Aug 25 - Gayasan National Park

Left Seongju for Gayasan National Park doing what had become routine for the past few days. Checked out of ACE motel early and grabbed a bite. Not a place I would want to stay at again. The route to Gayasan National park was quite straightforward and I came across the first signboard within a short while. The distance was below 30 km and I was hoping to reach by mid-day if possible. The weather had been unpredictable and I learnt that there was no point in planning but to make use of whatever was available for now.



The view down to Gayasan mountain was beautiful and I especially enjoyed cycling watching the clear blue skies and mountains ahead. I would be on schedule as planned and the distance seemed to reduce quickly. Enroute to Gayasan National park, I cycled past a pagoda sign and stopped by to take a look at this. It was a 3 storey stone pagoda in the Beopju-sa temple site.

Carrying on further, I came across a delightful looking coffee place and eagerly rode down a rather steep slope, only to realise it was still under construction. The view from the place was really nice though and I took it as a time to rest and take a breather, enjoying the scenery. Just a little bit further from fusion cafe was a vending machine that worked, affording me a much needed 100 plus.

Gayasan National Park was just a mere 20 minutes or so from this point and the first view of the park office was nice, a wide driveway leading to the building. The location of the park office was somewhat isolated
 (Which I liked) and just opposite the office was a motel.

Walking into the park office, I introduced myself and asked if it would be possible to trek up Gayasan mountain. I was told that there were buses going in to the park but I would have to hurry. The receptionist who was a ranger was very friendly and took some time explaining about my various options.

My first option would be the motel just opposite the park office, overlooking a car-park and forest and I checked into room 307.


Taking a quick shower and locking up the room, I was back at the park office in a jiffy and had a bit more time to look around the place. The front of the office was also their visitor's centre and was impressively set up, boasting a very new sitting room and nice displays of a civet cat skeleton as well as specimens in preservative jars. Staring at the displays and sitting by the fan, I learnt that the bus had left ! Luckily arrangements were made and I got a ride to the park entrance with 2 interns.

The trek up Gayasan national park was delightful and very much what I had heard. It was a easy trek as well and something that really caught my attention was a dead tree with fungus on it. So beautiful was the fungus growing on it that even the dead tree seemed to be alive.


Stopping by to take pictures awhile, I hastened up the mostly rocky path, reaching a point where the scenery was really beautiful. Seeing a few koreans sitting by there, I figured I was reaching the summit and took some time to really enjoy the place. Moving on after a good 15 minutes, the trek became steeper, with more boulders along the way, offering peaks into the vast background filled with numerous peaks. Even the trek up Gaya mountain by itself was truly astounding.
The path further on would take me on a walk on huge boulders and rocky faces. It was mostly unassisted but safe and there were many Koreans moving up with me. The final stretch was a stairway leading to the top of a rocky outcrop and this appeared in a short while. It was the perfect place to sit and relax though the weather changed in a short bit.

Despite not raining, the sky suddenly darkened and I sensed it was time to move downwards. Meeting another day of rain was definitely not something I wanted, having had a number of such encounters while cycling. Standing at the summit, I was also able to have a clear view of the surroundings and had fun watching dark pockets of air swirl around.

 Quickly making my way down, the plan was to head for shelter as soon as I could but midway down, the weather changed for the better, the sun peeking out once more.

This was a perfect time to head to a famous temple, Haeinsa temple, located in the vicinity of the park. The Tripitaka Koreana, buddhist scriptures in chinese script, carved on wooden blocks are kept here. Being a UNESCO protected artefact, it was not allowed to take pictures inside but I got to see the rows and rows of blocks containing the scriptures arranged like an ancient library.

The temple itself had a peaceful aura to it and the surroundings magnify this. The temple itself is quite famous and I saw many people praying in the vicinity, following a row of set up paths with offerings in their hands in the courtyard. I wandered around the temple for some time, enjoying the serenity of the place as well as the effort taken by the Koreans to maintain the beauty and originality of the temple and scriptures.

Leaving the temple, I wandered around the temple area, coming across a board that spoke of the temple and Mt Gaya, taking a picture to remember this wonderful park.

I headed back to my motel and it was here that I was to encounter something I'd never felt throughout the entire journey thus far. Tired after cycling and trekking on the same day, I crashed early and was awakened at night by the feeling of something pressing against my head, like a hand. Dismissing it, I went back to sleep, moving a bit. After some time it only got worse, with whatever it was not almost sitting on me. I began to feel pressure on my side and practically jumped up in the middle of the night. Leaving the lights on and wearing prayer beads seemed to dispel whatever it was and I managed to get uninterrupted sleep till morning. It was only now that an incident that had happened as I had checked in came back to mind.

As I had checked into the room in the afternoon, I had placed by bag against the television set and the set had come on by itself. Saying to myself that the bag resting on it had temporarily stopped me from checking further but as I checked the TV in the morning, I realised that the ON button was the kind that had to be depressed a good 1 cm in before it would turn on the. Imagination or otherwise, I was just glad I was not going to stay in the room another night !