Day 1, Leg 1

First day of the new adventure. It was equal parts tiring and awesome. Naver showed the bike-route distance as 30K, but we can round that down to 29K because I did the last kilometer or two using the walking route (which is always shorter) rather than the biking route. The Naver app always offers you choices, some more orthodox than others.

There was some angina, and there were plenty of energetic old people out kicking my ass on the trail. I almost didn't beat an old woman with a walker. The day turned bright and windy; it remained very cool in the shadows, but otherwise, things warmed up a little as the day progressed. The wind made taking pics of flowers a chore. 

I ended up with some chafing on my left foot, right under my big toe; I think I can do 20K tomorrow, but I'm going to have to watch the irritation and tape it up better. I can't afford broken, ripped, or torn skin, not after only a day of walking.

Perhaps the strangest part of today was seeing no one out on any of the fields of the enormous ecological park—the one that lies alongside the part of the Nakdong River that sits closest to the river's estuary barrage, a dam-like structure with a road running across it. No soccer, no other field sports, and no goddamn park golf. Plenty of bikers, runners, walkers, and joggers, though. 

While I know park golf is a good way to get seniors off their asses and out moving and talking and playing with purpose, I think the game has become an out-of-control blight on Korea's riversides, destroying massive amounts of fallow riverbank just to develop fields for this insane/inane game. Wanna keep the seniors entertained? Take 'em hunting. The mentally coherent ones, anyway.

I had to sit fairly frequently during today's walk, more because of incipient breathlessness than because of angina. But because I left so early to start the trek, I got to Yangsan by 1:30 p.m., way sooner than my 3:00 p.m. ETA. I considered taking an extra day off, for a total of seven rest days and twenty-one walk-calendar days, but I've decided I'll keep going tomorrow morning after a thorough wash, retaping, and rest. I hope that's enough. So—no changes to my itinerary, which you can find on my sidebar. Ask AI for help if you can't read Korean.

I got up at 3:10 a.m. after almost no sleep, dressed and prepped, caught a cab to the trail's starting point, and started the walk at 3:57 a.m. When I arrived in Yangsan at my usual Bliss Motel, a new-to-me male staffer charged me an extra W10,000 as an "early fee," so the room costs W60,000 for a night. This feels like an extortionate "foreigner's tax."

Here's Naver's conceptualization of today's 30K route. Because I was flagging at the end, I shortened it by about 1 km:

Walk stats. 44.6K steps today. With my phone's new system software, I see that the Samsung pedometer now does a better, more accurate distance calculation, and it also has a stingier, arguably more accurate activity-calorie count. Overall, I like these new changes.

The thing told me directly that I'd walked 29.5 km. I think the extra distance comes from in-town walking.

The low calorie consumption even seems to take into account my very slow walking rate and decreased stride length. I generally like these improvements and might even come to trust the pedometer's way of measuring distance.

le léon qui garde le barrage

Sasang-gu's mascot, I guess. Jesus.

where I cross into a lovely, 7K segment of pretty trail

early-morning chiaroscuro

In Korea, they don't have the larger, meatier, more ambitious bracket fungi that we have in the States. A shame.

close to kilometer 13

Tree after tree of bad luck finally gave way to a happy string of 무당거미/mudang geomi (shaman spider, a.k.a. Joro spider—the Japanese term) photos.

low-slung bridges

the Unknown Tenter

the tower that signals it's time to cross over into town

That's a wrap for my first day on the trail. I think this walk is doable, but it's going to be close. Expect more madness tomorrow. 

PHOTO ESSAY

many motels with elevators have key-drop boxes for when you leave

There's no check-out procedure with a typical Korean motel; you just leave your key either in the drop box inside the elevator or at the reception-office window/desk in the lobby, then just walk out.

Adios, K Motel.

I stood and took a blurry pic of a "666 Burger" branch down the street. Suspicious, the motel manager walked out to see why I had stopped. I could have lost my patience and accused her of being unduly suspicious of foreigners, but instead, I smiled and told her I liked taking pics of interesting and unique things. I'm not sure whether she believed me. As a matter of statistics, Koreans commit a larger raw number of crimes in Korea than foreigners do.

Somewhere between the previous photo and the next one, I grabbed a cab and got a ride to my starting point. I wouldn't be stepping into another vehicle for almost three weeks.

top sign: Nakdong River Flood Control Office
center sign: Busan Regional Branch Office (for what?)
bottom sign: Nakdong River Cultural Center, Memorial, and Observation Deck

Where the Nakdong River and Four Rivers (or Trans-Korea) Paths begin. The stone by the arch says, "4 Rivers National Path, Nakdong River Bike Path Starting Point (Estuary Barrage)."

When I'm walking the Four Rivers path from Incheon to Busan, I normally arrive here and see that tall memorial (기념탑/ginyeom-tap; a tap is literally a pagoda) at around 1 or 2 p.m. Right now, it's 3:56 a.m. I'm starting early because I walk so damn slowly now. I also didn't sleep well.

memorial tower again

the park entrance in the early morning

brightest "star" = Jupiter

And thus we begin.

crossing the Nakdong

crossing the estuary barrage (a dam-like structure)

looking right (south, toward the sea)

the towers holding all the chains and gears and motors that control the sluice gates

cascading water

Major Korean rivers are known for their dams, but this—my very first dam of the walk—will be the only dam I encounter for the next few days.

signage and interesting fence/railing design

Guardian lion (not Lion's Club for once); the dark plaque under the lion says "Nakdong River Estuary Barrage" (낙동강하구둑, Nakdong-gang Hagu-duk) in a mixture of Chinese and Korean.

한국 수자원 공사/Hanguk Sujaweon Gongsa = Korea Water Resources Corporation

fa-hunky design

Traveling north in earnest now; the first kilometer gets you across the river from the starting point. I'm on the river's east bank now, and barring a few kinks in the path, I'll be heading almost due north.

Looking northwest across the water; in the daytime, planes landing in the Busan area follow the river on final approach.

We are in Saha-gu. A gu is like a prefecture—a large district of a city. It's not quite as big as a borough, and not quite as small as a ward. Somewhere in between. City addresses usually start off with the city (시/shi), then the [administrative] district (구/gu), then the precinct (동/dong), then possibly the street (길/gil, 로/ro, 대로/daero, etc.). Outside of cities, you might have provinces (도/do), counties (군/gun), towns (읍/eup), townships (면/myeon), and villages (리/li). At the end of all that, there might be a postal code.

river on one side, street on the other

Despite the streets and the traffic, this path is perhaps the nicest way to leave Busan. And I love that the first day's walk is basically just a straight shot north to Yangsan.

A beloved straightaway. There will be many more such photos throughout this whole walk.

very modern-looking shwimteo (rest areas)

click to enlarge and read

We are leaving Saha-gu and entering Sasang-gu.

misuse of the "pro" setting on my camera

on we go

Roughly, "Renewing Sasang and empowering its citizens"—Busan is old, hence periodic renewal.

hardy flowers in the cold

closeup of Ligustrum japonicum(?), or Japanese privet

a sign for agricultural products

Hakjang Bridge #1

the huge pipes that run alongside some of Busan's bridges

long pier in the distance... plus light pollution

We're at about the 5-kilometer mark. It's where I cross over and follow a lovely, tree-lined path for about 7 km. There's traffic on both sides, and it's kind of noisy, but this may be one of my favorite sections of the walk.

a little ramp/hill to get up before continuing on

well lit at 5:32 a.m.

The sign indicates this path is both the Four Rivers path and the Nakdong River path. The two paths are identical up to the city of Sangju, then the Four Rivers path meanders northwest to Seoul and Incheon while the Nakdong River path—my path— veers east at Sangju and heads to the city of Andong.

I like the canopy effect. Some might be nervous, but Korea is generally safe to walk in the dark.

swerving but still heading north

a warning (facing outward, thus backwards to me) about parking or stopping your car or large cargo vehicle all night in an accident-prone area; "crackdown" in force

straight on through to the other side

sunrise as I look right and east

Traffic has been with me for a while now.

Crape Myrtle? Bougainvillea?

Autumn just won't let go. Then again, this is the subtropical southeast.

Hula hoops, used mainly by the old folks who come out in the morning to exercise.

Most Korean cities have tons of apartment complexes.

Crossing an off-ramp and continuing north.

Nakdong Dike Cherry Blossom Path (I didn't see any dikes.)

spider or insect, out of focus

textured tree with interesting fungus

Small, Hyundai-sized bracket fungi? Hard to find large ones in Korea.

tree with knothole or something's lair

a very sexy knothole

crossing another off-ramp

one of many trellised stairs leading down to the street below

Like many bike/walking paths on this trek, my current path is on a long berm, above street level. Traffic is flowing by on both sides of me, but the trees are all along this part of the path. As I said before, it's noisy, but I still enjoy the scenery. Do you expect Busan, a city of 3.4 million, to be silent?

workers, working

Tis the season to be clearing out overgrown foliage. I saw a lot of work like this along almost the whole path, even during the final days of the walk when things were starting to get cold.

the rare, untrellised stairway

Somewhere back a ways, the walking path split from the bike path, which you see off to the left.

bike and foot paths swing together again

One of the quirks of this kind of walk is that, as a walker, you sometimes get a walking path to yourself, and sometimes, you don't. In those cases, I usually do the American thing: when there's no obvious path for walkers, I stay on the left side. Koreans don't seem to have any formal walking etiquette, though, so they'll walk all over the place or actively ignore markings that clearly say "walk on [this side]," and the walkers often don't seem to care whether they're getting in the way of the bikers. The bikers, for their part, are mostly scrupulous about staying in their lanes, but it's not rare to be walking in a walking path when you look up and see a biker, on your path and coming right toward you. Fucking rude. Most bikers will grudgingly swerve out of your way. Some smartasses don't, and they blow by you. I remember one haughty bitch of a teenage girl, a few years back, who distinctly saw me gesturing for her to get off my path and onto the bike path, and she studiously ignored me, rushing by closely. At times like that, I wish I had the Sith power of throat-choking telekinesis. And maybe Force lightning, too. Or at least a nice, sharp sword to swing at her neck as she passes.

Walkers or bikers, rude assholes abound.

approaching the 13K marker

Things are getting more concrete-y.

I've walked 13K by this point. Not quite halfway.

not exactly claustrophobic, but the ambiance reminds me a bit of the Death Star trench

And this stretch is where all the shaman spiders are! I was happy to see my ladies.

—and their fat, juicy abdomens.

The color scheme on these relatives of orb weavers is wild.

Differently angled webs ensure I always get photos from different angles.

Some of these spiders are smaller and sleeker.

A six legger! With tales to tell, I'm sure.

same sleek body, but eight legs

coming up on that funky footbridge (the yellow sign cautions that this is a flood area)

scattered blossoms

Korean Abelia(?)

We'll be walking under the funky footbridge, which is only a couple years old.

The honeycombed structure reminds me of molecules.

There are a lot of willow-like trees in Korea, but they aren't willows.

walking over a tributary

I can't stop staring at the footbridge. Will have to visit again someday and walk that thang.

About here is where we transition to a new phase in the walk.

Soon, we'll reach a point where the path swerves left, and we walk a substantial portion by the river but away from traffic.

Still... can't... look... away.

"Parking lot temporarily closed in the event of a typhoon (heavy rains)."

mallards... like Ducky on NCIS

approaching the leftward swerve

a guide to local fish and other river/riverside life

We get river crabs in Seoul along the Han River and other watercourses.

And here we go, now swerving left:

away from noisy traffic and into the parkland

a strangely empty 파크골프장/park-golf course (or some kind of sports field)

Have I mentioned how much I despise park golf? It started taking over the riverside territories only a couple of years after I began these trans-Korea walks.

packed-earth/dirt path for us walkers; paved luxury for the bikers (on the right)

More park golf; more apartment complexes. This is Busan, and it'll be a while before I leave it.

Where Don King gets his hair. The sign says, "Directly ahead, watch your feet."

It's not just the hills that have eyes. Something feels strangely Muppet-y.

As snide as I'm being, though, I really do enjoy this kilometers-long park.

a boardwalk off to the side, going over a modest marais (marsh, bayou)

"Hello, there," said Kenobi.

Note the differently shaped abdomens. Intra-species variations.

Distant bridges that I will not be crossing, but at least the sky got all purty.

This feels almost European. Like a low-rent Versailles.

with bike paths

funky apartments in the distance

a fall-hazard sign (be careful leaning on railings, etc.) featuring Danger Guy, my favorite sign icon

I'm always impressed by large-scale human engineering.

Admiral! There be 무당거미 here!

another bridge shot

"Watch out for bikes," says the sign. "Check left and right!"

Same sign, up close.

joggers, with their superior hearts, always putting me to shame

10:09 a.m.; the air has warmed up

I remember when this boardwalk was still being built.

tributary

Apartments peek through.

the two paths, walking and biking

I prefer to stay on the bike path in situations like this. The left-side footpath is often used by barefoot walkers.

swerving left, like Syreeta and Clapton ("I'm going left... till you lead me to the right...")

blue sign: Hwamyeong Ecological Park
black sign: (first three) observation deck, Hwamyeong Forest, Hwamyeong Exercise Area; (second three) Entry(?) Plaza, Central Plaza, Ferry Deck; (third set of three) Watersports Area, Tennis Court, Ecological Wetland
trivia: "Hwamyeong" could refer to a flower's (hwa) brilliance (myeong). Or not.

Get used to seeing 국토종주/Gukto Jongju all along this entire path, through November 15.

The path continues.

off-ramp for cars

Finally leaving the city; things will get quieter from here.

낙동강대교/Nakdong-gang Daegyo (Nakdong River Bridge), coming up

The upcoming bridge, 낙동강대교/Nakdong-gang Daegyo, or the Nakdong River Bridge, is the first bridge I hit when I'm walking south to Busan from Incheon along the Four Rivers trail on the final day of that walk. When I pass under the bridge, I normally think to myself, I've officially arrived in Busan, even if that's not technically true. (I'm not sure where the actual border is, frankly, but it shouldn't be hard to figure out. UPDATE: I just checked, and the bridge sits just about right on the municipal border, so my intuition, if you can call it that, seems to be correct.)

old people, still passing me

From the bridge, it's around 5 km to my destination. I've come a long way.

I prefer to walk on bike paths because these dirt trails always give me pebbles in my shoes.

Oh, well. There's nothing for it.

a glance slightly backward

mystery tunnel

So close, yet so far away.

Turned out to be a beautiful day—the first of many on the trail.

goldenrod from a distance

goldenrod, zoomed in

the big ol' rock

le bambou

fallen bamboo

fixated on fallen bamboo

unhealthily fixated on fallen bamboo

rings of power

wider shot

It was getting a bit warm by now.

closer to the bridge

driftwood

I think this is my first shadow pic. One of many.

The bridge looms ever higher.

So, we've passed out of Busan, and we're now in Yangsan.

mysterious camper

I hope he's enjoying himself. Possibly a fisherman, but I don't see any rods.

Gettin' a little too enthusiastic with those shadows there, boy.

yet another straightaway

Little mystery bridges and stairs set off my imagination. I see sprites and elves and pixies.

or Arwen and Aragorn

I'd forgotten that I had taken so many shadow pics on the first day. Sheesh.

The first of many mantis travel companions. They tend to be earth-brown or acid-green. And they're all pregnant.

Cosmos. As I say every year, they remind me of Mom. They were her favorite flowers.

Hey, Mom.

Hey, farmer's ass.

Hey, goats. Show me no goatse.

Getting closer to Yangsan proper and the return of civilization. And I've barely left Busan.

another bridge with big pipes alongside it

squash flower

a small squash (no, I didn't steal it)

People use these in salads, right?

I got a bit turned around and discovered there was no path on the bridge's right side. I doubled back to here.

up the bridge

and into town

getting lapped by someone who breezed right past my tired self

I'll be taking the right fork as well.

I don't know how this works. I'm heading right to Yangsan, but the sign says Yangsan is left and Miryang is right. (Technically, we've been in Yangsan for a while. Yangsan's Mulgeum station, a full-on train station, is up ahead.) Bizarrely enough, I will indeed be heading toward Miryang soon. But not today.

Nevertheless, I know the way.

Coreopsis

This isn't a bad way to end the day's walk.

Guess I didn't note the name of this bridge.

Depending on the size of the bridge, there's a lot of under-the-bridge culture in Korea: food trucks, bike-repair shops, simple benches and stage-like areas, party/dining/festival spaces, bike racks, and shelter for construction equipment.

under and through we go

Last few kilometers. Final approach. Walking with cars now.

Oh, no! Chem trails!

Pretty sure those're deer. Asshole deer leaving tracks in wet concrete.

Assholes.

To the left: another barefoot track that is best when wet and muddy.

Tired of the traffic, I temporarily move off the road. But the ground here is pitted and uneven.

Hwangsan Park, as it says in English.

some kind of festivities

That tower marks the spot where I cross over the train station's rail lines and end up in downtown Yangsan.

By this point, my phone's battery power is getting low, and my power pack, which I've already used, hasn't provided much of a boost. Over the course of this walk, I'll discover that the power pack can never give me more than 50% power. Back when I'd just bought it, the pack could charge my phone to 100% several times before it needed to be recharged. Power packs age fast. Cold doesn't help.

flowery pavilions and tunnels of love

An artist plies his trade.

Signs for a Yangsan Chrysanthemum (국화, gukhwa) Festival. That explains the tents.

Go to the tower, climb the stairs, and cross the bridge over the rail lines to get into town.

a wider shot

up I go

They love their suspension bridges here.

across... so close now

A first peek into downtown Yangsan. It's a nice little town.

My usual motel isn't far from here.

Follow the road that curves to the right. You can see a gray building and, barely visible, a red letter "B." Motel Bliss.

Just a few hundred meters to go so I can put an end to this tiring first day. I really should have trained more before I started this walk. Yeesh.

In my motel room. And despite the name "Bliss Hotel" or "Hotel Bliss," this is a motel for sure.