hiking in Korea.....do it!

hikeinmts

Bronze Member
Dec 13, 2008
1,268
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South Korea
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Cobra II/Minelab Sovereign
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Have been hiking Korea since 1977....not including forced marches with the U.S.Army prior to that. Love it. Beautiful. Koreans have been in the hills for thousands of years, and like all other people, they have lost things......and so I hike and find what they have been losing.
Things to take with you: of course, backpack with lightest amount of items possible. Food, water - plenty of liquid in the summer and early fall.....lots hot and humid. Spray the openings in your clothing, i.e. bottom of pants legs, shirt sleeves, and around your neck with insect repellant, especially to repel ticks. There are ticks in Korea. Has onlhy been 1 reported death by tick bite in all its history, but some possibly slipped under the radar. (I went to one site, never sprayed, and took 8 ticks off of one leg after getting home.) GPS if you have it, but it is really really hard to get lost in S. Korea......a village/town/city around almost every corner. Camera equipment - as much as you can handle. Beautiful sunrises and sunsets, and much exotic fauna and flora, animals, scenery, people....Koreans love to have their pictures taken. And a nice, sturdy stick.....for helping you up and down the hills, and for any encounter with mr. no shoulders that you might have.....you know Johnny No-shoulders, don't you? S N A K E. they have them here. Most are just as shy as those anywhere else.
But I have had to kill several snakes that came at me as soon as they sensed my presence. (I figured that if I would have been a child, then I probably would have gotten bitten.) And, Korea does have a small size cobra....I saw one....and me without my camera......huge, over 1 meter long, as big around as my arm, beautiful beyond description. And he knew who was king on that mt.....and I never tried to change his mind. He sauntered north, and I headed south. :)
And of course, your machine. The deep military backpacks do great, and the extra pockets work very well. And your cell phone. They don't have 9-1-1 here....they have 1-1-9.....kid you not. And, especially if you are a little crazy like me, and hike alone, then you need to have your cell phone with you.
Always let someone know the approximate area you are going to. Oh, and some kind of flashlight.....small but powerful, in case you get down, and they are hunting for you, then you can let them know of your presence at night.
Probably more, but you get the idea. Love the hiking, but probably because I've been prepared for much that has happened while up in the hills.
Hope to meet you on one of the ridge trails in Korea......
 

Goodyguy

Gold Member
Mar 10, 2007
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Arizona
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Whites TM 808, Whites GMT, Tesoro Lobo Super Traq, Fisher Gold Bug 2, Suction Dredges, Trommels, Gold Vacs, High Bankers, Fluid bed Gold Traps, Rock Crushers, Sluices, Dry Washers, Miller Tables, Rp4
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Did you ever find any of that gold you were looking for?

Goodyguy~
 

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hikeinmts

hikeinmts

Bronze Member
Dec 13, 2008
1,268
30
South Korea
Detector(s) used
Cobra II/Minelab Sovereign
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Only gold rings.....and those, only a few. I think that, someplace, someone knowing that the Japanese were coming in to occupy, probably hid some gold.....where, I haven't the faintest clue.
And, hunting gold in the small streams, rivlets here in Korea.....I haven't done any of that yet. One of my hiking buddies did, while hiking, run into several Koreans who were processing tailings.....and there are several newer modern gold mines in S. Korea. Have never known/heard of how much they are processing, so know nothing about those operations either. My wife's father, back in the 40s, worked for a gold mine in ChoongChung Province near his home. Want to go over into that country and poke around, but haven't done that yet, either. "Put off until tomorrow....." seems to be one of my best used sayings.
 

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hikeinmts

hikeinmts

Bronze Member
Dec 13, 2008
1,268
30
South Korea
Detector(s) used
Cobra II/Minelab Sovereign
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
4-H said:
sounds great! wheres the pics????
Look under my post in Today's Finds......back about 2 months ago. Have more recent ones in my computer,
but am still having a time getting them from my computer into this forum.......hate it when a machine is smarter than me.....
or so complicated that I can't figure it out.....but any 4th Grader can.
Hope to post some more pics soon, but until then, a few nice pics of Korea in Today's Finds.
Thanks for looking.
 

Woodland Detectors

Gold Member
Nov 23, 2008
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Relic Hunting
I used to do that in Colorado. My wife and I would go on these 10-15 mile hikes in the mountains. I would bring my gold detector and every old mine I would come across I would sweep the tailings and pick up what the old timers left.
 

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hikeinmts

hikeinmts

Bronze Member
Dec 13, 2008
1,268
30
South Korea
Detector(s) used
Cobra II/Minelab Sovereign
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hey 4-H, thanks for looking and posting. Today I went on a little hike, about 7 kms, but 3 of that was going up.....
to what I hoped would be a good coin site. Got there, and the terrain looked nothing like the map said it should look like.
Did find some medicinal mushrooms that I will give to my Mom-in-law. But, had a great hike and time with a
good friend, and heard the birds sing, and didn't breathe polluted air for several hours......all in all, not a bad day.
This week is my week off, and hope to get out several times. Won't go back to the area that wasn't friendly to me.
Will try to find a new, lower coin site, and see if it will pay off.
How did you do in the tailings of the mines? Have thought about doing that here in S. Korea. Japanese did extensive
gold mining when they were here, 1910-1945. Have seen a few tailings, but didn't have what I considered the right gear to
look seriously for it. What machine would you recommend? Also, would like to hunt some of the smaller creeks/brooks.
Lots of sand, and there should be some flakes of gold in some of them.
 

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