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| Another day on the Jeju Olle trails of Jeju Island / Courtesy of Rachel Stine |
By Rachel Stine
So what exactly happened on the Olle Trails?
Route 3-B. Typhoon weather. I was trudging along the seaside without an umbrella, staring at the fish farms. Jindo dogs observed me from their plastic houses. A Vietnamese farmer slowed his car down and pulled over next to me, sticking an umbrella out the window.
Route 3-B. The same day and weather. A cafe owner saw me outside and insisted I should come in and have free ice cream. In Korean, he explained that the ferry to Udo Island had been canceled because of the typhoon, and didn't I know typhoons were dangerous, and shouldn't I invest in some hiking boots, because didn't I know about the snakes, and what if I did get bitten by a snake, who would I call then, and why didn't I go to CU for a poncho, anyway?
Gotta be careful out there.
Route 6. A woman waved me over to her parked sedan in front of the ocean. She gave me three fat tangerines.
Route 18-1, around 11:30 a.m. A group of old backpackers poured me makgeolli in paper cups and gave me red bean cake because I "would need it for energy."
Route 8. Atop Berinnae Oreum, staring at the glittering sea and Halla Mountain, I thought: "We're on Earth for such a short time…so after teaching all those summer camps, don't I deserve to spend 65,000 won on a new video game?"
While hiking, I listened to dozens of YouTube channels. Therapy Gecko talked to anonymous callers on the phone. HealthyGamerGG offered anxiety management tips, and Hailey Elizabeth provided the grisly true crime stories every woman needs to function past 30.
But when I entered the forest trails, where the temperature drops and the ferns filter out the sun, I took my headphones off. These subtropical forests, called gotjawal, demand silence.
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| Mist drifts through Hwansang Forest Gotjawal Park on Jeju Island. Courtesy of Rachel Stine |
It was on this rocky terrain that I began to go inward. If someone had told me in 2019 that the gotjawal "creates space to think," I would have rolled my eyes.
What are you, a crystal necklace lady at Trader Joe's? An essential oils clown? Sounds like a teenager who learned politics on Tumblr.
Besides, there are plenty of "spaces to think" in cities. Seoul's Mount Nam is perfect for thinking. We have everything we could possibly need in Seoul and New York, right?
…right?
December 2021 arrived. The snow returned to Halla Mountain. I had completed nine out of 26 Olle Trails.
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| Cacti grow near the sea on Jeju Island's western coast. Courtesy of Rachel Stine |
One particularly cold evening, I was in my apartment, wrapped up in a blanket burrito and playing Nintendo Switch. My grey-muzzled dog, Miracle, snuggled beside me. Suddenly my iPhone dinged with a text.
"Hello, Ms. Stine? This is (so-and-so), the owner of (building). As you know, the home-rent period is until the 18th of this month. Please send me a message if you want to extend the rent period or not."
I glanced up to my bookshelf, where my Olle passport was on display. It stood next to a sticker with blue kimchi pots that read "HAEBANGCHON."
I glanced between the two, thinking. Then I looked down and tapped out a reply.
"Yes! Let's extend the contract for another year."
And with that, my Olle odyssey continued.
LIFE'S OLLE TRAILS 1 How hiking Jeju's 437km of trails changed my life
LIFE'S OLLE TRAILS 2 Fighting agrarian anxiety attacks on Jeju's paths
LIFE'S OLLE TRAILS 3 Carrying a grandma through Yaksu Station
LIFE'S OLLE TRAILS 4 Going full white lady in the woods
LIFE'S OLLE TRAILS 5 Getting ice cream and umbrellas from strangers
LIFE'S OLLE TRAILS 6 Discovering deer carcasses at the tea museum
LIFE'S OLLE TRAILS 7 Healing perfectionism on Pyoseon Beach
LIFE'S OLLE TRAILS 8 Confronting OCD in Woljeong-ri
LIFE'S OLLE TRAILS 9 Reading a poem about death in the woods
LIFE'S OLLE TRAILS 10 Confronting the subconscious saboteur
LIFE'S OLLE TRAILS 11 Worrying about comments section chaos
LIFE'S OLLE TRAILS 12 Saying goodbye in Gueok-ri
LIFE'S OLLE TRAILS 13 Walking back, fast or slow
Rachel Stine has volunteered in the North Korean human rights sphere for over a decade. Her writing has appeared in The Huffington Post, The Korea Times and other major news outlets. You can view nature photography from her journeys around the world at flickr.com/photos/rachelstinewrites.
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