In fall of 1999 on my first P-day while serving in Chinju, one of the members took my comp and I to see the dinosaur footprints. I didn't know where they were and after being out here again I really thought that Logan would get a kick out of seeing them. He and I both love anything that has to do with dinosaurs. In fact I when I was a kid, I had a book about dinosaurs that had a picture of the very place we were going to see. For those of you that want to go where we went. The 2012 world dinosaur expo is in a town called Gosu'ng it is about a 2 hour drive west of Chinhae on the southern coast. There is a huge museum and expo center but since we were there on Children's day, it was too crowded to spend time on. So if you follow the signs to the foot prints it takes you just west of the museum. Then look for signs for the ferry (유람선). there is plenty of room to park there, and it is in walking distance to some stairs that take you to the footprints as well as to the museum.
We pulled right up to the edge of the pier and what a pretty sight it was.
It is always spooky to go to the exact place you have been a long time before. I was super excited to see it again. We lucked out because we arrived just in time to eat lunch and get on board the last ferry of the day.
Even though it was Children's day, we were about the only people on board.
Once we got underway, the kids went to the front of the boat for the best view. Logan and Addy made some new friends too.
"Captain" Jack Sparrow
Little Ariel Addy.
Sadie had a blast too.
The southern coast of Korea is beautiful. There are literally thousands of these little islands dotting the horizon. During the Imjin war (1592) against Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Admiral Yi Su Shin used his knowledge of the locations of these islands along with the strength of his armored turtle boats to cut off the supply rout to the Japanese invaders, ultimately changing the tide of the war.
We sailed past this fisherman pulling in his catch.
Judd and Taylor posing in front of the dinosaur caves.
Back on shore we came across piles of discarded starfish. The Korean fishermen pull these from their nets at the pier. Must not taste good or they'd be harvested by the little grandmas. Survival tip: If the North attacks and you don't have any food, find yourself a Korean Grandma, they are the Bear Grylls of Korea, they know how to harvest and eat about everything.
Throwing caution to the wind... Logan and I decided we would not take the beaten path to get to the dinosaur foot prints, we set out on an adventure on the coast to blaze our own path.
Logan love's "adventures."
Little did we know it but crossing this slot was not a good idea. The span was just big enough that jumping would be risky and the stone we used to make it across was about to be swallowed up by the rising tide, forcing us to find more daring/stupid ways to make it to our destination.
Here is the end of the line. This was the only thing between us and the footprints of dinosaurs. Ultimately, this is where Logan climbed out. I lifted him over my head and Judd and Taylor were able to get him to the top safely. Unfortunately, I was not tall enough to get my self to the foot-holds of Logan's route. I doubled back to cross the way we came only to be faced with a closing trap. As the tide continued to rise, my exits became fewer.
Here is Taylor, looking for other routes from above.
Those who know me, know that I hate spiders. Sea roaches are up there on my list as well. In attempting to climb out, I squished both while frantically avoiding a fall to my death. Lesson learned: Fear of death > Fear of creepy crawlers.
After about 30 minutes, I was left with only one way out... (besides safely swimming around the obstacle) was to climb a bug infested, wet, slippery, crumbling cliff whilst wearing old, grip-less skate shoes.
By the time I made it to the "crap I'm gonna die" moment, throngs of Koreans were pointing and yelling helpful hints such as, " you aren't supposed to be there". For the ten minutes that ensued, I was more interesting to the tourists than dinosaur footprints. Unfortunately none of the Korean's came with Judd to my rescue.
At this moment, I slipped and was hanging by one foot. Lucky for me, Judd had my left arm and was holding me up by my watch. In hindsight it may have been smart to take off my belt and use it as rope for Judd to help pull me up. There were seconds that I thought I was going to fall to my death. I don't know what I would have done without Judd.
In one last push I made it to the top. The Korean spectators dispersed and Judd and I assessed the damage. Our knees were scraped, my had was cut from the coral on the wall and I still have a bruise the length of my torso on the left side from hanging. Next time, I will take the stairs. For more pictures and Taylor's account of this leg of the trip, see this link.
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