Alpaca lunch

“Go for a hike,” they said. “It’ll be fun!” they said. Really, we had signed ourselves up for a climb up a mountain that was 878 meters (2880 feet) tall.

Look! A cave man!

In reality, it was fun. Daedun Mountain and the surrounding park were beautiful places that provided a full day’s worth of outdoor entertainment. It was just a bit more physically demanding that I had expected…plus I did it at almost 6 months pregnant, so I was carrying a little extra weight up to the top along with my bag of trail mix and ham sandwich.

The bridge felt a little wobbly, but we made it across! Woo!

Some of the coolest sights on this hike were the suspension bridge and suspension staircase. Those things, as well as the views from the top, had us sold on the adventure before we had even stepped out the door.

Rule number 3: No passing the old, the weak, the drunken and the children. Noted.

Suspension bridge: check. Next up: suspension staircase.

Made it to another point where I could sit and have a snack.

Hey, bug. Ready for your glamour shots?

Other special bonuses we encountered on the trip: a monk at the end of the suspension bridge (perhaps saying a special prayer for people about to cross safely…it worked), some truly excellent Korean signs (and by “excellent” I mean horribly translated and hilarious to an American), and a set of angel wings painted on the side of a rock where I could pose and reveal my inner Victoria’s Secret persona (or more like channel my inner Heidi Kulm from when she was pregnant but never anything but fabulous).

Lunch break at the summit. Hand sanitizer for the win.

I believe I can fly. (JK...but sometimes I can climb.)

That view though!

A very descriptive directional sign indeed.

Wait, wait...is that Heidi?

Daedun Mountain: It'll give you wings!

Our tour guide, TK, was great. He’s native to Korea and perhaps a mountain master. He was one of the first in our group to make it to the top, and then to the cable car station where he supplied us with cable car tickets so we could easily glide back down the mountain and back to our tour bus.