Flora of Ulleungdo: August 2

Today started out as one of my stay in town days, and I finally gathered the nerve to go get a map of Ulleungdo (which came with a little pamphlet). As I was sitting in the cafe looking at the map, I realized it had two little points between Dodong and the lighthouse that "Dodong Cotoneaster" and "Insular Abelia Habitat," meaning Cotoneaster wilsonii and Abelia insularis, neither of which I have seen in the wild so far. So I set off and was able to find Abelia insularis and Silene takesimensis (another endemic) after a bit of trekking through brush and climbing over rocks (all on established trails, of course). I couldn't find Cotoneaster wilsonii, but I'm okay with that.

On a completely different note, I had two white mice (after the white mice from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) on a keychain on my backpack, and during my hike today I realized they were lost. I eventually found them on the trail, but I kept thinking how fitting it would be if I had actually lost them, as they were lost in the book and were eventually revealed to be pan-dimensional beings in charge of the construction of the earth. Anyways, I digress.