As you may know, Seoraksan locates east cost in Korea and it take 3 hours driving from Seoul. So many hikers use to stay a night to finish the peak of Seoraksan. However it is possible one day hiking and back to Seoul on same day.
I usually bring friends and people utilizing this way.
In case of Oasek - Sogongwon trail
Midnight : Hotel Pick up
- On the way meal
03:00 AM : Arrives in Seoraksan national park and Start hiking
07:00 AM : Arrives at the peak
08:00 AM : Simple Meal at the Jungcheong Shelter
- Simple meal during get down
15:00 PM : Arrives at Sogongwon
17:00 PM : Dinner at Sokcho city
20:00 PM : Arrive at the Hotel
The cost for this is 500 USD(Up to two person) including
Transportation
Taxi in the park
Dinner
Guide fee
If you have any question, please let me know. hikingkorea356@gmail.com
Korean national park mountains closing days
Korean national park mountains except Bukhansan will be closed starting from 15-Nov to 15-Dec, and from 16-Feb to 15-May every year. During these days it is not possible to go up to the peak but only few area like temples. The reason for closing is to protect from the fire caused by dry weather.
Please make sure those days, if you plan to visit below mountains during those days.
1. Seoraksan
2. Sokrisan
3. Jirisan
4. Hallasan
5, Odaesan(including Gyebangsan)
6. Wolchulsan
7. Mudeungsan
8. Gyeryongsan
9. Naejangsan
10. Gayasan
11. Deokyousan
12. Juwangsan
13. Wonaksan
14. Sobaeksan
16. Chiaksan
Hope this Helps you.
Please make sure those days, if you plan to visit below mountains during those days.
1. Seoraksan
2. Sokrisan
3. Jirisan
4. Hallasan
5, Odaesan(including Gyebangsan)
6. Wolchulsan
7. Mudeungsan
8. Gyeryongsan
9. Naejangsan
10. Gayasan
11. Deokyousan
12. Juwangsan
13. Wonaksan
14. Sobaeksan
16. Chiaksan
Hope this Helps you.
Odaesan, The snow hiking
Odaesan(Odae mountain), Jinbu Gangwon, South Korea
Odaesan, the 11th national park, is spread out across Gangneung-si, Hongcheon-gun, and Pyeongchang-gun in Gangwon-do(Province), and based around the highest peak Birobong which stands at 1,536m above sea level, Dongdaesan(1,434m), Durobong(1,422m), Sangwangbong(1,491m), and Horyeongbong(1,561m) stand together like a giant folding screen.
To the
east, stands Noinbong(1,338m) all alone with the magnificent Sogeumgang(Valley)
running below. Most of Odaesan’s peaks are flat ant the slopes are slow.
The autumn and the winter is the best time
to hike Odaesan, but I prefer the winter. The snow made everything different.
The typical hiking trail is starting from Sangwonsa(Temple), passing Jungdaesajaam(temple)
and hit the top, Birobong and Sangwangbong, and return to the starting point.
It is 11.4km round trip and takes about 6 hours.
That’s why it is nice place
for one day hiking from Seoul.
Hiking starts with visiting Sangwonsa.
Sangwonsa
was built by two princess of Silla dynasty, Bocheon and Hyomyong, in AD 705.
Though this temple is easy to access by
car, the environment is very solemn. It is very nice to stay and to meditate.
Actually, many people visit here and stay
overnight to get the inner peace.
This is the main building in Sangwonsa.
There is Munsudongja statue in this building and the statue is Korean national
treasure no. 221.
I would like to stay longer in Sangwonsa,
but I had to leave here as my Birobong is waiting for me. My foot steps are
heading to Jungdaesajaam. It is 2km away from Sangwonsa.
One the way to Jungdaesajaam, two monks
after morning pray were approaching to Sangwonsa. It was so peaceful moment.
It is not so difficult to get Jungdaesajaam.
Walking on some winter steps were enough.
Because Jungdaesajaam was built on the
slope, its roofs are overlapped to avoid from the damage by the snow. There are
no temple looks like this in Korea.
This temple was built in 1400 when the king
Taejong era of Chosun dynasty. And the king, Sejo who became a king after
killed his nephew, visited this temple and prayed.
Above this temple, there is Jeokmyeolbogung.
It keeps Buddha’s actual Sari which is small cry crystals sometimes found among
cremated remains of monks. It says Jajang Yulsa who is the famous monk in Silla
dysnaty visited Odaesan in China, and he met Musubosal while praying and
Munsunbosal gave Buddha’s Sari to him. Munsubosal is the Bodhisattva of wisdom.
After seeking inner peace, the real hiking
was started.
Heavy snow covered all over the mountain.
If there’s no guide like this, it will be very easy to get lost.
Snow made not only hard hiking but also no
food for bird.
So one of my fellow put some nuts on her
palm, a bird came and picked those nuts. I think the bird was training humans
like us.
The sky was deep blue and the mountain was
so white.
At some height, I could see the entire
mountain covered by snow. You know? The winter Olympic in 2018 will be held
near here.
Finally, I have arrived at the top of
Odaesan. The peak is Birobong, 1,563m. I felt like all mountains were
underneath my foot.
I watched the other peak of this mountain,
Sangwangbong. No more hard trail from now on.
On the way to Sangwangbong, It looks like there
lives a snow queen.
It was too bad I had to leave Birobong, so
I looked back the peak again.
And I felt thanks those who made this snow
pass. Owing to them, I could enjoy the winter pass without any trouble.
Look! Snow laid very thick like this.
There’s so many bitches on the pass. I
think the snow and the birch were making a good harmony.
Well, if you enjoyed the snow pass, you
will find yourself on Sangwangbong before you know.
From Sangwangbong to Sangwonsa, the
starting point, the very easy road were waiting for me. I missed my ski.
Finishing my white hiking, I looked over
the Birobong again promising to come back again.
Odaesan is not so difficult to climb up and the best place to watch all mountains in Gangwondo Korea.
If you like to enjoy this mountain with professional guide, please don't hesitate to contact me at hikingkorea356@gmail.com.
Thanks!
YongMunSan - YangPyeong, Kyeonggi
September is a quite
mysterious month of year. It lays between summer and fall giving hot and cold
same time, and also it always starts same week day with December. So I packed
my bag for YongMunSan(Yongmun mountain) as I didn't want to miss this kind of mysterious
time of the year, and before the mountain changes its color.
Total time : 6.5 hours
There's lots of good
things if you arrive there early in the morning. You don't need to pay for the
parking and admission.
Standing on the empty
parking lot and looking the top of Yongmunsan, the morning sun is highlighting
the top and enticing me to the mountain.
Yongmunsan is 1,157m high
and is the 4th highest mountain in Kyeonggi-Do, South Korea. It locates about
50km away to the east from Seoul. On the top, though there's some facilities by
airforce and broadcast companies in Korea but no problem to go up there.
Yongmunsan is very famous
for Yongmunsa(temple) and a thousand years old ginkgo tree, but also famous for
the battle in 1951 against Chinese army during Korean War.
On this very calm and
peaceful path, May in 1951, an Yongmunsan regiment fought against 3 divisions
of Chinese army and wiped them out. After this battle, the Allied Forces was
able to start the counter attack against the communist(allied force of North
Korea and China). But unfortunately it damaged Yongmunsa very seriously.
When thinking the
sacrifice of Yongmun regiment, those
paper lights on the path to the temple are not just light but something meaningful
on the early autumn morning.
The 1,100 years old
grandma ginkgo tree which was watching the serious battle 60 years ago,
fortunately, didn't get any damage from the battle. It is 42m tall with 14m's
waist and the tallest tree in Korea. It has some story about its origin.
According to the legend, this tree was planted by Maui who was thr crown prince
of Silla and the son of its last king Gyeongsun, on his way to Geumgangsan
after the fall of the dynasty. Many Korean people is visiting this mountain
just to watch this tree.
Facing to the ginkgo
tree, there ¡s Yongmunsa(Yongmun temple).
This temple was built in 10th century
but it has destroyed by Japanese troops in 1907 and burned again during the
battle in 1951. Current buildings were rebuilt on the ash.
Nevertheless of those
pains, the temple fills my heart with piety in early autumn morning.
The real hiking is
starting as soon as you leave the temple. Crossing the bridge and walking
through the mountain pass, I feel something amazing is waiting for us. It looks
like nobody is ahead.
There are so many small
rocks on the trail. Those rocks are from the big quartzite. Time broke the big
rock into many small rocks.
Soon after, you need to
choose left trail or right trail. The left leads to the ridge of Yongmunsan and
the right is to the valley. The valley trail is little tougher than the ridge
trail, however both trial will lead you to the top. I took the left as my first
target is SangWonSa(temple).
Be careful when you pass
this kind of rocky trail.
However some path is very
nice to walk and seems to keep some story about fairies.
After about 30 minutes
walking from Yongmunsa temple, arrived at the ridge fork where lead to the top
and Sangwonsa temple. As soon as the sound of my heart beat vanished from my
ears, we could hear the full orchestra music played by autumn life.
If you go straight, you
will get the top but my first target, Sangwonsa is on the left.
Do you like the narrow
path in the forest? I love this kind of path. As walking slowly and singing my
favorite song, birds are singing with me.
There are some bench
place in this mountain, please take a break.
I feel the Sangwonsa
temple will be waiting for me over this pass. We call this kind of pass as a
“Jae or GoGae.” It looks very familiar to me. This pass is very similar to my
childhood pass to my grandmother’s house. There were many foxes on the pass and
we call it Up-side-down-pass.
Because we believed the fox can be turned into a
beautiful girl after a somersault. And the girl make people lose their mind. I
was so afraid about it whenever I went there.
It was just story but I
have no intention to stay here longer.
Soon after, we arrived at
Sangwonsa temple. It looks similar to Yongmunsa temple. Actually both temples
were built in same year. The first advisor of Choseon dynasty, MuhakDaeSa,
stayed here and also the brother of King SeJong stayed here.
Watching the temple house
with firewood for winter and the cloud in the blue sky, I feel autumn in my
heart though the mountain hasn't change the color yet.
If I can be in this house
heated by the firewood in the winter, reading a book by the snow light, is
there any perfect moment than this?
The path to JangGunBong
starts from this bridge, down from the temple.
You will find this
milepost very soon after the bridge.
The trail to JangGunBong
has several tough points but not difficult.
You can enjoy to watch the peak of
YongMunSan at some height.
After walking 6 Km from
the parking lot, we arrived at JangGunBong. It says 1065m. This is the second
highest peak in YoungMunSan. If you go left, you will meet BaekWunBong which
looks like Matterhorn in Swiss. Our peak is on the right.
On the way to the top,
this kind of rocky pass is waiting.
But also some wild
flowers too.
Finally, the trees and
bushes have gone and meet the entire YongMunSan.
And arrived at the top. 1157m.
From the top, you can
watch YongMunSa temple and the parking lot we have left. It is very relieved
view.
The way to down is better
than way up.
On the way down, I look
up the top once more. Some people arrived at this point and grumbled because
the top is still too far for them.
About 1km away from the
top, we meet this fork with two options. The one is taking valley trail and the
other is ridge trail. No hesitation! Valley!
The valley trail is very
rocky trail like this and it goes on until to near to YongMunSa temple. Be
careful.
In the valley, you can
meet this kind of big rock where you can sleep on if feel tired. It called as
“MaDangBaWi” means rock looks like the front yard.
Crossing wooden bridge,
The valley is getting
wider and you will meet people is enjoying this valley. As I told you, YongMun
means “the dragon gate”, I think there lived a dragon in this valley once upon
a time.
Returned to the parking
lot and watching the peak, I felt we started in summer and ended in autumn.
If you like to visit YongMunSan with a professional guide or if you have a half day available before you fly from Korea after a business meeting, or if you need a guide to get around in Korea, Please don't hesitate to send me an email to
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