup of hot coffee.

Definitely, we did CITO as you can see the plastic bag hanging on shinyred's backpack.

When we reached at the cache point, all of us simultaneously regretted our decision about lunch. Here was more calm, and had good scenery.

 MISSION GEOCACHINGGCNBHVCreated by: poemeye
Difficulty: 4.5 out of 5Terrain: 4.5 out of 5
Date Hidden: 4/2/2005Cache Size: Size: Small
After finding the Gwanaksan View cache, we had trouble; what direction we should go. Direct direction to the cache (thru ridge) was too steep. Therefore, we decided to go to a trail on a valley. It was also not easy.

Anyway, we reached at the cache point, and found the cache! However, the final cache was not on our way. We had short discussion, and we decided to give up the final cache! I'm sorry for the owner about it.

전체화면
Difficulty: 2 out of 5Terrain: 3 out of 5
Date Hidden: 5/20/2008Cache Size: Size: Regular

We continued our way, and reached at the cache point.

We searched for a few minutes, and finally I could find artificially piled stones. What a great view and what a great cache! I took a TB, and left Koala mobile phone strap. Bieini also took a hand-warmer, and she gave me one. Oh! It was also great. Actually, it was a little bit cold. Thank you for the owner!

We could see a glow in the sky here, so we hurried up.

전체화면
Difficulty: 1 out of 5Terrain: 2.5 out of 5
Date Hidden: 7/6/2008Cache Size: Size: Small

When we reached at the cache point, we found large rest area on rocks. We could see a dark red sky here, and the Moon.


Difficulty: 1 out of 5Terrain: 2 out of 5
Date Hidden: 7/6/2008Cache Size: Size: Micro

From here, we had to turn on our flash. I think the candle mode of my Mag-lite mini is great. I used this mode here. It could shine quite large area. Bieini and shinyred felt the miss of their head lantern, their souvenir of night running event they had participated before. Anyway, it was very dark, and we had to depend on my mag-lite mini. Sometimes, we could not find a trail because large rocks frequently disconnected it. Anyway, we reached at the cache point, but we could not find the cache. Although we spent quite long time here, it was too dark. We felt some reluctance in leaving this place, but we had to haste our way.

When we saw parked cars, we could finally feel a relief. We tried two additional caches, but we failed, because we were too tired. We said good-bye each other on a subway train.

I think we may visit this mountain again at least two times more because caches are scattered to several trails.
Thank you for all owners here! We had great time here thanks to you.