Olle Trails News Today

Darkness once ruled the nights of Seoul. During the winter of 1883/84, Percival Lowell, a young American guest to the capital, was captivated by Seoul’s dark nights where women were allowed free reign of the streets and men (unless they were blind) were confined to their homes. Read MoreCurfew allows nighttime to belong to the blind

I came to Jeju Island on Dec. 19, 2020. I was accompanied by my dog Miracle and the man I thought I would marry. On Dec. 29, 2022, I left, alone. During this time, I completed the Olle Trails, and healed three inner wounds I hadnt even realized I had.

“Miracles acting weird. You think I should take her to the vet?” I was at the home of two friends - a couple that lived in a seaside apartment. We sat in front of their PlayStation 5, surrounded by beer cans and a mountain of fried chicken.

Want to know another secret? I considered cutting the entire last section of this series, talking about IVF treatments. It seemed too intimate to publish. The face-to-face comments had stung, but I suspected the anonymous online comments would be a toxic typhoon of misogyny.

The Olle Trails open a quiet space for hikers to confront our subconscious saboteur. In my case, that confrontation occurred on Trail 14-1 - a short inland route that stretches from Jeoji to the OSulloc Tea Museum.

If you think the “Mama Universe” stuff I mentioned in the last column sounds like the ramblings of a California psychonaut ... youre right! I got the idea from Duncan Trussell.

It was May 2021. Six months had passed since I moved to Jeju. Cut off from my friends in Seoul, the gravitas of the COVID-19 pandemic sank in. After the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riots and the murder of George Floyd, it felt like the world was collapsing.

Want to know a secret thatll get me canceled on Twitter? When I first arrived on Jeju Island…I hated it. This was not “the Hawaii of Korea” the Immigrant Integration Program textbooks raved about. Twelve months into the COVID-19 pandemic, I found myself staring out the window of the 151 bus, thinking Jeju looked less “Hawaii vibes” and more “abandoned theme park.”