The fall foliage is in full color in this area; being one of the southernmost points of the Korean peninsula, the season arrives a bit later than it does in other parts of the country. Today, though, it’s rather hazy and overcast, so there’s not much pop to the colors. I’d go out and take some photos anyway, but I’m starting to feel a bit under the weather–a little tired, a few sniffles and a general feeling of a cold coming on. I probably caught something from one of my students.
So, in lieu of some autumn Yeosu scenes, here are a few of the shots I promised from the hike I took up to one of the nearby hills a few weeks ago.
Horangsan (san = montain) is 470 meters (1542 feet) above sea level. That’s not very high, but it looks higher because it rises directly from the valley floor, which is close to sea level. Here’s a photo, facing north, taken from this post back in 2008. Click on the image for a larger version.

It was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm, with a little haze showing on the horizon, as you’ll see. I rode my bicycle to the base of the hill and made the 45-minutes-or-so hike to the top. Along the way, about a third of the way up, I had to walk through what looked like a military training area, with bunkers, obstacles and target silhouettes. It wasn’t closed off and, much to my relief, there weren’t any bullet marks on the targets, so I doubt it’s a live-fire range. Anyway, there was no one around, so I picked my way through the area and continued on.
The view from the top is magnificent. This first shot is a panorama of the view south. (I’d love to get up here on a clear day with the sun behind me for these shots facing south.) I stitched together 3 photos, but I’m afraid I didn’t do a very good job of combining them. You can easily see the stitch marks, but I’ll post it for now and try to put up a more refined version later. Definitely click on it for the larger image.

Here’s another view south.

Remember the new Yeosu golf course about which I’ve posted a few times? This is a shot of the back nine of the course, normally hidden from my view at the university.

Ok, that’s enough for one post. I’ll get some more scenes posted soon, mainly of the view to the north of a small portion of the huge petrochemical complex.
EDIT: Oops, almost forgot to post this one, which I took with the 80-300mm zoom lens, shot at about 110mm.
