Jeju Olle hike, Korea day 4

#Jeju #JejuOlle

trip report by site editor Rick McCharles

Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | (routes 1→ 6 = 106km)

This page recounts routes 4 and 5.

An early start again, the Festival tents were not yet open. So I missed a couple of passport stamps.

One town had entertainment for those of us in the Walking Festival. For example, here is a traditional drummer.

Everywhere you turn on Jeju island you’ll see reminders that this is a nation prepared for war. Most military installations are unmanned, but covered in camouflage.

On the trail the military has posted photos, including this one.

We visitors were all charmed by the local dogs of the island. Very mild mannered, they rarely even bark. It seemed perhaps 70% of the pet dogs were of this one breed.

Slippery sections of the Jeju Olle are improved with these recycled tire mats.

The foreign experts were not impressed. What happens when they (inevitably) break up?

An inland section routes past an impressive Buddhist monastery.

I didn’t take the time to visit. But it seemed to be welcoming to hikers.

The biggest crop at this time of the year is Mandarins.

But many others were being taken off the fields. Several different grains were drying.

I was a little surprised how undeveloped the coastline is … for an island so based on the fishery.

Linda Myers estimates 30,000 walked one of the Jeju Olle pathways in 2008. And 150,000 in 2009. That will have grown again in 2010, yet it never feels crowded.

Read more about route 4 on the official website.

Read more about route 5 on the official website.

See the rest of my route 4 & 5 photos on flickr.

Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | (routes 1→ 6 = 106km)