Before public transport services were operated in the modern times, travelling on foot was the only way available for the ordinary people. Koreans usually wore simple shoes called Jipsin 짚신 made of rice straw.
The shoes are not enough strong to cover the walking distance, so travelers prepared extra pairs depending on the distance of the journey. Sometimes they go together with livestock as native goat, rabbit, chicken and cattle for sale.
Hiking along the trails on the mountains becomes sports for health these days. But in the past, walking along the mountain trails was just one of the important parts of ordinary life itself. They needed to exchange their own products with others away from their villages, so that walking across the river, fields and mountains were natural and inevitable. They walked and hiked along the shortest paths and trails between areas. They used the carriers named Jige 지게 made of wood and rice straw to carry daily necessaries to sell or buy in the local markets. To save time, it seems they tried to find the shortest and gentle paths. The past roads for walking travelers in the fields don't nearly remain any longer, but some trails on the mountains used by them still partly remain.
