Jeju part 3: Hallasan

Today I finally climbed Hallasan, the mountain at the center of the island. It was a tough hike, 12 miles round trip over rocky terrain, and I am exhausted.

Roe Deer

The lakes at the summit of the mountain

A rock formation on the ridge of the crater

Thistle

Ixeris sp. (maybe)

Saussurea sp. 

Leontopodium hallaisanensis - it's a little hard to tell for sure because the flowers are a little mottled

Aconitum sp. - they definitely look like they're plotting something

A fly that looks like a bee...Batesian mimicry! I made up a little thing to help remember which is which: Batesian - B for benevolent, Müllerian - M for malevolent

Maybe a Cacalia sp.? 

Lycopodium - club moss

Asarum maculatum

Jeju part 2

Today was a busy day. First I went to the Jeju Fossil Museum - I love studying plants and ecology and birds, but there's just something about fossils that always gets me really excited. After that, I went to a UNESCO site - a crater - which was a tourist trap with not a lot to look at...plus the heat and humidity made me the sweatiest I've been in my life. After that I went to a really cool lava tunnel (literally and figuratively, it was pretty cold down there)

Mazus sp.

Songsan - one of several UNESCO heritage sites on the island. Not much to look at from the top, but it's an interesting looking crater (I'm not going to find a better picture on the Internet for now)

Then I went to Manjanggul Cave (another UNESCO heritage site). This is a lava column formed from lava in a tube above this one breaking through and running down (those are colored lights, that's not actually the color of the column)

And then there were these...ILLUUMINATE ILLUUUMIIIIINAAAAATE 

(sorry)

Akebia quinata...it's really cool to see this plant in the wild after studying it.

Lygodium japonicum...vinaceous fern with weird stems and petioles

Jeju part 1

Pteris multifida (possibly)

Japanese White-eye (which I completely failed to see on Ulleungdo)

Horse sculptures

I'm not sure what kind of duck this is, it's not in my guide

Oriental Turtle Dove

Portulacca oleracea

Lemmaphyllum microphyllum

Banana flower

Dinosaurs! 

Parasaurolophus!

Common Kingfisher - these guys are so lovely!

Pectoral Sandpiper (I think)

August 16

Been traveling the past week, but now I'm finally in Jeju.

Paederia scandens in bloom

Crassocephalum crepidioides

Dunbaria villosa...don't even know how my brain even remembered this

August 8

Today was my last day in the field (at least on Ulleungdo). Tomorrow I will be packing up my stuff and Saturday I will be taking the ferry over to Pohang. 

Today I took the trail up to Seonginbong but stopped at the KBS Station junction and went back that way. 

Capsules of Paulownia tomentosa

Vaccaria pyramidata (or Vaccaria hispanica)

Codonopsis lanceolata of the cool flowers

Not a very great pic, but enough for me to know now that there are Barn Swallows on the island

On the move

I've left Ulleungdo behind me and I'm now traveling the southern coast of Korea. I stayed in Pohang a couple nights, I'm currently in Yeosu, and tomorrow I'm heading to Mokpo to catch a ferry to Jeju.

Kalopanax pictus...I never saw this one in the wild except for when I was waiting for the ferry on the last day. I saw just a patch of light green in the hills and took a pic. 

A very old Juniperus chinensis 

A glowey sailboat in Pohang

When I was in Pohang this dragonfly just landed on my leg and chilled for a while

August 5-6

The 5th was the start of Squid Fest over in Jeodong. I went but there wasn't much to see and there were too many people, so I opted to watch from Haengnam Lighthouse. The music they were playing carried very well across the water, and when it finally got dark they had fireworks. I even saw a shooting star at one point.

I went back to my room and stayed up until 3 am, then walked over to Naesujeon Sunrise Observatory and watched the sunrise. After that, I walked the old road to Seokpo and then walked down to Cheonbu, at which point I felt simultaneously like I was hit by a bag of bricks and like I was a bag of bricks. I got back to Dodong around 11 am and more or less slept until 9 am the next day.

Squid drying at Squid Fest

Jeodong at night

Fireworks!

I'm calling this one "Disco Dolphin"

Jeodong at dawn (from a different angle)

White's (or Scaly) Thrush...I also saw some Pale Thrushes

Leonurus sibiricus

Lactuca indica flowers