Bukhan Sanity

I decided to head out to the Bukhansan Mountains this morning to run a small section of the 'Dulegil'. The Dulegil is a trail that circumnavigates the entire national park. Last year a small group of Seoul Flyers ran about half the entire loop, cutting across the middle of the range, as you can see from the map below, and we ran (where possible) 50km in total. It was an epic adventure given the brutal conditions. A day that, at the time, held the record for the most rainfall in a single day in and around Seoul. We had lightning strikes all around us, parts of the trail washed away, leaving us to try and figure ways around the natural roadblocks.  It was chaotic, but incredible fun all at the same time.

This morning, the sun was out, the conditions bone dry, if not a little chilly, but pretty much perfect. If you want a good way to build strength through the relative 'off-season' during the harsh Korean winter, then this is always an option.                                                                                

The Dulegil. 44km half loop, 78km full loop

Bulgwang Station, exit 2. Follow the 'Dulegil' signs

It is very easy to get to the trail, a quick journey up the brown line to Bulgwang and leave via Exit 2. Then follow the road signposted to Gugi Tunnel and after a 1km jog along the road you will see the signs for the Dulegil and then you are at the trailhead for this particular section. The good thing about this trail is that wherever you are you just need to keep an eye open for the abundant and well positioned trail signs. These are on the trees when you are on the trail and also when you drop out of the trails and come to small villages along the way, they continue to clearly highlight with directional arrows where you want to be headed.

Here is an example of the sign that shows you the way. Very handy and omnipresent.

So, after getting onto the trail and heading in an easterly direction, the initial climb is about 1km and steep, a good tester to get the legs firing. Power hiking is advisable, especially if you have a long run ahead of you. This initial ascent gets you up onto the first ridge line and then it's all fun from there. The trails are really good, they are undulating and at the moment they are carpeted with fallen pine needles, so it was very soft underfoot and my knees were thankful for these unfamiliar conditions given the thousands of kilometers that have been pounded out along the unforgiving Han River cycle paths all year. It was very pleasant. 

Soon enough I was up on the ridge line and able to take a few pics of the great scenery all around me. It was reasonably clear and visibility was good. Not so much when looking in the sun's direction, as it was low in the sky given the time of the year, and the perma-haze was apparent.

There are always a lot of interesting things to see along the way. I always find that the more technical single track that you have to navigate in some places really takes your mind off the distance as you focus hard on your footing, avoiding roots and rocks, jumping left and right. I think that trail running of this sort is also very effective as it builds strength in those muscles that are pretty much redundant when road racing. There is more emphasis on lateral movement so this can help adductor, piriformis and gluteal conditioning.

As you can see from this picture on the right a lot of the trails gently meander through pine forests. The smell of the pines were great today and the air was fresh. It felt like I was giving my lungs a day off too, from the unwholesome pollutants that have a tendency to hang in the city air.

Today, I just did 10km out and then turned back, but I will be looking to arrange a 44km day in February. This will provide the Seoul International Marathon entrants with a great workout about 6 weeks out from the race. It will mean a good 6+ hour plus day out on the trails, as we are not racing it! There will be plenty of times to just hike and plod along, it's not all runnng. I know of a couple of good stops where we can replenish our energy levels with some food and drinks.

Today I came across the great little temple that we saw the last time, and I took a break here to eat a  sandwich and inhaled the calm all around me and thought myself lucky to have the use of two legs and a beautiful playground within which to use them.

Views like this are all around

The temple where I had my lunch

Great trails ready to be blazed

Boobies!

So I am now looking forward to the adventure on Saturday morning when several of us head to Gangchon, to tackle a 30km trail run with 1100ft of elevation in temperatures that are forecast to make today feel like a spring day. I look forward to it.