We had a free weekend in August and decided to spend it camping, since the weather has started to cool off. We wanted to camp near a waterfall and temple hike that my friend, Alyssa Mayo said was amazing, so we found the Eco-Healing Campground in Chiaksan National Park.
It took me a while to find the camp directions, I ended up having to put it in Hangul in Naver to find the location. It didn't take too long to get there, about 2 hours or so. We arrived around 2:00, and started unloading the car. This particular campground does not let you drive up to the campsites, they provided dolly's and you cart your stuff up a hill.
After Kevin unloaded the car, we all set to work getting the tent up and making all our cots. We bought the most amazing cots a few years ago, Bunk-O-Cots and Kid-O-Bunks! We have used them so many times, and even friends use them when family comes to visit. They are so amazing and so versatile, and did I mention, comfortable!
We got our tent all up, chairs set up, and fire pit situated. This campsite is really nice because they provide a little privacy using bushes between the campsites. So even though we were only 4 feet from the campers on all sides of us, it still felt pretty secluded.
The bathroom facilities were great! There were showers, however they were never unlocked while we were there. But the bathrooms were nice and clean and had hot running water.
We still had some time before we needed to start on dinner, so we decided to explore! We found a nice path that lead down to the river.
Of course our Monster wanted nothing but to follow them, so Kevin and I had to take turns holding him. The rocks were just too big and the water was just too unpredictable.
We stayed and skipped rocks, walked around the riverbed and walked over big rocks for about an hour. All our stomachs started grumbling, so we knew it was time to head back and start on dinner.
In Korea it is illegal to have a fire in the ground, so we have a fire pit that we take camping with us. We heated up coals and then put a cobbler in a dutch over, and then started the dinner right over the fire.
Kevin made the most amazing fajitas! We had peppers and refried beans to go with the fajitas. All the kids loved it and asked for more. I felt so bad because I was admiring the beauty of the mountains and gestured with my hand at the scenery and just at the moment, Kevin walked by with his plate of dinner directly in the path of my sweeping hand. His entire dinner flew through the air to the ground. Luckily, there was still more on the grill!
We thought we were super smart to save space and bring a travel baby cot instead of the port a crib. Big Mistake! Monster hadn't ever slept in the travel cot, and since he could pop right out, he refused to stay in the cot. It also didn't help that every Korean around us had electrical flood lights that lit up the entire area as if we were at a football game. Lights, music and loud talking continued through the night until 10:45, when magically all lights went out and all voices hushed. Monster was so ridiculously tired and out of his element that he just kept screaming. I didn't know what to do since we were surrounded by people and all the kids and Kevin were asleep in our tent. So, I did what any good mom would do, I pulled him onto my cot, and gave him my phone to watch the only movie on my phone, Disney's Planes Fire and Rescue.
After a pretty horrible nights sleep, we got up and made our amazing breakfast of pancakes and eggs, except it wasn't very amazing. We couldn't get the coals hot enough, and we didn't start with enough of them. After an hour of trying to get the coals hot enough to cook over, we make-shifted a small stove using the ground, a pizza pan, and the long skillet. We were able to painstakingly slowly make pancakes one at a time. By the time we finally had the pancakes and eggs made, we gave up altogether on the bacon that we had brought. Within the time that it took us to make our breakfast, every Korean around us had whipped out a portable gas stove or electric stove and made their breakfast in about 5 minutes. Couple that with very little sleep and it made for an extremely grouchy mom and dad.
To escape our grouchiness, the kids ran off to a nearby field. They found a bunch of Korean kids playing and catching dragonflies. The kids played together and taught M&M and Little A how to catch a dragonfly. M&M was super excited to come back and show us her new Korean skill!
Kevin and I were not in the best of moods, the kids would probably have called it our worse of the worst, so in the end we decided to forgo the hike and just head home. However, even though the morning was pretty hard, everything else and the entire trip itself was absolutely awesome and I would do it all over again, except bring a port a crib and a propane stove. LOL! Can you guess what I ordered on Amazon the day we got home?
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