Entire Fortress Wall Hike

Over the last few months I have been posting about hiking on the Seoul Fortress Wall.  Russ and I have done small hikes around portions of the wall on a few different occasions, but it was my ultimate goal to hike the entire wall in one day.  The wall is about 18 km or a little over 11 miles around, it goes over 4 different mountains and through various parts of the city. 

About a month ago Russ took a Friday off we set off on this hike with a friend of mine. 

Setting off on our hike bright and early.

 In order to get to the wall we had to hike about 1.5 miles up a mountain behind our house. 

At this point my friend and I were already thinking this was maybe not such a good idea.   We weren't even to the actual start of the hike yet and we were really worn out. 

Since Russ and I had hiked the entire wall at different times we pretty much knew where we were going and didn't have to worry about looking for the signs as much.  But we were excited to see this first sign, which signaled the beginning of our Fortress Wall hike.

We took pictures at the top of every mountain for proof that we had made it up all of them.

At the top of the first mountain-Namsan

The wall runs right through the city.  It is cool to see the history mixed with the new buildings.

We may have made a pit stop along the way.

 The mountain to the right is where we are heading.

 You could climb up the steps or use the rope to pull up the rocks.  The rope way seemed the more exciting option of the two.

 A self portrait almost at the top of the second mountain.

At the top of the second mountain-Inwangsan

 The mountain in the distance is the third mountain we would hike that day.

Parts of the wall have been reconstructed numerous times.  It is cool to see all the different methods used to rebuild it.

We were really tired and would use "picture breaks" as reasons to stop and take a short rest. :)

 The climb up the third mountain was straight up a set of uneven stairs.  It was probably the most difficult part of the hike.

At the top of the third mountain was a nice place to take a short rest and have some lunch.  This portion of the hike goes around the back of the Blue House (the Korean president's house) so we had to get special badges in order to hike this portion.  The wall is lined with South Korean soldiers who keep an eye on everything that is happening around them.

At the top was this cool rock that we climbed up on top of to get a picture taken. 

Doing some work while we rested.

 At the top of the third mountain-Bugaksan

This was the tallest mountain we hiked for the day.  At this point we were about half way around the wall.

Straight down the steps on this side of the mountain.  Russ and I commented that it is almost more difficult to go down all the steps than it is to go up.  My knees kill me by the time we are at the bottom.

 In 1968, North Korea staged an assassination attempt on the president of South Korea.  They tried to break through the barriers of the wall in order to gain access to the presidential home.  The attempt was thwarted by the South Koreans but there was a shootout and the bullet holes from this event are still in a tree along the fortress wall. 

 There were still quite a few trees in bloom which made for a beautiful view as we looked back over the mountain we had just hiked.

 All around the Blue House the wall had this massive chain link fence beside it.  Took a little bit of the natural beauty away.

 We joked about what these signs meant:

No playing cards in the park

No dog poo in the park.

As I said in a previous post, Spring is very beautiful in Seoul.  The bushes along the wall were in full bloom and it made for some colorful hiking.

 At the top of the fourth mountain-Naksan

We had to hike right through the city and while my friend was taking a quick restroom break I may have found something to do to keep me occupied.

Patiently waiting.

 Because we started hiking the actual wall at the top of the first mountain we had to hike that mountian again in order to go all the way around the wall.  This side of mountain had a staircase stright up the mountain.  It wasn't as many stairs as the second mountain we climbed and the stairs were pretty even, but we were really tired and about ready to be done.

At the top of the first/fifth mountain for the day.  I was beat.  I counted the steps there were over 600 steps up this side of the mountain.

Looking back at the city we had just walked through.

Back next to the sign where we had started our Fortress Wall hike.

One last picture right before we got home.

 After showering and changing we went out to get some fast food.  This McDonald's cheeseburger was well deserved.

By the end of the day we had hiked a total of almost 14 miles (the wall is a little over 11 miles and it is about a 1.5 mile hike from our house to get to the wall each way), up 5 mountains, in about 7 hours and had burned almost 3000 calories (I wore my heart rate monitor the whole day).  It was a great day

Miles For Heros Ceremony

This Monday is Memorial Day, it is a day in America where we remember those that have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.  One of the awesome things about living on a military base are the opportunities for us to honor those fallen heroes.  All over base and especially in the schools there are special ceremonies held around Memorial Day. As you are busy enjoying the family picnics and spending time with friends on the day off from school and work take a moment to be thankful for the freedom you have to enjoy these times and remember those that have paid the ultimate price for that freedom.

Each of the second graders in the girls' elementary school had to pick a fallen hero that they wanted to do a special project on and honor during a Memorial Day ceremony this past week.  Lucy choose to do her project on Marine Capt. John Maloney.   John was the brother of a very good family friend of ours.  Russ had the opportunity to meet John a few times and greatly respected him.  Lucy had to research John's personal life and his military accomplishments.  Russ was able to spend some time helping her with the project and explaining the sacrifice that John made serving our nation.

Part of the project was an oral presentation to her class talking about her hero and why she choose him.  This past Wednesday, they had a Miles For Heroes Ceremony where they remembered the fallen heroes and each of the kids walked a mile in honor of their hero.  Lucy was chosen to present the class hero during the ceremony and she was also interviewed about her hero for television.

Lucy's teacher lining the class up.

Presentation of The Colors

USFK (United States Forces Korea) Honor Guard rifle drill

A speech by Air Force Major General Bishop. 

Lucy had no idea how many people would be in attendance at the ceremony but once she saw that the stands were almost full she became very nervous.

I was sitting right in the middle of the stands when I took this picture so this was about half the audience she had to present in front of.

Here she is waiting for her turn to present.  She is just now looking out at the crowd and realizing how many people were out there.  This is where the nerves really hit her.  I, on the other hand, knew how many people would be there and was extremely nervous the entire time.

How nerve wracking is this?  She had to stand in the middle of the football field behind a podium and microphone to speak.

She read slowly and clearly from her card.  I was so proud of her.  She did awesome.

All done, she looks so relieved and a big smile for mom.

This soldier stood behind each of the class heroes as the children spoke about them.  It made the presentations all the more real to put a face with a name.

A moment of silence for the fallen heroes we were honoring.  All 150 second graders were completely silent during this time.

The kids sang "Proud To Be An American" and "Thank You, Soldier"

After the ceremony the kids each walked (ran) a mile in honor of their hero.  They did the first lap by themselves then the parents joined them for the last three laps.

It was chaos on the field.

Like I mentioned above Lucy did her project on our family friend John Maloney.  It was an honor for her and I to walk in memory of Capt. Maloney.  He was an awesome husband, father and Marine. 

Each of the classes made a special presentation board with some of the heroes.  Lucy's project on John was on the board.

Marine Captain John W. Maloney (1968-2005)  Captain John Maloney was from Chicopee, MA.  He graduated from Chicopee high school in 1986.  John was married and had 2 kids.  On June 16th, 2005 in Ramadi, Iraq a bomb destroyed his vehicle and he died.  He is buried in Arlington cemetery.  He will never be forgotten by his Marines or his family.

They hung a huge "Wall of Remembrance" banner that you could sign and write messages on.

Out of all the second graders 2 were chosen to be interviewed about their heroes for TV.  Again, Lucy was very nervous wearing a microphone and being filmed but she did great. 

Even as military members we often get so caught up in our days that we forget the sacrifices that have been made for our freedom.  This ceremony was an awesome reminder that freedom truly is not free.