The start was probably the hardest part of the hike.  It was a long steep climb, without anytime to warm up.  It took about 10 steps to strip off my coat and sweater.

Rob climbing by on the opening stretch.  We were all sweating away.

Jasmine, Rob and I waited around a lot.  Beth and Terry were a bit slower, which gave us lots of rests.  We had fun sitting for a few minutes then getting up as soon as they caught up and saying, "Okay, let's go."

These are some pagodas that marked the end of the first part of our climb.  Pagodas are religious building of the Far East, especially a multistory Buddhist tower, erected as a memorial or shrine.  (Thanks to Dictionary.com)

We asked someone to take some pictures for us.  We handed over three cameras, but for some reason he went though the motions with each camera but never pushed a single button.  The second guy we stopped was much better.

I told Terry and Beth, just "5 more steps to the top," a couple of times as a sort of joke/encouragement.  It became the fun line of the day.  Jasmine didn't look tired the entire day long.

We climbed one peak, then walked along a ridge to two other peaks of the mountain range.  I think this is us on top of the first peak.  The sun wasn't helpful that day.  It was always on the side with the best view.  Damn back lighting.

We stopped for lunch a short distance off of the path.  We ate kim-bop (rice rolls) that Jasmine brought with her, and fruit from everyone.  It was a nice picnic between the first and second peak.

There were huge changes in the path as we weaved up and over the mountains.  Some parts of the trail  were real stairs, some had just rails, others had ropes and some were death incarnate.

I wanted to climb everything I saw.  There is actually a drop between the camera and me here.  When I was waiting I climbed rocks, trees, slopes, what ever I could get my grubby little hands on.

It was a long climb to the top of some peaks.  But it looks a lot longer and harder than it really was.  This was the last ascent, our third peak of the day.

This is the ridge that we walked along.  The first peak we climbed, is one of the distant ones.  I can't tell which from this picture.

The final descent was the worst part of the hike.  Neither Jasmine or I fell, but everyone else did.  Beth hurt her ankle a little.  The rocks we wet and slick with leaves, and often were more like a slide then a step.

We had heard promise of a waterfall at the end of your hike all day.  When we got there, after 6 hours it was a bit of a let down.  In the fall there is very little run off left on the mountains.  This is a few minutes downstream of the waterfall.

These little stone statues are prayers for ancestors.  There are everywhere on the mountain.  I don't know if they are built there because of the Buddhist temple, or because of the mountain.