I had brought my spikes hiking the night before and ended up not needing them.  I almost decided to leave them at home for this trip, but thought they don't really have weight to them so I might as well bring them just incase.  The boy scouts were right again, "always be prepared."  Although at the start, it looked like they would remain in my bag for two days in a row.

I  this was just before the first peak.  Jasmine is putting her spikes on her shoes.  I ended up using mine in a couple different places, and was grateful to have them.  Jasmine's a little better than mine, but mine work, so no complaints.

A view down to one of the valleys from the first peak we ascended to.

Jasmine and me together on the first peak.  We almost have matching outfits on.  My gloves really stand out though.  I think I am going to invest in some hiking gloves.  The ones I've been wearing are my biking gloves.  They work really well but I'm worried, but I don't think they were designed for gripping trees and rocks and I don't really want to damage them.  They are nice for biking.

A view down into a different valley.  I think this is from our second peak of the day...but it could of been our third.  I don't really keep track of which is which.  It can be hard to watch all the scenery at times.  I spend to much times watching where I'm stepping so I don't go sliding off the mountain, that concentrating on the world around isn't always an option while moving...but when you stop for a moment...there are always beautiful things around.

Many of the peaks of Gyeryongsan National Park.  Rob made the comment, that when people think of Korea and East Asia, they usually think of the cities and not the mountains and country side.  I think he's right, before I came here all I really thought about was the crowded populations, and mega cities everywhere.  But I'm having a very different experience now that I'm here.  More nature then I expected, railing and stair assisted nature, but nature nevertheless.  70% of Korea is mountains, and hopefully I will have quite a few of them under my belt before I leave.  I'm already making quite the collection.

Jasmine standing on top of the world...well on top of the rock at least, with the scenery for the picture above behind her, down one heck of a steep drop-off.

The peak in the distance is the first peak we reached.  We covered 8.2 km today.  I don't if that's includes the vertical component or not.

The entire first half of the course was composed of constant sharp drops and steep climbs on rock faces.  Here is Jasmine preparing to descend.

Well over half way we stopped for lunch.  After 5.(something) we met up with the path we took with Rob, Terry and Beth.  But we only stayed on it for a short while.  The pagodas looked a little different covered in snow, although the day was very warm.  Things were melting left and right.

Although they look similar to the step of death that we took with everyone last time we were at Gyeryongsan, these were a different set.  I didn't find them as bad, even though they had a lot of snow and ice on them.

This temple was near the end of our hiking.  It's a new building, not built in the traditional style, but I think they picked a great place for a locations, as most of the temples in Korea seem to have.  A very majestic look.

I thought this was very cool.  I'd never seen a frozen waterfall, I live in the country that is suppose to be known the world over for our winters.  A very cool spectacle to behold.

And this was the first bamboo forest that I think I've seen while I've been here.  There is bamboo everything...not growing, but used everywhere.  It was neat to finally see some growing.  No pandas anywhere but in my mind though.  =(  I think movies and literature have too closely related pandas and bamboo in my mind.