Whoever gets there first…

 … could be the motto of a race to the top of a peak on a hiking day like today. That’s not quite the case in our relationship though. We are both not super eager hikers, usually maxing out at around the 3-4h mark. After a certain time of hiking, either one of us usually starts having enough of it and starts counting the minutes until its over. At that point the other person is not allowed to give in anymore and needs to be the one pulling the both of us over the line. That‘s our meaning of the phrase „Whoever gets there first“, “there” being the state of despair.

Anyways. Plan was made, backpacks were packed and the goal of todays hike was Baegundae summit in the Bukhansan national park. 15km hike with 730m elevation gain. Sounds doable.

Easier said than done though… anyone who has hiked in this kind of subtropical weather knows that the humidity upwards of 80% is what kills you. Also we seem to have a talent for always packing too little water, which feels like a double penalty in this case. Especially given the big signs 30 min into the hike saying: „There is no water!“ (that would have been useful information at the beginning of the hike…). As Swiss, we are used to the „Beiz“ culture which is definitely not a thing here…

We were therefore pleasantly surprised when we hit some kind of building, half hut, half temple with lots of little Buddhas outside. Upon inspecting it we stumbled across something that looked like a water station but it was just slightly off. There was a big steel canister seemingly filled with liquid, but no cups, only bowls that looked like they were meant for the dog lying in front of it. After a few minutes of mystery, we were saved by some locals stepping up, clearly knowing what they were doing. One of the elderly Korean men took a ladle, opened a container and poured a milky substance into the bowls, giving them to us saying only one word: “Sikhye“. The others started to drink it  and the liquid felt ice-cold in our hands so we happily joined in. It was a nice refreshment especially given the lack of water we brought. Whether our stomachs agree with the silky, slightly mochi tasting liquid…? Only time will tell.

Refreshed, we finally made it to the last part of the hike. With the summit in sight, the remaining challenge was that the last 200m of elevation gain were distributed over the last 200m of track. A great match for Steve‘s vertigo! Thanks to a slightly ambitiously planned teamhike from a couple months ago (looking at you Markus!), the vertigo actually didn‘t turn out to be that much of an issue. It was more the full body workout, using all our extremities climbing the peak, that brought both of us to the closest experience of outdoor rock climbing we had in our lives.

Worth it though! Great views from the top! Definitely a place, where people die taking too much risk for a selfie though…

PS: Shoutout to todays dinner which just hit the spot! Chicken, Ramen, Tteokbokki,  all in a spicy korean sauce and split by a giant river of molten cheese. This slightly extravagant version of Dakgalbi made sure we didn’t end our day with a calorie deficit.

PPS: Second arcade run in the books! This time a bit more retro.

Country

South Korea

Region

Bukhansan National Park

Date

04 September 2026

Camera

Sony a6700

GPS

37.658694, 126.978020