Day 2, Leg 2

Today's walk went surprisingly well, partly thanks to the lovely weather and partly thanks to the shorter distance—only 20K today. I walked at a slow, steady pace of about 3.2 kph, and since I felt better today, I took fewer rest breaks than I'd taken yesterday. I got to my destination before noon and dithered at the local convenience store to pick up lunch: three small cans of tuna and two diet sodas—mojito-flavored Pepsi, which turned out to be as awful as it sounds. My motel room was again W60,000 with no mention of an "early fee." In this case, I think it's because the (relatively) new owners realize how strategically located this yeogwan is.

I'm still not wearing my wide-brimmed hat yet, and I may have sunburned my neck a bit as a result. No matter. More important is that my feet survived today's 20K intact, and I'm quietly hoping that the miles are adding up to a kind of gentle conditioning, toughening my feet up for the rest of the journey. Tomorrow's leg is another 20K, but a bit hillier. Today's leg, one of my favorites, was largely flat and straightforward, hanging close to the river's edge the entire time except for that weird, twisty path I had to take at the beginning when leaving Yangsan. 

So—20 kilometers from the Bliss Hotel in Yangsan to the Nakdong-jang Motel in Miryang City. I left at 5 a.m., an hour later than on Day 1, and I got here around 11:30 a.m. As mentioned above, my pace was about 3.2 kph, which is painfully slow if you're anywhere from normal to athletic. But I walked steadily, enjoyed the cool, and experienced only a small amount of under-toe irritation, which I took care of with an ibuprofen tablet. 

Unfortunately, the Bliss Hotel in Yangsan seems to be going downhill. As I've experienced in a lot of other motels, the electricity for charging my devices seemed to be coming in at a trickle, so in the morning, my phone was only 45% charged, and my power pack was barely charged at all. I shrugged and didn't bother waiting for a full charge; it would've taken hours. But the next time I'm in Yangsan, I'll consider trying a different motel. And no, it's not that my cord's damaged; I use the same cord to charge devices at my place, and everything charges up fast.

The one major consequence of leaving while under-charged was that I ran out of all power (cell + power pack) a little past halfway through the walk. I have more than enough photos to give you your daily ten, Dear Reader, but only about 90 pics in total for the day instead of my usual 200-700. Luckily, my final photos were of the "swimming dragons" in that one park. Nice way to end, and it actually felt liberating not to have to shutterbug every twenty meters.

I tried to take pics of the mist rising off the river as the sun began to burn through the morning coolness (it was 4.3°C/39.7°F this morning; my fingertips started to freeze); I'll put up one image two images of that, and you can tell me whether I succeeded in capturing it. The Nakdong looks pleasantly ghostly when that happens, and it's one of the reasons why I like starting each segment of these long walks early in the morning.

So unlike yesterday, when I walked 29K after barely sleeping and was utterly exhausted at the end of the day, I started today well rested, arrived at my destination before noon, and still feel awake and full of energy (albeit a little stiff). As I walked today, I was amused by my shadow during some stretches: with my bandanna pulled tight against my skull and my large jacket loose around me, my shadow looked rather monkish, which may be apropos since this walk will be more monkish in nature than previous ones: very few food indulgences, absolutely no snacks while hiking (angina), and greater single-mindedness of purpose.

I think my phone reached 0% battery power with only a few kilometers to go because my step count for today is only a couple thousand lower than my step count from last year. So I'm simply putting up today's stats, truncated though they be. Enjoy the day's images.

today's stats before I lost power

today's route north and west

So much electricity. Poor North Korea.

Jupiter up top, Sirius at bottom, and maybe Procyon in the middle.

The camera's night setting makes everything brighter. To my eyes, all of this was a lot darker.

33K was how far I'd walked at that point. The 2-day total is about 50K.

cold enough for frost

I guess the tree really wanted to get out. 

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED HERE???

nearly monkish shadow

squished mama mantis, eggs splattered and exposed

swimming dragon

Two bonus pics—attempting to capture the river mist:

Play Misty for me. 

PHOTO ESSAY

well rested and moving out from the Bliss Hotel

the early-morning, quiet streets of Yangsan

approaching the crucial stairs

The other, easier way out of town is via the same footbridge that I'd taken to get into town. I guess I was too addled, that early in the morning, to think of the footbridge.

down we go

looking back

and now, up

It's quiet at this time of day (5:18 a.m. for this shot).

definitely leaving Yangsan

concertina wire protecting a facility whose purpose is closed to me

powerful light pollution

now out of town

bright star = Sirius

the three-fer combo, top to bottom, of Jupiter, Procyon, and Sirius

riverside boardwalk

At 5:54 a.m., the sky is barely beginning to lighten.

But to my eyes, it's still mostly dark. The incomplete bridge ahead remains nameless on Naver Map.

dawn

You can see the bridge needs another year or more.

Are any voters complaining about a "bridge to nowhere"? Probably not.

절대 감속/jeoldae gamsok is, roughly, "Absolutely decelerate!"

looking off to the side at a path not taken

tributary

forward through the orange traffic markers

Another sign affirming this is both the 4 Rivers path and the Nakdong River path.

info to familiarize you with the path

Hwangsan-gang "Berang" path (Hwangsan = Yellow Mountain; gang = river; Berang = ???; 소개 = introduction)

site of a scene from Surado, possibly a 1969 novella by Kim Jeong-han about farmers' hardships under Japanese colonialism

more on the novel and the history (click to enlarge)

yet more

stone benches for you to sit and think about Surado

stone marker from 1739 (see next pic)

Things that are very, very old can suddenly leap out at you along the path. Not even stone survives the centuries.

gentle chicane, more for bikers than walkers

village in the distance

6:47 a.m., with the sun up and about now

go straight, old man

To clarify what I'd said earlier: my two-day total after today's segment was about 50K.

montagne à distance

Always nice to have a walking path by the bike path. You can't count on it, though.

Sun touches the mountaintops. And morning river mist rises.

more hints of river mist

a hardy example of South Korea's muscular earthworms (invasive in the West)

another chicane up ahead

frosty frostiness

not quite hoarfrost (it's only November)

I had made the command decision, before the walk, not to pack along a coat. I have a winter coat, but like last year, when it was even colder, I brought along only a large, heavy jacket (gift from the ex-boss) and a winter vest (also a gift from the ex-boss), plus hats (I had three, then four) and gloves and a neck gaiter. I ended up using only one pair of gloves the whole time, along with some chemical hand-warmers (shake violently to activate). While my hands were still cold, the rest of me was fine, and my fingers, while occasionally frozen, weren't as frozen as they'd been last December. The problem with freezing fingers is that, when they get too stiff, you can't operate your phone camera very well. And cold weather tends to drain your electronics' batteries, which doesn't help matters. But the heavy jacket and winter vest worked well together, forming a warm, dry layer of air that accompanied me wherever I went. So even in very cold temps, a coat isn't always necessary—just layers. I also didn't use my wide-brimmed hat that often.

Oh, about the hats: as you see later on in this blog, I started off with three hats: a wide-brimmed hat and two winter hats—a beanie and a sort of ski mask. Much later in the walk, I was convinced I'd lost the beanie, so I bought another while I was in western Daegu. Then I found the hat I thought I'd lost, hidden inside a dark corner of my pack, and that's how three hats became four. All four hats are at home with me now, waiting for me to take a walk in the cold outdoors.

power towers

losing the pedestrian lane, but there are very few bikers out (most stick to their cities)

entering a bamboo grove

stairs to mystery and the mystical barrier to the stairs

a tree forces its way out and pays the price

—but it got stuck

another hiccup on the path

I sometimes want a boat.

It's turning into another nice day.

A faded sign for minari and samgyeopsal at White House Garden. Below that: a sign for White House Pension.

looking across the Nakdong

the concrete wall that will be with me for a while

fascinating wall pattern 1

fascinating wall pattern 2

fascinating wall pattern 2, closeup—side view of a skeletal smile

fascinating wall pattern 3

onward

fascinating wall pattern 4

animal asshole, probably a small dog

As I shouted way above, "WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED HERE???" If this was a cat, well, what rude cat leaves a mouse's ass? That's the best part!

The river is wide and peaceful.

and far off: a bald spot

Straight on between barriers. Feeling managed yet?

I've never diverted to the village. I normally see myself as on a schedule, with limited time and energy.

Wood boardwalk gives way to paved boardwalk.

the monkish shadow

As I noted above, although I'd brought my wide-brimmed hat with me to protect me from the sun, I only ever wore it a few times during the walk.

Someone or something squished this mantis mom hard enough to shoot out her babies.

The faithless, mercurial pedestrian path returns! I will enjoy it while it lasts.

So that's where the Bushes went.

Berry my heart at Wounded Knee.

berries and asters

about 10 more km to go to my destination: Nakdong-jang Yeogwan

swerve right

the park with the swimming dragons is coming up

more lovely parkland

I catch sight of my first swimming dragon. And my phone is about to run out of power.

There are three dragons at this park.

Dragon 1, side view

Dragon 1, from the front

Dragon 2, side view

Dragon 2, from the front

sneaking up on Dragon 3

Dragon 3, side/back angle

Dragon 3, front

Dragon 3, front again

I walked on for another 9 km or so, finally reaching the Nakdong-jang Yeogwan, whose confused signage bills it as both a yeogwan and a motel. Accommodations were nice, though. When I first went there in 2017, the place was being managed into the ground by a terse old lady who put me in a bedless room. Not that I care that much about beds: there was a period in the 2010s during which I slept on the floor. Not a problem. But it would have been nice to have a choice. I recall the room being ratty and having no WiFi. That lady disappeared (moved? died?), and the new person managing the place has been much more conscientious. Rooms are cleaner if more expensive, and they all have strong WiFi now, plus electric fans, which are the boon of anyone who needs to hand-wash any travel laundry. A few things I prize in a yeogwan/motel room: electric sockets next to my bed, electric fans, and no weird leakages in the bathroom. You can't always get what you want, of course, but you often get what you need. I generally don't complain unless something is very, very wrong.