Last weekend was unseasonably warm–enough in the afternoon for midges and mayflies to hatch and to coax the trout into activity. I was fishing some streams in the Gangwon province and caught a few rainbows that were rising to the surface to take the tiny dry flies I cast out. In winter conditions, catching trout on drys can be tough and often you must use subsurface flies such as very tiny midge imitations to get a strike.
The afternoon weather was warm enough to wear a long-sleeved shirt but after waking up in the morning, my tent was covered with hoarfrost and my wading boots were frozen solid. By mid-morning it was warm again.
The next night I was sitting around the campfire grilling steak and swilling beer with my dog rolled up under the lawn chair when the earth rumbled. It was different from other minor earthquakes I experienced in the past. Since I was camped out on in the sand on a riverside the quake felt more vibrant and alive.
Later back home scanning the old news I read this headline:
Pyeongchang’s Olympic Bid Not Shaken By Tremor
Good. But what should shake the Olympic Bid promoters is that if you are going to host the Winter Olympics you would want some snow and the Southern Gangwon province sorely lacks the white stuff. Except for some dusting on certain mountain peaks and patches of snow on north-facing slopes, there isn’t much snow. Much of the countryside is drab brown and although the promoters put out enormous amounts of propaganda to portray Pyeongchang County as a winter wonderland, it simply isn’t the case.
The same goes for the Taebaek Snow Festival which opens this week. I just drove through there and there isn’t much snow to be festive about.
But the weather reports for this weekend call for some snow/rain so perhaps that region of Korea might be able to reclaim their self-appointed winter wonderland titles–at least until global warming puts it to an end.
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