The SARS-CoV-2 virus that came out of Wuhan, China, became news to the rest of the world in December of last year, when we all still thought of the coronavirus as China's internal problem. Little did we know that China would suppress the truth: the virus was spreading out of control and had already broken free of China's borders to wreak havoc in the rest of the world. A few months later, in early 2020, the slow-acting World Health Organization finally declared a state of pandemic, by which time thousands had already died, and the virus had had plenty of time to settle into most countries. Lockdowns, clampdowns on economic activity, and the Corona Karen phenomenon ensued, and that was only one aspect of the shit-show more lovingly known as the year 2020.
I had started the year thinking that I would go to Qatar to visit a South African friend and fellow foodie. Ha ha—FOOL! With travel come travel restrictions! And as the world's governments revealed their lust for power by grinding down their citizens' freedoms, it became obvious to me that Qatar in 2020 was a non-starter: if I was going to do any sort of traveling, it would probably have to be inside Korea, and it would probably have to be... on foot.
So here we are again, at the beginning of a long, long walk.
I'll be doing the same route I hiked last year, i.e., from Incheon to Busan over the course of 29 days. The route is officially 633 km long (about 393 miles). Of those 29 days, 23 will be devoted to walking, and 6 will be devoted to resting: I tend to rest two nights in a motel if I've walked a segment that's 35 km or longer. This time around, there's one major change: I've eliminated a camping day by fusing three legs of the trip into only two legs, one of about 42 km, and another of about 32 km. I'll be resting two nights after each of those legs, for my feet's sake as well as for my sanity.
With as much as I've learned from two previous trans-Korea walks, the prep this time around feels almost casual. I'll be using Naver Map once again on my faithful Samsung phone, but I fear that this walk will be my phone's final one: the poor Galaxy S4 is definitely—to use a hiking pun—on its last legs.
It's almost 5 a.m. in Seoul as I type this, so it's time for me to bring this inaugural entry to a close and hit the sack. Welcome to Kevin's Walk 4. Make yourself at home. I'll be departing on Saturday, September 26, so expect the blogging to begin in earnest then. Before the 26th, however, there might be a few scattered posts, so keep your eyes open. See you on the trail!
4 comments:
Your new blog is now bookmarked so my preparation for this year's journey is complete! Let's do it (you walk, I follow along here)!
Your patronage is appreciated! Enjoy the ride!
So, no camping at all this year? Good call!
Daniel,
Oh, I'll be camping... but only for a single night. Last year, I camped for two nights, which is a reduction from 2017, when I camped four nights (I think... I need to go back and check). If I could figure out a way to do the path without doing any camping at all, I wouldn't need my backpack.
I've had some people ask me why I don't hike without a pack most of the way and then mail the pack to myself so that I can use it for that one night of camping. My response: it'd be a bitch to have to mail the pack back home right after camping. And if I keep the pack on my back for the rest of the trip... what's the point of hiking without it only part of the way? How much effort am I really saving myself? Nah—might as well go all-in and just take the pack from the beginning.
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