Bulamsan Trail

It's memorial Day weekend. Most of Erika's worship team is away so she recruited her dad for the piano. The daughter of one of her team members is "helping out" during the warm up.

We were each given a commemerative coin for Steve's participation. I guess this is something military people collect as souvenirs of their activities. Kinda neat to have one.

Dan's idea of a pleasant Sunday afternoon is a stroll in one of the local parks. The trouble is that Dan's strolls in the park can be quite challenging. This one was no exception.

We took the subway 40 minutes to the end of the line at Danggogue and walked from there. You can get an idea of our destination from the background.

We left Grandpa to wander the Seoul Trail, a contour path that circles the city at the base of the hills, while the rest of us climbed Bulamsan Trail. Steve had plenty of time for a nice ramble and a nap in one of the Korean picnic pavilions. We made plans to meet up at 6. Yeah, right. The nice thing about hiking around Seoul is good cell phone service to send a text to say we'll be "a little late."

Dan's strolls may be taxing, but they give spectacular views.

And we're never far from the city.

Some sections of the trail required ropes, cables or pegs in the rock.

Just when we thought we were going to die...an ice cream stand! (Note Seoul in the background.)

And what a place to enjoy a melon popsicle!

There is our goal--the flag fluttering high above the wooden stairway. Dan and Simeon are waving at us. (Grammie had fallen a bit behind by this point, but she had no intention of giving up this close to the top.)

It was worth the climb.

Simeon was NOT happy about being left behind when Dan decided he couldn't manage the ropes (with several pegs missing in the rock) and the backpack. Erika waits at the top (very relieved that he is not trying to bring Simeon). I had already climbed up and down, so I stayed with Simeon IN the backpack. This was no place for a five-year-old to be wandering around.

They made it!

Of course, what goes up, must come down. My legs were shakey by the end.

The day I climbed the Great Wall of China my phone app said I had done the equivilent of 97 flights of stairs. Today, by the time I get up to bed, it will read 98.