Waking up to birds singing was a great way to start the day. It had been a long time since I had slept in the wilderness and it was a great feeling. The early morning hours brought fog throughout the mountains but it didn’t take long for it to burn off and bring crystal clear skies. We weren’t in any rush to get on the road. We had an idea of where we wanted to end up that night but one of the great things of cycle touring is that plans can, and will, change. It took us about an hour and a half to eat, change, and pack everything up. One thing I love about camping is that you find a piece of land to call home for one night, then just like that it’s all packed in a few bags and strapped to your bike.
We left the Peace Dam feeling rested and ready for the day. We were very excited for the day ahead, we had planned to make about 120k’s with a few big climbs, and as you will find out, it was a bit ambitious. The day started with a bang. As we were making our way to the mountain, we passed a few groups of Korean cyclers who had just come down the mountain we were about to go up. We got many, ‘good luck’ and ‘way to go’ looks and cheers from them, since they knew what we were about to go through.
The first climb of the day was full of switch backs and great views. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be but it was still challenging. It was fun to climb up and be able to look down on to where we were staying the night before. Like all the ups, the downs are always the best part. We had a great downhill that took us through the country side of the mountains. As we have biked this spring, we have watched the rice patties being planted. Some by hand others by machine. As we made our way down the mountain, we had great views of the rice patties and could see they had started to grow. The farms we were passing by on this trip were much larger than the ones we had seen on previous trips and the rice fields seem to go on and on. I don’t know why I do, but I just love the rice fields and seeing them during the day is always one of my favorite things.
We rode through the farm villages and rice fields for quite a bit before we started the “real” climb of the day. I knew it was going to be a tough one but the incredible weather and fabulous scenery made the mountain seem a bit smaller. At the foot of the mountain both Jared and I stopped to put in our head phones. Most of the time when we are riding, we ride next to each other and talk but going up mountains is a different story. I don’t know what it is about music, but it can put you in a different frame of mind. It can give you a lift you didn’t even realize you needed. And without a doubt, it can help you to keep moving your legs up a 1000meter climb (for those Americans, that’s over 3,200 ft!!!)
Thankfully the area we were riding in wasn’t too populated and consisted mainly of military bases. You see, we were riding about 5k’s from the North Korea/South Korea boarder (did I forget to mention that). Oh yeah, that was one of the highlights of the trip. Jared purposely made the route to get us close to the DMZ and he definitely succeeded in that. Because of this, the traffic on the road was limited to minimal cars and military trucks. As we continued to climb the mountain the traffic thinned even more. See most people would drive through the tunnel built to bypass going over the mountain. But going through the tunnels is cheating so needless to say we opted out of going through the tunnel and went over the thing.
I don’t recall how long we were climbing for but I think it was close to 2 hours. Of course we would stop and take quick 5 min breaks to chug some water and inhale gummy bears but the majority of the two hours was spent on the bike. As we got closer and closer to the top the road seemed to get steeper and steeper. I swear at one point by front tire was going to come off the road it was so steep! Regardless, we both kept our legs going and charged on. At long last, we reached the top. It was a spectacular view of the farm villages below and the military bases that lined the boarder. We were busy taking pictures of “Beware of Mine” signs when a young Korean solider came out to talk to us. The poor kid knew little to no English but knew enough to say “camera, no.” We figured this would happen but we wanted to play the foreigner card and get as many pictures as we could before they came out and told us to stop.
Once we put the cameras away we really took in the view, and it was a pretty remarkable one. The sign on the road said we were at 1,050m, which still the highest I have climbed and the view from that high is just spectacular. After enjoying the view and relishing in the fact that we just climbed that many meters on a bike we got ready for the best part, the downhill!! With headphones back in we both took off down the mountain. The 2 hour climb up was well worth it and made the downhill seem to go on forever.
We came down into a small farm village and decided it was time to get some lunch. At this point we knew there was no way we were going to make our 120k goal for the day, nor were we going to end in the city we were aiming for. Like I said earlier though, that is one of the great things of cycle touring. It doesn’t matter if we don’t’ get to where we “planned” on going, as long as the day ends with a place to sleep, some food, and the satisfaction of a knowing you control the day, and not the other way around, the ride is a success.
Little did we know when we were coming down the mountain that we were dropping into an area that was known as the “Punch Bowl” during the Korean War. The Punch Bowl is a basin along the DMZ in Yanggu, which is where were cycling. The basin area owes its name 'Punch Bowl' to its geographical appearance, resembling a bowl for punch. Surrounded by high hills, some with peaks above 1,000 meters, many fierce battles were fought here during the Korean War because of its strategic location. The Punch Bowl area is famous for a hand-to-hand fighting during the War during a lack of ammunition.
As we were cycling along we saw a small war museum and decided to stop. It was there when we learned where we were and all the fighting that had taken place in the area. It was incredible to think about those soldiers hiking up the mountains in the dead of winter not knowing who was also in the mountains hunting them. I have been to the War Museum in Seoul but it was a much more intimate experience to see the museum in Yanggu and be able to be in the area and experience it firsthand.
After we left the Punch Bowl area, time was getting on and we were tired. Since we knew we weren’t going to get to our original destination we just looked at the map and decided to ride for a bit longer and look for a good spot to camp. After managing our way around a busy highway and taking a wrong turn, we were finally riding right next to a river. We found a great spot to camp that was just off the road and a perfect place to not be seen by cars. We decided to call it a day after about 100k’s and just over 6 hours of ride time. It was still a little early and we could have pushed on but there was no point and by being done early, we could get cleaned up in the river and still have time to enjoy the camp site.
After a quick rinse and a good dinner, the sun was leaving us and we were pretty tired. It had been another great day and I was sad we only had one day left on the bikes. But falling asleep to the sound of the flowing river was a great end to a great day.
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