Jeju Island Day 2 Part 1: Sunrise Peak

I woke up at 5 am to climb Sunrise Peak in time for the sunrise. It turns out that I could have slept in much later, but I'm glad I did it the way I did since I had the mountain to myself for an hour before the hordes of Koreans ascended to also experience the sun rising from the water. Apparently it is something every Korean should do at some point. As the light seeped into the sky I saw the extent of the crater before me. When it was fully light the Jurassic Park soundtrack went through my head as I surveyed the jungle covered craggy rock formations of the crater. I stood for about an hour looking out over the town and at the sun breaking through the clouds like spotlights on the ocean. Sadly the same clouds prevented a good view of the sunrise itself, but I enjoyed the experience nonetheless. I hiked back down and was able to now see the rock pillars that had merely been shadowy forms on my way up in the dark. At the bottom was a cove with a series of huts for the traditional female divers of Jeju who until fairly recently would dive down to catch or collect sea animals to be eaten. The tradition is now dying out and I certainly didn't see any divers. I should say that it was quite warm on the island my whole trip despite it being December. As I was leaving the area I saw that Fortress Mountain is a good name for the peak. It is the solid core of a volcano, the rest of which has eroded away, leaving sharp cliff walls coming straight down from the crater's edge in most places. It would be unassailable as a fortress, though I don't think it was ever actually used for that purpose. I didn't really get a full sense of Seongsan Ilchulbong until I saw a picture of it from above, like this one that I stole from a Korean Heritage website:


My photos start here: