Day 17, Leg 12

In a nutshell: today was long, cold, windy, snot-filled, and finally—stressful. 

I'm at the Gangnam Motel, which is a bit steep at W50,000 a night. The place has an automatic key dispenser—no front-desk person needed—but as with a lot of these machines, it'll only let you pay for a single night's stay. So I have to go up the road, find an ATM, and pay manually for a second night before the 11 a.m. checkout time tomorrow. Just an extra bit of stress after a tiring day that turned stressful. 

Today's walk took me out of Sangju and finally turned me east toward Andong. The first part of the walk involved making it back onto the Four Rivers/Nakdong trail. Once back on the trail, I then had to cross the Sangju Sangpoong Bridge to be exclusively on the Nakdong River trail. This latter part saw me walking mostly through farmland, often alongside the Nakdong River. Terrain varied wildly from placid straightaways to craggy and steep mountain paths to wooden boardwalks to streets with traffic to, at the end, roads with no shoulder. I swung by the Gangcheon-dae park where all the giant, wooden statues are, but Naver took me past that, so I didn't go in. I saw another vampire-deer carcass, and much later in the walk, I think I passed the mangled body of a large, feathery moth or something.

The walk was cold all day, and often windy, so I was glad of any opportunity to walk in the balm of direct sunlight. My fingertips were often numb, and this made undoing my backpack's chest strap a royal pain. Things got warm enough, in the late morning, for me to remove my gloves (nothing got lost today), but as the walk dragged on to late afternoon, I considered putting them back on again. The cold also meant I had a runny nose the entire walk. This isn't a cold: the runny nose goes away the moment I'm somewhere warm.

The walk was supposed to be 37K, but it went on longer than anticipated because I couldn't get a room at the Daesun Motel. When I asked the lady how much it would cost for two nights, she paused a little too long, then said she had no rooms. This might be true, but her long pause was suspicious, as was the perfectly silent hallway we were in (it was around 5:30 p.m.; most normal guests don't show up until after 6 or 7, so I'd guess most of the rooms in that hallway were empty and unreserved). Maybe she just decided not to accommodate the foreigner. Maybe she's doing her part to defend the homeland from pernicious foreign influences like Johnny Somali. So I trudged in the dark and cold about half a mile to the Gangnam Motel. With no one in the office, I saw I would have to contend with the automatic key dispenser. When I tried feeding W5000 bills to the machine, it spat them back out. I had barely enough cash in my wallet to pay the W50,000 fee for a single night—four W10,000 bills and two W5000s. The motel manager came up right as I was wrestling with the W5000s; he took my bill, fed it in himself, and the damn thing worked. I then fed the machine my other fiver plus four W10,000 bills, and that's how I got my key. So what could've been a long-but-pleasant walk turned into a bit of a nightmare. And it's not over: I still need to grab more cash to be able to pay for a second night. I'll go to the local ATM in the morning.

I occurs to me that I passed a lot of myo today—tumuli seen singly or in family plots. I had to marvel at the amount of money needed to buy all that real estate, especially now, as land is running out on this tiny half-peninsula. I took plenty of myo pictures, but I skipped about half of the ones I had run across. 

It's tempting to just walk on tomorrow morning, to shorten the walk calendar by a day. But I kinda need the extra day's rest: the distance and the stress at the end of today were a little much. My feet are fine but achy. They could use some time off before the final push to Andong Dam. 

Anyway, enjoy the images below.

back to showing 36K... closer to 38K

about 6235 calories burned

Sangju Church

creekside parkland on my way out of Sangju

a dynamic sculpture

dawn

persimmons hang-drying in a village

I stayed here two years ago.

hilltop view

a field of clay pots

one of a myriad of myo

a caution about using the trail in the winter

PHOTO ESSAY

leaving Bobos

Sangju Terminal

Sangju Church

getting back onto that creekside path next to the Bukcheon

creek to the left, city to the right

that kinetic sculpture again

a sign with "Bukcheon," the creek's name

Gyeongsang First Gate, now on my way out

The athletic center where I used the bathroom and saw the beautiful lady is over to the left, a bit beyond the above gate. Easy to remember with this sort of landmark.

Yet another dog that didn't see me until it was too late.

a sign for Heonshin-dong

myo in the darkness

The marshmallows are propagating.

While the path isn't done weaving quite yet, and we're not quite pointed straight east, you can see we're going eastish.

This whole question of being pointed straight east toward Andong doesn't resolve itself until much later in the day. I had thought, maybe from not having studied the route more thoroughly, that I'd do a wide swing eastward in the early morning and be pointed due east by late morning.

There may, in fact, be a better way to do this route next time, one that doesn't involve such a wide swing west before I finally head east. I'll have to check. The shape of the Nakdong River itself might be a problem, actually.

another vampire-deer carcass

We're going up and left.

This is the Byeongseong Creek.

And here is the Byeongseong Bridge.

another one barkin' too late

This sign says it's 2.4 km to pick up the Nakdong River biker path. We're still not on the path.

I see this all the time.

One name for it is Chinese (or Japanese) silver grass or eulalia—Miscanthus sinensis.

the village of Samdeok-ni ("three virtues village"?)

the Samdeok Bridge

that man again

tree with deer statues

The water wheel doesn't work in cold weather.

lots of drooping, draping, dried persimmons

...or genesis chambers

a set of myo not on a mountainside

from 2.4K to 1.2K to go to the trail

another solar farm

Good luck wiping those down to keep them dust-free.

I stayed at this motel two years ago: the Gangcheondae Motel (and resto).

feels weird to just walk past it

another lonely chair

And a windowed shwimteo! These exist, but they're rare.

I was trying to photograph the huddled cat.

digital zoom

...and suddenly...

—pop! We're on a street I recognize.

Normally, were I going south, I would enter Gyeongcheon-dae Park and follow the path.

But, no—I walk past the entrance to pick up the path as it goes north. We are now back on the path.

I really need to visit this cow at some point. I keep passing by here.

I assume this is a gate to a Confucian academy, or a dolled-up museum annex.

I'm guessing "Sangju Museum" (상주 박물관/Sangju Bakmulgwan).

So strange to see this in the daylight and not the early-morning darkness, when cobwebs are visible.

right path

Well, two signs say "Sangju Museum" in Korean, so there.

Agriculture Cultural Center

the biker resto that's never open when I pass by it

I go up a hill, but it's much worse coming up this from the other direction.

partway down the hill, a familiar observation deck

obligatory Nakdong River shot from the deck (compare with my first-ever walk blog's banner)

no fence in this shot

and back down we go

Awesome or terrifying to toboggan down?

the boardwalk-y final part of getting off this mountain

soon, a long, placid straightaway

This is still both the Four Rivers and the Nakdong River jongju.

ducks and loons, I think

baesu-mun

digitally zoomed guardian, way down below on the left

Now, that's a gnarl. Or a snarl. But certainly not Karl.

As a walker along this section, you'd better be prepared not to find any benches, and you'd better bring along any food or drink you might end up craving as you plod along. It's a long straightaway.

Dammit, I just told people not to expect any benches!

Sangju Sangpoong Bridge cert center is coming up, 1 km.

Now, there's a mystery I've been wanting to solve since forever, and it could save me the need to go camping in this area. Close to the cert center indicated by the sign above, there's a building whose purpose is a mystery to me. If it's a guest house or pension, my future problems are solved. If it's only a restaurant and/or a building that has nothing to do with providing rest for people on the trail, then it's worthless to me. At this point in my hike, to check the place out, I could walk the extra kilometer or two off the path to check the place out, or I could stick to the plotted path so as not to add unnecessary distance to an already long (36K total) day. I ended up chickening out and not checking the situation out. I'll have to come back here on a separate trip during my off-season.

animal assholes

almost definitely a cat

solar farm

sigh

about 500 m to the bridge

more stubborn persimmons

We're walking to the bridge and crossing it.

This is the moment where we split with the Four Rivers trail, which goes north to Incheon (next major stop: Choongju, apparently known for martial arts, at the end of the Saejae trail); we will instead go east all the way to Andong City, Andong Dam, and Andong Lake.

about to cross

What're the chances I'll have to stop and photograph a cast-off glove?

Was there really a need to comment or caption any of that? Didn't think so.

The blue sign with the arrows is a bit misleading. It says we can go left to Andong Dam by following the Nakdong River jongju, but if we go right toward Sangju Dam (which I don't think I even saw this time), we'll be following the Gukto Jongju (national path). The problem, as you'll see in later photos, is that the Nakdong River path is also still labeled as a Gukto Jongju. I am not hallucinating this.

Anyway, welcome to Yecheon County, Poong-yang Village.

"Land of loyalty and filial piety!"

the Riverside Restaurant, serving spicy fish stew and trout sashimi (despite showing a catfish)

signs warning that you share the road with bikes and other vehicles

The new signs don't get the distances right. 305 + 66 = 371 km, not 385 km. Note, too, that the directions are backward: the sign says Busan (well, the Nakdong River Estuary Barrage in Busan) is ahead while the Andong Dam is behind. Does anyone ever file complaints about these signs?

Another sign about vehicles that share the roads, and the need to yield.

Here, at least, the numbers and directions are right. I still don't trust the distances.

looking a bit abandoned... is it, though?

I remember feeling hungry and thinking this was a right friendly sign the last time I was through here.

lone worker with mystery spray (what is it?)

I'd be hesitant to sit on benches in someone's property.

faces

I wonder whether this art was made by the residents here.

left we go

Just a reminder that it's cold despite the sun.

minbak and restaurant

Danger Guy warns you away from deep water.

We won't be heading into Mungyeong City. That's for another trip.

still on the right track

I think that, up ahead, is the pavilion that was full of caterpillars two years ago. I saw a German couple here, too.

You're all experts at identifying family plots by now.

more death

I don't even have to label these anymore.

the last of the cabbages

This whole section felt very quiet—farms all going quiescent for the winter.

balled-up gloves

I can imagine crazy old people using these stairs to pick up various wild plants.

ladies

Ridiculous.

The red/yellow sign warns of forest fires (산불조심/sanbul joshim).

"Love for our grain!"

Boram Nursing Home... I hope I never end up in one of those.

another shotgun-shell casing... must be in conservative country

Gwanse-am, probably pointing to a shrine to Gwanseum-bosal, bodhisattva of compassion

This might be the shrine or something related.

It'd take me a million years to decode all of this.

Christian headstone

23rd Psalm on the bottom: "I will dwell in the house of the Lord."

well manicured

We pop out by the Nakdong River again.

This rock is labeled Gwanse-am, so now, I have no idea where the shrine is.

It's getting later in the afternoon, and as the shadows get longer again, I'm worried about the cold.

This animal asshole is definitely a deer.

Or Satan.

See what I mean?? The path is clearly labeled Gukto Jongju. And not just here.

Supposedly 58K to the dam and 327K back to Busan. It adds up, at least.

58K is about two days' walking, and that what I have left to do after today. Rest, then the final two legs.

We're in the shadows again, and it's getting colder. After 4 p.m., I think.

That's the price I pay for walking slowly. And at the wrong time of year.

"Danger! Because ice-related accidents can happen, please refrain from using the bike paths." I assume this is meant to be read when the path is actually iced over. Of course, if the path is iced over, how likely is it that there'll be anyone to read the sign?

bridge up ahead; we'll be crossing the smaller one for walking/biking

Follow the red markings.

Poongja Bridge

We love exposed rebar!

I guess that's the west, given the time of day.

Another couple of kilometers to go.

Here, though, I'm diverging from the jongju (which continues to the right) to go straight into town.

Everything is placid until I find myself temporarily on a freeway. But it's only a few hundred meters.

I get off the freeway a short time later.

curving under the freeway

I'm guessing this used to be a gorgeous moth of some kind. It's huge.

heading into Jibo Village

the New Village Park

A pension and a house of beef... I didn't stay here because I thought it'd be expensive, being a pension and all.

Sorry for the blurry shot of the moon. I tried again below:

Jibo Cathedral (jibo from the characters for "knowledge" and "protect/preserve")

I went here, and the owner acted "sus," as the kids say these days. She claimed there were no available rooms, which struck me as bullshit, but I don't have enough Korean to harangue her for lying, and besides, she might just be a bitch who's telling the truth.

Evening in the western sky... is that Jupiter? I normally see it there in the morning.

So I switched to the Gangnam Motel, and despite some difficulties with payment, this proved to be a much better option. Friendlier manager, no stress.

This sign points in from the road. The motel is set back from the road a bit.

the motel itself

entrance