Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Ulleungdo Recommended Course

I've seen a lot of "courses" for Ulleungdo both in my travels and in online literature, and I feel most of them are missing one thing or the other, so I've decided to create my own recommended course for travel to Ulleungdo. This course is heavily focused on hiking, which I believe is the most exciting activity on Ulleungdo, and is not for the casual tourist. Here goes.

Day 1: Arrive on Ulleungdo. Take the bus from Dodong to Bongnae Falls. Hike back to Dodong along the seaside trail, visiting the Dodong Lighthouse on the way back. Eat squid bulgogi at 99 Shikdang.
Day 2: Starting in Dodong, hike the trail up to Seonginbong. Hike down to Nari basin, and on the way take the detour to Hyeongjebong. Once in Nari, eat sanchae bibimbap at Sanmaeul Shikdang.
Day 3: Wake up early (like 4am) and walk over to Naesujeon sunrise observatory to view the sunrise. Hike back on the Jeodong old road trail and on the Ulleung County Office trail. On the Ulleung County Office trail, go right on the ridge to see some rare endemic plants and cool scenery. Once in Dodong, take a nap or go to Namu coffee. Wait for late afternoon/early evening before dusk and go over to the mineral spring near the Dokdo museum. Take the trail up to the Dokdo observation deck and watch Dodong light up as the sky gets dark. Don't miss the floating lights of the squid boats!
Day 4: Take the bus over to Taeha. Hike up the road near the monorail and continue on to Taeha lighthouse. Make sure to get a good view of Songgot. Hike down and hop the fence to get down to the coastal trail. 
Day 5: Take the bus all the way to Cheonbu, then take the bus to Seokpo. Hike along the Seokpo-Naesujeon Old Road trail. On the way, take the detour down to Wadal-ri. Make sure to bring someone with you because the trail is very steep.
Day 6: Visit Dokdo (or leave, Dokdo is not, strictly speak, necessary)
[Day 7]: Assuming you visited Dokdo, now depart Ulleungdo


Friday, September 26, 2014

PDF (Digital) file

Here is a link to the PDF version of the Natural History Guide to Ulleungdo:
Natural History Guide to Ulleungdo PDF

I have set it up so that it requires a password, so if you wish to view/download the file, you will need to email me first at: desireeka93@hotmail.com

I have also set up a paypal donation button on the sidebar. You do not need to donate for the digital file, but it would be greatly appreciated.

Natural History Guide to Ulleungdo

Hello! I am happy to announce that I have officially published my field guide via Createspace with Amazon! The book is entitled "Natural History Guide to Ulleungdo" and is available for $77.40 at the moment. I will be buying some copies at my author price soon to sell through a separate Amazon account for $40 a piece. In the meantime, I will set up something for sharing the book as a pdf document and maybe a button for donations. 

Here is the link to my book on Amazon:



I am officially a published author!

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Friday, May 16, 2014

Plants and things

I've been very busy recently, and working on revising my guide has been some of that business in the past week or so. Hopefully I will be able to get it done and ready for publishing in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully.
In the meantime, I have some updates on the plants I "own." My ginkgo is not leafing out, but I hope that it is dormant and waiting, and not dead. It did this once before when I first got it and neglected to put it in a bigger pot, so this might be his way of telling me to re-pot it or plant it outside. My Impatiens balsamina that was the lone survivor of a fleet of 250 seedlings is doing very well, as are the other seeds I recently planted. Fingernail dying this year will be great. My Akebia is also doing very well. The sepals have all fallen off the female flowers and many of the ovaries are still intact, meaning they will fruit out. Adventure in cross-pollination was a success! I counted 49, so there will be an Akebia berry feast this fall! Lots of possibilities.
Impatiens balsamina

Akebia ovaries

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Arizona Trip

Lots of stuff has been happening recently (trip to AZ, moving, new job, etc), so I haven't had much time to upload pictures from my recent trip to Arizona. A couple weeks ago I took a weekend trip to the sunny state to visit my grandparents and some other extended family, and did some desert hiking while I was there. Due to some recent rain, the desert was alive with blooming flowers, and I got lots of good pictures.

Adenophyllum porophylloides

aka San Felipe foetid marigold

Ambrosia ambrosioides

aka canyon ragweed

Ambrosia dumosa (white bursage)

Black-throated Sparrow

Cactus Wren

Another Cactus Wren

Calliandra eriophylla (fairy duster)

Delphinium scapiosum

aka barestem larkspur

Echinocereus engelmannii

just look at that stigma

aka strawberry hedgehog or hedgehog cactus

Eriastrum diffusum (miniature wool star)

Eriogonum fasciculatum (flat-top buckwheat)

Eriogonum inflatum (desert trumpet)

Eriogonum inflatum (flowers)

Eriophyllum lanosum (wholly daisy) (very, very wholly)

Fouquieria splendens

F. splendens flower closeup

F. splendens (ocotillo)

F. splendens flowers

Grackle (he was making all kinds of noise)

Janusia gracilis (desert vine)

Larrea tridentata (creosote bush)

Layia glandulosa (tidytips)

Amsinckia menziesii

aka fiddleneck

Mirabilis bigelovii (desert wishbone bush)

Opuntia acanthocarpa (buckhorn cholla)

Penstemon eatonii (firecracker penstemon)

Phacelia distans

aka wild heliotrope

Plantago ovata

aka desert indianwheat/flg

Porophyllum gracile (odora)

Rafinesquia neomexicana (desert chicory)

Senna covesii 

aka desert senna

Simmondsia chinensis (jojoba)

Sphaeralcea ambigua (desert globemallow)

Uropappus lindleyi (silver puffs)


Monday, March 10, 2014

Proof



I got my proof in the mail. It looks really great! I still have to make a few edits, but I think I will be able to publish it very soon.