Well, I planned my next hiking trip. It'll be to Jirisan National Park, hiking for 4 days, and spending three nights in the park itself. It looks to be something in the 50km distance this time.

I wanted to reserve three shelter spots, but getting a shelter reservation is like getting to be the 9th caller on a radio show. The online reservations open up at 10am 15 days before the day of stay, and thousands of people click exactly at 10 to fill just a few hundred spots in 4 or 5 shelters. Anyway I got shelter spots at Nogodan (southeast) and Jangteomok (west side). Problem is the second night, where I have nowhere to stay since I can't get from one place to the next in a single day (looks to be about 30k), and I couldn't get a reservation in the middle-area shelters. So, I bought a tent online and I'm just going to sleep outside, bears be damned. They're supposed to be mostly vegetarian anyway. Technically, sleeping outside isn't legal at Jirisan but a number of people do it anyway for the same reason I'm going to.

Tents have changed a lot since my childhood days camping with my dad. The tent sleeps 3, weighs 7 pounds, and can be set up in about 2 minutes. It cost 31 bucks. The tent I had with my dad as a child weighed probably 30 pounds, took 25 minutes to set up, and cost several hundred dollars.

Comments

Anonymous said…
At least sleep just outside the shelter, what with the bears and all.
9:10 PM
Max said…
Unofrtunately, that'll guarantee me a hefty fine (if I use the tent). The only way to avoid the rangers is to camp off the path at some distance.

But really, the bears (Asiatic black bear) aren't a threat to anyoner, at least not that I've heard. It's not like BC where wilderness hikers are well-advised to bring bear spray.

The other option is to sleep outside the shelter without a tent, as this is legal and some people do it during the busy seasons.
12:17 AM
RINCanada said…
Maybe if you bed down outside the shelter, you'll get invited in.
8:54 PM
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