Yangjae-cheon walk—first in a while

Awesome walk in perfect walking weather last night. Temps were in the 60s when I started (18-ish Celsius), and they dropped down to the high 50s by the end (14-ish C). I walked a route I hadn't done in a while: the Yangjae Creek, all the way to the point where a person leaves Seoul and ends up in Gwacheon City. 

In fact, I entertained myself by trying to figure out exactly where the Seoul/Gwacheon city line was, and I think I found it to within a hundred meters through the clever use of Naver Map. Naver Map has a "find route" function that automatically sets your point of departure as wherever you happen to be at the moment (the "my location" default). Without even bothering to set a destination, I was able to see what my location was. As I approached the part of the path that I suspected to be the Seoul/Gwacheon border, I started checking my location every 100 or so meters. I did this while walking back toward Seoul, so what I saw was Gwacheon... Gwacheon... Gwacheon... Seoul! Luckily, the border proved to be right next to an easily recognizable landmark (the very end of an apartment complex), so from now on, I'll know when I'm crossing into/out of Seoul.

When I reached the point on the path where I would normally do a U-turn and start back home, I encountered two gentlemen who called out to me in the dark about where a local horserace track was located (weird, given that it was after midnight). As I got closer to the gentlemen, they realized I was a foreigner, and one of them said "Sorry" in English, but I answered them in Korean, saying I didn't know where the racetrack was, but that there was a set of stairs nearby since they were looking to get off the path. They thanked me and went on their way... and that's when I belatedly realized I could have used Naver Map to get them exactly to their desired destination. (In fact, they probably could have done the same thing had they been thinking straight.) Ah, well. Another chance to be useful squandered.

In all, it was a magnificent hike. I did all the staircases along the way—34 in total (33 with one new staircase—see below for explanation), plus two more on the way back for a total of 36 creekside staircases. You may recall from my older posts that the first 14 staircases are big (ranging from 72 steps to 55 steps as you go southwest along the creek), then staircases #15-29 are half-sized, then the final three staircases are all under 20 steps each. Doing some rough math, I'd say that that comes out to about 1,318 steps—a bit more than climbing the steps up Namsan on the public-library side. Put another way, doing that many steps is like walking up my building staircase, from B1 to the 26th floor, twice. Of course, the creekside stairs are easier since I have a chance to catch my breath between staircases, which are spaced apart an average of 100-150 meters, at least for the first 14. After that, the spacing widens by a lot, especially along the staircase #25-29 interval, with 300-600 meters between staircases.

I was tired but feeling fulfilled by the time I got back to my place around 3 a.m. My pedometer said I'd walked for 330 minutes, i.e., five-and-a-half hours. Assuming a slow average rate of about 4.2 kph, that would be about a 23.1-kilometer walk. Not quite the distance to Hanam City (26K), but close.

This is a walk I need to do several more times before I fly to Jeju next week because, the more I look at my Jeju-walk schedule, the more I realize I've set myself a fairly brutal task. I haven't budgeted any rest days this time around, and I have three days of over-30K walking over the course of 17 days. Having not done much stairs training over the past couple of months, I've allowed myself to decondition, and it's important to have a strong heart and strong lungs so I can endure all the hills (six days of difficult-level terrain). So last night's walk is—pardon the walk pun—a step in the right direction.

Here are some scattered pics from last night's walk.

staircase #15, with this romantic little Christmas-lit tunnel

the small, man-made pond at staircase #17

at the top of staircase #18 or so, looking northeast (road sign says no biking)

same location, looking southwest

It was actually hard to get a shot with no people in it. Lots of people on the path, but thinning out toward Gwacheon.

around staircase #23 or so

damage from the recent floods

staircase #28 with what I call the "fairy lights" next to it (left of the stairs)

They've done some new landscaping along this creek.

Another lonely stretch. Mostly bikers now; I've left the pedestrians behind.
The phone camera makes the sky look much brighter than in real life.

Not for the first time, I thought about moving to this area, right on the outskirts of Seoul. It's so quiet compared to my current neighborhood. The only problem is that a walk to the Han River would be much more inconvenient.

staircase #29, right by the Seoul/Gwacheon border

crossing over the creek and switching sides (staircase #29 just off camera)

standing at the top of staircase #30, looking back toward Seoul

a weird rough patch... I assume this will be resurfaced

another bridge; crossing back to my original side (i.e., creek to the left)

staircase #33... the final staircase approaches

Staircase #33 is 23 steps high.

Staircase #33 is my U-turn point. I've gone farther than this before, but the creek starts branching into tributaries, and the path, which also branches crazily, becomes harder to follow. Normally, I turn around here, then head straight back to my place without doing the staircases again (more on that in a bit). After 33 (well, 34) staircases, I'm all stair'ed out.

stone bench, fallen over because of creekside erosion caused by the floods

almost back to my place

As I said, it was a great walk. The weather was absolutely perfect, and since we're nearing the end of September, I can expect the nights to be cooler and the daytime temps to be less harsh (like today). Around mid-October, though, is when Korea really kicks into fall mode, with temperatures hitting a shelf and suddenly plunging several degrees. At that time, the weather, even in the daytime, goes from cool to crisp. Jeju, though, promises to be much warmer given its southern location.

More creekside walks to come! Maybe one day, I'll photograph every single staircase I do to give you a better idea of what this route is like. Oh, yeah: I mentioned that it's 33 staircases to the extreme end of the route, but there's been some renovation, and now, there's a new staircase along the way. I did that one, too, so it was actually 34 staircases into Gwacheon City, then another two on the way back home. I'm keeping the original numbering, but I'm calling the new staircase "24.5" since it's between staircases #24 and #25.

I've idly considered doing a mega-walk, one of these days, in which I do all the staircases going in both directions. Assuming I don't do the final staircase twice, that would be 67 staircases total, and I'd be dead tired by the end of such a walk. But as achievements go, that would be pretty badass, especially for a guy in my shape. Well... something to think about, anyway. Right now, the very thought of doing 67 staircases at one go is, to put it politely, daunting.