Day 10, Leg 7

I'm now officially just past the halfway point (halfway = 192.5K of 385K). Less than 190K of trail to go, plus a few extra km because I have to go off-piste to reach my lodging every time I stop. Today's 25K walk went very slowly, though, because I got distracted by all of the shaman spiders I photographed along a stretch that felt like a repeat of Spider Alley (close to Mushim-sa—remind me to explain the Buddhist concept of mu shim sometime). 

5:20 a.m. departure. The morning started off with heavy fog, but temperatures weren't as cold as on previous days. When the day got lighter, the fog didn't burn off, so when I passed by Dalseong Dam (달성보/Dalseong-bo), I couldn't see the entire dam: it simply disappeared into the mist. Around 10 a.m., the sun became strong enough to burn away the fog, and the rest of the day was bright, warm, and beautiful. But it was while the morning was still foggy and cold that I entered the second Spider Alley and kept stopping at every tree to admire dew-bedizened web shapes as well as the large, cold-addled spiders that, being cold-blooded, were too torpid to do anything when I lightly touched their front legs to see whether they had survived the freezing night (I used to own tarantulas, so spiders definitely don't creep me out).

My second highlight in this mostly flat walk was seeing a snake the width of a typical American garter snake but almost as long as the bike path was across. By this point, the day had had a chance to warm up. At first, I thought this was yet another dead snake to enter into my dead-snake-photo collection, but when I leaned in and took a photograph, the entire serpent came groggily to life and slithered drunkenly off the path before I had the wit to switch my phone to video mode. A shame, that, but I at least have the one photo of the thing, from back when I'd thought I was looking at yet another carcass. Maybe it had been trying to sun itself. But if so, why in the shade?

My day's third highlight came five minutes later when two twentysomething Korean guys biked up to me and stopped. Introvert that I am, I had a sinking feeling that I knew what was coming, and sure enough, one of the two guys started off with a, "Hi, how are you?" in English. This began a ten-minute conversation about who we were, respectively, what we were doing, where we were going, and other getting-to-know-you matters. The quieter guy turned out to live in Seoul; the talkative guy was currently living in Australia and had been there for five years; he was back in Korea during a break and engaged in this biking project with his buddy. I tactfully didn't mention that his English still sounded heavily Korean-accented for a young, seemingly smart guy who'd spent half a decade in Oz, but who am I to criticize given my so-so Korean skills after 23 years here? Conversation revolved around my shirt and its graphic design; the guys said that they were heading to Busan and currently following the Nakdong River path, but that they hadn't started out along the Four Rivers trail at all, instead hitting sites in the west known for baseball, then heading east to Sangju and picking up the Nakdong River path. Their total time on the path was planned to be no more than 8 to 10 days, with stopovers at some places that were familiar to me. I warned the guys about the steep trail at Mushim-sa and advised them to take the detour; they thanked me for the advice. Conversation had been pleasant enough despite my introverted misgivings, and after they had taken posed photos with me and my tee shirt (it's from 2023, so it counts as false advertising for this year's walk), we went our separate ways, having exchanged no contact information. Good. I didn't even tell them I was blogging this trip.

All in all, it was a painless encounter, which pleased my inner introvert. The rest of the walk offered no more snakes or spiders, but I did, at one point, feel the presence of a bug on my neck. When I swiped it off, I smelled the familiar, almond-extract odor of a stink bug's butt juice. At least the stink bug itself was gone.

I arrived at the If Hotel and my favorite Chinese resto, An Shi Seong, at around 3:20 p.m. The restaurant's door had a sign in English saying that 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. was break time, so I went over to the If Hotel, booked myself for two nights, and set myself to banging out this blog entry. 

There were no hills until about 10 km before the end of today's segment, and suddenly, there was a series of small, steep hills, but nothing tragic. Today's walk was great, albeit a bit slow. I'll give you the usual complement of ten pics for the day, but when I upload the full complement of pics in late November or December, you'll get to see all of the spiders in all of their dewy glory. I didn't take any pics of the two guys; as I've mentioned several times, I'm an introvert, so I'm not really into photographing people except from way behind or at a distance. (And I despise most artificially posed shots... unless I have a chance to do something silly to undercut the mood. Otherwise, if I take anything like a portrait shot, I always ask permission.)

So enjoy today's ten pics. Tomorrow's yet another rest day, so I'll probably slap up more pics then. In the meantime, my schedule (without dates) is:

1. Walk to Lee Motel, Chilgok-gun, 33K 
2. Walk to Libertar Pension, Gumi, 32K
3. Walk to Bonghwang Motel, Sangju, 23K
4. Walk to Bobos Motel, Sangju, 25K
5. Walk to Gangnam Motel, Jibo-myeon, 36K
6. Walk to Songhak Motel, west Andong, 30K
7. Walk to Andong Dam, 28K

So that's another 207K of walking to do, and after today's feast at An Shi Seong, I'll have to get about the business of buying supplies, washing clothes, showering, and resting. And after I leave the Daegu region, I'll need to go back to a boring diet of canned tuna, spam, and chicken breast. Too many carbs up to now.

Enjoy today's selection of pics.

As usual, distance is exaggerated. Only 25K, not 30K.

pretty much just follow the river

The camera makes the scene brighter than what I saw.

해바라기/haebaragi, sunflower

There were gardens of sunflowers and other lovely plants in this area, which also happens to be an area where I used to overnight before I re-plotted my walks. Now, I no longer stop here.

Dalseong Dam disappearing act: into the fog

another Ms. Dewey McWebbington in Spider Alley 2

trail and farm access road

algae blooms all over the Nakdong and tributaries

The Nakdong really seems to be in trouble this year. Algae blooms are widespread, and I'm not seeing any efforts to clean them up. Maybe North Korea can open up one of its major dams, let the water flood southward, and flush out all of South Korea's algae. Ha ha, as if that were how it worked. Nice try, Kevin.

chair, scheduled for execution

Every once in a while on these trails, you'll see chairs tied to trees as if they were dogs that had misbehaved and were now being punished. I like to imagine these chairs as if they were a broken-down Charlton Heston, dramatically awaiting their ultimate fate.

field work

that long-ass snake (German Schlang)

I regret not pulling the camera back more to allow you to see the snake's sheer length in comparison to the path's width. And I remember being about to photograph the snake and thinking, Gee, this one doesn't have a crushed head or any guts hanging out. And then it moved, slowly and ponderously, like the Enterprise leaving Spacedock.

rich, prominent family... all dead—several forms of vanity on display

EPILOGUE: I visited the local 7-Eleven and bought some supplies but forgot others. I then dropped off my booty and went to An Shi Seong across the parking lot, where I ate a meal that was just like the first one I'd ever had there—crackling and delicious 군만두/gun-mandu (fried dumplings) with seismically crunchy 깐풍기/gganpoonggi (chicken poppers in sweet-spicy sauce—crunchy without getting soggy). I was in heaven. The food was exactly what I'd dreamed of, and the only negative was that the experience had to end. I made sure to thank the chefs on my way out, and I lumber-waddled out into the pleasant evening air, looking positively pregnant but feeling supremely at peace with the world after committing the mortal sin of gluttony. I'll atone tomorrow, I swear, if atonement is possible.

I walked around looking for an electronics store to see about buying myself a new power pack, but all I found was a Daiso (Japanese dollar store) that sold only cheap items. I next went looking for a place that sold winter beanies, and there was no shortage of those. My first stop was a Black Yak, Korea's answer to The North Face (which also has a branch in this part of Daegu). Black Yak had a simple-looking beanie... for the low-low price of sixty fucking thousand won (about $42, US). I went next door to a humbler-looking store called Eider; they had almost the same beanie on sale for W19,000. Ideally, such a simple hat shouldn't be more than W5,000, but after the sticker shock of W60,000, I shelled out for the cheaper hat. And now, I am re-behatted.

I visited that 7-Eleven again and got the rest of the supplies that I had forgotten to get—two small packs of wet wipes and two packs of regular tissues for my constantly running nose (I love the cold mornings, but I pay a price for that love). And here I am again, finishing up this entry. One more proofreading (which won't catch everything), and I'll hit "publish."