A view from the top: Apsan Mountain

Last week Korea celebrated a national holiday: Children's Day (also happens to be Cinqo de Mayo in Mexico).  Children's Day is a day where children are free from school and get a chance to hang out with their parents for a little family time. As English teachers, we too of course a school free day!  Having been in Daegu for eight months now- it amazes me just how much there is still to do in this city that we call home. One of the things on our Daegu to-do list was spend an afternoon at Apsan Mountain. Apsan means Front Mountain: a fitting name for the giant mountain. It's essentially the largest wilderness park in Daegu filled with peaks and valleys that once at the top has an expansive view of the whole city. Nestled in the valleys are museums and Buddhist temples.

You'd think being the largest park in Daegu it would be quite easy to get to. But this is of course is Korea! My friend and I attempted to hike it in the fall, with scratchy handwritten directions from one of her colleuges. After making a 45  min trek to find the park- we gave up.

Determined to find it again, this time around I got explicit directions to get there. The easiest way of course is to hop in a taxi and get dropped off at the base of the mountain. But we were eager to find it again by foot. Once again, a "5 or 10 minute walk" from the subway, turned out to be a 30 minute hike around the steep roads. After asking  gesturing and attempting several pronunciations of Apsan later, we finally arrived at the entrance to the park. Exhausted from the hike to the base of the mountain we took a little breather before starting the uphill battle.

The trail eventually evened out for  about a few kilometers, allowing both our breath and heart rate to catch up. The park is surrounded by trees,  babbling brooks and of course the sounds of nature. It was a beautiful change from the bustling noises of the city below.  We also had the rare pleasure of spotting a chipmunk! (Wildlife is not very commonly seen in Daegu and I think this was the first "wild" animal I've seen in eight months-- slightly different that the abundance back home in Canada).

If you weren't already exhausted from the trail hike up to the midway point,  we spotted an outdoor gym where you could do cardio, lift weights and even hoola hoop! Only in Korea would you find a complete outdoor gym for free. We stopped to do a few power sets and moved on.

The glorious thing about Apsan Park is that you can cheat a little. Half way up the mountain there are  a few restaurants and a sitting area, where you can put your feet up before doing the next leg.

Even better, was the gondola that takes you right up to the top. We of course, took the easier route and hopped on the gondola. For 5,500 won you get a round trip ticket. Pretty steep for Korea, but totally worth the view from the top. The gondola connects from a point 300 m above sea level to the top 600m above sea level.

At the summit is is the observation platform. Although it was a bit smoggy, the view of the city was spectacular. You are literally standing there, surrounded by wind and the elements.  At the summit, you can even find the remnants of a fortress that once stood there hundreds of years ago.

As we made our way back down the mountain, we decided to reward ourselves for a day of hard hiking- we headed downtown (by the way we found a bus that drops you off right at the entrance of the park) and indulged in some delicious Mexican food to celebrate the other holiday. Nothing beats a reward of  margarita's after a day of hiking!