Hadong Camping

I’m a bit late on this bandwagon, but here is an overview of our first camping trip. The lead up to it went something like this:

1. Bought tent and a few other necessary camping supplies from some friends who were leaving Korea.

2. Found friends online

3. Bought samgyupsal and s’mores supplies

4. Decided on a location along a lovely big river bank

5. Met said friends (for the first time) and camped with them!

Spring Camping Season

This was such a great start to the spring (still winter really) camping season and we had such a wonderful time. This is probably still one of my favourite locations that we have camped at here in Korea and I still really hope to go back and enjoy it further. But, as our time comes to an end here in Korea, I’m not sure we will have the opportunity to. We had to park up on the road (and managed to fit our little cars in a little nook next to a walking and cycling path – maybe not 100% legit) and cart our gear down a concrete retaining wall slope which wasn’t the most ideal. We enjoyed feeling like we were away from civilisation all the way down there so it was a small price to pay!

There was a plum blossom festival going on nearby, so we had quite a lot of traffic as we got into Hadong. We were far enough away from the festival though. Make sure you go through the small town (instead of the main road along the river) if you’re coming from the East, especially if there’s a festival going on. Our friends coming from the other side (west) didn’t hit any traffic and settled in an hour or so before us! There are a few camping sites along the river too, but they are often full, or not very inspiring (for us anyway) as they generally just have a flat, concrete spot for you to camp on with many other people! But if you don’t mind that, the option is there!

Location

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Blossoms!

Springtime in Korea is beautiful and I get so excited at all the new signs of life and greenery! We were spoiled with some of the first cherry blossoms on our walk along the river, as well as the cutest little tea plantations right under our noses! We had a rather pleasant walk in the late afternoon sunshine, before starting our fire and getting dinner started.

Besides the great location along an awesome stretch of river bank, we met some wonderful people who we have had the privilege of calling our friends since! We are sad that most of them have since left, but glad we still have the memories! Thanks, Huttons, Hedgers and soon-to-be Herders for our introduction to Camping in Korea (and more-so, “Guerilla Camping”)