South Korea Autumn trip - part 1

A few have asked about an upcoming trip so here is the story. I've been wanting to visit the moutaineous regions of South Korea for a couple of years now and finally decided to make it my next trip as I would be traveling by myself as opposed to my very cool traveling partner (aka my wifey). I first needed to decide whether it would be an autumn trip or a winter trip or a spring trip ( I avoid travel during summer as the season is too hot and more importantly too touristy). I decided it would be during fall because South Korea is famous for its fall foliage (autumn color) and I miss the walking down the streets paved in crimson colored leaves.
As an avid traveler I regularly mention (more like infatuated) potential upcoming destinations and reasons for the visit. My good friend Rashed decided to join me on this trip. Even though I was initially making this a solo trip I did not mind company, in fact this particular friend made me look forward to it even more.
We will leave sometime late October for a fortnight. Luckily Emirates has daily direct flights to Seoul so there would not be a need for a transit stopover. We will arrive in Seoul at midday and spent 5 nights before renting a car and driving North North East to the town of Sokcho for 3 or 4 nights. Sokcho is the gateway to Mount Seoraksan and Seoraksan National Park where we should enjoy the majority of fall colors. When the colors start to change and when prime time is difficult to say as it depends on the weather/climate. So I took an average of the past 4 years and decided on early November. Last year was a freak year as prime color was in mid November. Hopefully this year it will be early November.
There are several hiking routes for different distances and varying skill levels.
There is a very traditional fish market in Sokcho which we plan to visit. Its interesting to see what people on another continent consider a valid source of nutrition if not a delicacy in their cuisine.
From Sokcho we will head towards our second leg of the journey - Gyeongju(kyongju). During research I discovered that there are 2 routes with different pros and cons. The first route is the local coastal highway which is winding, not modern, passes through several towns/villages and longer than the alternative. The alternative is the newer expressway which shorter in distance and clearer in terms of directions. We definitely chose the former as it would give us a real view on traditional South Korea as opposed to super technomodern Seoul. Renting a car is ultimate freedom. One goes where one wants to go whenever and for how ever long. Sure a train is less complicated and even more efficient but there is something about exploring that attracts me. This way we can stop or even digress on from the 400km route to Gyeongju (Kyongju) our third destination. Thanks to wikipedia I will not need to elaborate on destinations but Gyeongju used to be the old capital of Silla for a for a very long and powerful period. So in terms of historic/ancient archaeology and architecture the area is like Champs Élysées to an Emarati in summer - a haven. Gyeongju is often referred to as "the museum without walls" as the area as a whole is historic. I'm definitely looking forward to Gyeongju.