FRIDAY, MAY 30 --> to Keunjae, distance 12km
We left the Eden Motel well-rested; showered; and full of a convenience-store breakfast. Although we felt okay for a long hike, instead we had made a plan to visit a bathhouse that wasn't too far off the trail. We would reenter the BDDGT nearby the village of Yongmunsan.
Our early-morning ascent was up and over frequent hills, fairly meandering and easy on the legs. The only views we had were of two mining sites where gleaming white rock was unearthed like gaping wounds in the green hillsides.
Three kilometers down the trail, we cut northeast through a brushy valley. We wanted to get to Jakjeom Pass as soon as possible to make time for a good soak, so this spur trail via a small village to a country road was our best option.
Boot wear was present at first, but then we lost the trail in a marshy creek bed. Fortunately the creek was dry enough that we could make our way through the tall grass and around spindly trees to a sparsely planted orchard.
Fruit tree and grape orchards, outbuildings, makeshift fences and roads created a maze that aggravated us in the heat, but we eventually made it to the main road. Our trekking poles clicked and clacked on the pavement, and after 20 minutes we were at the attractive jeongja at Jakjeom.
As I settled in for a snack at a picnic table, Ben approached a man in a white Bongo truck about the jjimjilbang in the countryside. He didn't know about it, but he offered to drive us to the address we had pulled up on Ben's phone.
We heaved our packs in his flatbed and cruised down the valley past grape orchards and small, ornate homes. He was a quiet but nice man from Daejeon, making his money processing grapes in Neungchi village. He never doubted our claims that a bathhouse existed by his second home.
Yet once we turned left on a small road and climbed steeply, I began to doubt this bathhouse was open anymore. Pulling into the empty parking lot, my doubts were confirmed. Outside of four remodeled cottages to our left, the jjimjilbang was visibly abandoned. The sign's lettering had peeled off in the sun, and the entryway smelled musty and garbage was strewn across the floor. Our kind acquaintance yelled into the building, his voice echoing down its long hall.
No mind, he would drive us to his processing facility for us to refill our water bottles and then onto anywhere else. We asked to be driven to Yongmunsanri. Though he was confused why we weren't going back to the pass at Jakjeom, he complied.
We parted with the man from Daejeon at a bus stop in front of a tall stone gate--reminiscent of the Korean dynasties of old. He read the wooden sign above the entrance. In Hanja/Korean-adopted Chinese, it read Love Country Gate. Very patriotic...
Two men doing construction work at the gate ignored us, so we silently hiked up a steep road to an immaculate jeongja in the center of the village. We cooked ramen at picnic tables under shade trees, observing the jeongja and community we had found ourselves in. Two more people walked past and ignored us, yet the village was charming nestled in this forested valley. According to our guidebook, Yongmunsanri is home to the Cheonseong Christian prayer camp. But judging from the numerous small churches and crosses on display, the whole community is dedicated to Christ.
A man approached us as we were packing up, surprised to see two foreigners in his remote town. In English, he asked us what we were doing. He remarked that our BDDGT hike must be very romantic. He mentioned that he was a professor at the local university, and he invited us to his home for coffee or tea. We declined. We had more hiking to do before sundown.
He then asked if we were Christian. I responded that I wasn't, and his facial expression changed from a smile to a grimace. He thought all Americans were Christian, and I remarked that wasn't the case. He then said that Jesus visited him for the first time in 1968. He couldn't renounce Jesus' visit, so he converted to Christianity. The caveat being that he is still culturally Confuscist. He invited us to his home again, and we declined yet again. He wished us safe travels and walked on, looking disappointed.
We left the jeongja quickly, hiking again up the steep road only to stop for a drink at a community spring. Gradually up the valley, we began to notice that half the homes we saw were either disheveled or abandoned. Many folks' dedication to Christ had obviously waned.
We found the trail north of the village easily, and its condition was fantastic. We spiritedly hiked along the narrow valley back to the BDDGT where a wooden bench greeted us. After chit-chatting, we continued onward until Keunjae while listening to electro music on my Smartphone to motivate us the last few kilometers.
We expected to camp at an abandoned school at the pass, but it has since been demolished and replaced by a sprawling "green" complex of buildings, jeongjas, paths, trees and lawns--an educational center to teach children about nature and Korean culture.
One of the managers said that we couldn't camp there, so we bid our time buying cold drinks from a vending machine and getting water from an elongated metal station with many spigots and sinks on each side.
We cooked dinner at a picnic table, and the night manager repeatedly asked Ben to be his drinking buddy. He said he was on a soju diet, so he couldn't join us for food (we're unsure if he was joking or not). After he drank and argued on the phone with his wife for about an hour at his sleeping quarters, he emerged tipsy and talkative.
Although his job is in this rural area, he and his family live in Gwangju, Gyeonggido. He commutes home every weekend. He loves and misses his 12-year-old son very much, and he gestured hugging his son. He also loves playing soccer, but his competitive nature makes him an angry husband. Then he gestured bowing and apologizing to his wife.
Before he retired for the night, he said that we could sleep anywhere onsite. Why can we? Because he's the manager, he boasted.
We opted for the squat jeongja sans our tent at the trailhead. The night was warm and we hadn't seen one mosquito.
The next day would be a long one: 20km.