decided

It is decided. As much as a walk along the Four Rivers trail would soothe my soul, I'm out for revenge redemption, so a Redemption Walk along the Nakdong River trail it is. I'll start in late October, around October 27 (a Monday), and walk the 385K + a little extra to account for the necessary diversions to reach lodging. The Four Rivers walk will have to wait until next year, so I'll need to survive at least that long. At least I have something to live for.

My cyclist commenter mentioned doing a practice route from Chuncheon to Seoul. He said "120 km," but that depends on where "in Seoul" one arrives. Seoul is big—maybe not compared to a Chinese megalopolis, but compared to New York City, it's pretty big. When I walk across Seoul from Incheon on my way to Hanam, Yangpyeong, and beyond, it normally takes me two days to cross the city (with a stop at my apartment). I live in southeast Seoul, and the bike route I saw from Chuncheon Station to Daecheong Station is only 107 km. I suppose I could walk along the Han to about National Assembly Station, which is 119 km.

But the question, which doesn't occur as frequently to bikers since they do bigger chunks of distance per day, is where to stay along the way. Along the North Han River, I see plenty of expensive pensions and a few expensive hotels, but not much in the way of motels, which is where I usually stay. Pensions and hotels normally require reservations, but motels are generally of the walk-in variety, with no questions asked. In theory, I could stealth-camp my way down the route, whichever route I end up taking, but the more I think about it, the more I think the whole North Han River part of the route is better for day hikes. Unless someone knows of an app that pinpoints every single Korean motel so I can find one along the route. I also know that Naver Map, as good as it is, doesn't show every single motel along the way. Then again, when you're close to a given neighborhood and you type "모텔/motel" into the app, you do get a pretty comprehensive list of nearby lodging.

All in all, I think I'll stick to my plan to do the Incheon-Yangpyeong route for practice. Let's pray to the rain gods for no rain, eh?

ADDENDUM: I could also try doing the Geumgang (Geum River) course. That's approximately 145 km and would be totally new to me.

ADDENDUM 2: I see, on Naver Map, that I'd need to bring along camping equipment, at least for that first stop. Or I'd have to subject myself to an 8K walk at the end of a 27K day to reach a motel, then walk that 8K the following morning so I can do a nice, 39K stretch. No way. I think I'm gonna stick with the original Incheon-Yangpyeong plan. Alternatively, I can do a series of 18K-26K walks here locally, several days in a row, and sleep in my own bed, never once having to pay a motel fee. Todo es posible.