Goesan

Goesan, in North Chungcheong, is the kind of county where every horizon is another ridge. On a June evening I walked up a small pine hill above Chilseong-myeon — not on any list of famous peaks, just red-barked pines, long grass and a view.

Gunjasan, 948 metres, rises a couple of kilometres to the south. I didn’t climb it. I stood among the pines at half past five and watched the light go low and gold across the valley.

Koreans have a newer word for this: sanmeong, staring at mountains the way other people stare at a campfire. Doing nothing, very seriously, on a hill.