Ulsanbawi, Seoraksan · The Stretches You Cannot Climb

Ulsanbawi on Seoraksan is made of six great rocks stacked one on another, and the last stretch is a near-vertical iron stair through a cleft in the stone.

People who have reached the top keep mentioning the same odd thing: counting the steps, you lose the count halfway and can never get it back; you remember climbing four sections, and looking back you have done three.

The saying at the foot of the mountain is a plain one — the name of the rock is a reminder not to count. What gets you up is not strength; it is the mountain letting you pass.

Natural Mysteries / Seoraksan · South Korea / Modern day