After four rainy weekends in row we finally had a nice weather weekend. I took advantage of the sunshine and went  up to Munsu for a couple of climbs. I wish I would have done more than the three short routes I did, but all that rain gave me a cold.

The dogs had a great time running around on the mountain, although it wasn’t as much fun or them as last time when we saw the goats up there. Lots of goat poop all around the trails, but we didn’t see the goats.  On the way back down the mountain I asked the old monk about the goats. He told me that they were neither his goats nor the farm down in the valley. They’re wild goats! They’re bugging him, leaving pellets all around his mini-temples and shrines. So he encouraged us to catch them and eat them.

SaTang relaxes between climbs

Both dogs are snack hounds, waiting for a handout

Hunting goat might be something fun to do next weekend. There is a large group of climbers from around Korea coming to our mountain for a route-repair weekend. Korea on the Rocks, and an initiative group that sprung from it have a yearly program to preplace old worn out climbing hardware on only a couple of mountains per year. Munsu got two of the four projects this year and the routes are looking spectacular – no more sketchy bolts or anchors. They have done a great job so far and next weekend there will be even more of our 70+ routes cleaned up. KOTR’s website is a great resource for climbers in Korea (284 separate climbing locations in this small country. And for my climbing readers back in Texas – it’s a must-read before hitting the walls out here in kimchi land – and this might be my last year to give you a tour of Korea and a sofa to sleep on.

Or maybe a full bed.  MyeongHee’s son, DongHyun went down to Busan today for his military medical fitness test. Not sure what what the outcome was, but I’m betting he’s fine.  He’s a healthy young man. They say once the physical is done, they’ll send a letter detailing when to show up for military service. We predict early next year. He’s already gone 5 of 7 days a week up in Daegu at the university. Once he goes in the Army, however, he’ll have just a few short trips home thoughout his 2 year stint.

Yesterday, we went to Ulsan Grand Park. It was a beautiful sunny day and there were lots of people in the park. I guess everybody else was enjoying the weather after the crap weekends we’ve had.

We found a nice maple tree in the park for a picture

or two or three. Hard to get the dogs in the shot

MyeongHee poses next to a large praying mantis

One Response to “The Streak has been Broken”

1. Peggy says:

   November 15, 2011 at 1:42 am

   Snack hounds? Gee, wonder where they get that.