Trail of the Lion King

I don’t have much of an interest in Korean politics other than, as with everywhere else,  the general wish that the left will do better than the right. What I do have an interest in though is getting a day off work for the day of the Presidential election. As I don’t have a vote, it leaves me free to spend the day doing something else.

Jen and I had planned on hiking in Sobaeksan National Park last summer, but once we got there it turned out to be too hot and we settled for a wander around the caves instead. Winter is better for hiking though, or at least it is for me and so I thought we could give it another go.

I nipped out of work early the evening before and we caught the 7.10pm mugungwha train from Cheongnyangi to Danyang. Cheongnyangi is a station that took me a while to discover. Previously I’d only been checking options from the main stations of Seoul and Yongsan, but leaving from the smaller Cheongnyangi terminus meant that we could get to Danyang on the Tuesday evening and then get an early start the next day. The journey takes around an hour and a quarter and costs about eleven thousand won.

It didn’t look as if there were any hotels near the out-of-town Danyang railway station and so we took a taxi into town and found a room in a hotel across the road from the bus terminal. It was the same place that we’d stayed at in the summer, although I think they charged more than thirty thousand won last time we were there.

It didn’t quite work out as planned the next morning as, possibly due to the previous night’s wine consumption, the early start turned into a late one. It was already mid-morning when we got into a taxi. The driver suggested that we should go to the Eoulgok park entrance and we took his advice. He dropped us off twenty minutes later with a warning that we should hike quickly in order to be able to complete the route before dark.

Sobaeksan map

Our intention had been to hike up to the 1439m Birobong peak. It’s only 5.1km each way but has an estimated hiking time of six hours. The route starts at around 400m in height and looks to have a fairly even gradient gaining a couple of hundred metres in altitude every kilometre. It was hard going in places with a mixture of fresh snow and old ice and without spikes it wouldn’t have been possible to have got beyond the first twenty yards.

It’s all forest tracks.

We didn’t see too many other people all morning, possibly because they will have set out much earlier than we did. There were some impressive sections of frozen river though and in the places where the water was still running ice resembling jellyfish had formed around the stones that broke the surface.

Two hours in, we’d hiked 2.5 kilometres and got up to 940m. With another 2.6km still to do and another 500m of ascent it became apparent that we weren’t going to reach the top. Jen’s feet and legs were just about numb with the cold and I was feeling the effects of the previous night’s over-indulgence. It wasn’t a difficult decision to call it a day and head back down.

We made the reverse journey in an hour and a half and were fortunate enough to see a bus waiting at the bottom.

For the bus aficionados.

I don’t know how often the buses run to Danyang but it seemed a rare enough occurence for kids to stare and wave as it drove past. Everyone on it, bar us, seemed to know each other and each new arrival was given a cheery welcome as they got on.

Despite not getting to the top it was still a decent day out, three and a half hours in the hills beats a day sat at my desk every time. It’s a pity that the elections only take place every five years.

Deogyusan isn’t one of the furthest National Parks from Seoul but it’s one of the more awkward places to get to on public transport. As the short winter days don’t leave much time for hiking we thought that we’d  do a couple of hours worth of travelling on the Friday night to give us that bit more time the following day.

We caught the train at Seoul, changed at Daejeon and then got off at Yeongdong. It was after ten in the evening when we arrived and I suppose it’s a bit of a gamble in a small town when you are looking for somewhere to sleep at that time of night.

The first place we tried had rooms, but only for that night and we wanted somewhere for the Saturday as well. We moved further away from the station and tried the Dubai Motel. There can’t have been too many billionaire oil sheiks in town that weekend as we were able to pick up a room for forty thousand won a night. It was clean and smart, but let down slightly by the room being as hot as the Middle East and the bed being just as hard as the floor.

Dubai Motel, viewed from Yeongdong station.

The next morning we had to get ourselves firstly to Muju Bus Terminal and then on to the Gucheondong entrance to the park. It all worked out very well. If you come out of the railway station, turn right and then walk for about three hundred yards there’s a bus stop on the same side of the road. You can catch a bus to Muju for 1,150 won. They don’t run that often, I think ours left at 8.30am and the next one may very well have been after ten o’clock.

This is the bus stop you want.

It took us forty minutes to get to Muju Bus Terminal and from there we caught a bus to Gucheondong. The buses seem to come and go every hour or so, they take thirty minutes and cost 3,900 won.

With very little time spent hanging about we were at the Gucheondong entrance by about ten o’clock. There weren’t many people around although I think that may have been down to the time of year. We were a bit late for the leaves changing colour and maybe slightly early for the main ski season. Whilst there were a few hotels I suspect that a lot of the year they will fill up fairly quickly.

Most of the restaurants seemed to specialise in trout. The ones swimming about in the tanks outside looked too large to be wild, so were probably pellet-fed farmed fish. Shame really, as a genuine wild trout takes some beating.

There were three options for going up to the 1,614m Hyangjeong peak. We discounted the route via Chilbong as that would have brought us out at the ski lift and if anywhere was going to be busy then that was it.

Deogyusan National Park map.

The other two alternatives both went via Baekyeonsa temple. One of them looped around via the 1,594m Jungbong and the other was a more direct but steeper route. We would probably have taken the longer circuit but unfortunately it was closed and so we didn’t have any choice in the matter. There was an excellent sign that not only showed the route and distance but also the gradient along the way.

Every hike should have information like this.

The route seemed like two separate hikes. Initially we had a six kilometer walk up to the Baekyeonsa temple that followed the river most of the way. With the temperatures having been below freezing earlier in the week there was a lot of ice on the trail. We only gained four hundred metres in altitude over that section though and whilst it was often slippy underfoot it didn’t take too much out of us.

Baekyeonsa temple

The next section was a different matter with a height gain of six hundred metres over 3.7km. The increased altitude meant a lot of compacted snow on the ground, whilst the increase in gradient resulted in a few staircases and other sections where we had to haul ourselves up using railings. There weren’t many people heading upwards but there were plenty who had taken advantage of the ski lift making their way down.

As we approached the summit we could see a shelter to our left. For those who like to see the sunrise from the top of a hill it would be an ideal place to spend the night.

Deogyusan shelter.

Three and three-quarter hours after setting off we reached the 1,614m Hyangjeokbong summit. It was fairly busy up there, but when you’ve got a ski-lift carrying people most of the way up that’s to be expected I suppose.

At the top.

The views were fantastic. We were above the treeline and with barely a cloud in sight we could see for miles. In one direction there were eight or nine ridges stacked up into the distance.

That’s a view.

It was pretty cold up there and so we didn’t hang about too long. It’s a steep drop down to the ski-lift three or four hundred metres away at Seolcheong. As we passed the people coming up from the lift we could hear a lot of them complaining about the effort they were having to put in to walk that final stretch. Ungrateful wretches.

The ride down to the bottom cost eight thousand won and took twenty minutes. The resort had just opened for the season that weekend and only one of the slopes was in use. Artificial snow was being sprayed onto the others. The place was busy though, mainly with boarders rather than skiers, and as you can imagine they were all togged up in their best gear.

I think that’s the baby slope.

We warmed up with some drinks, my selection of honey and pine needle tea tasting exactly like I imagine bathroom cleaner would do. We could have hung around for a free shuttle bus back to Muju but couldn’t be bothered to wait in the cold for it. Instead we caught a taxi and then when faced with a lengthy wait at the bus station we took another cab back to Yeongdong.

I reckon we did this walk at a decent time of year. With the leaves having fallen we were able to see through the trees on the way up, whilst there wasn’t that much snow as to make walking difficult. I imagine it will be spectacular later in the year when the river freezes.

This time of year is about as good as it gets in Korea for hiking and so Jen and I decided to head south for the weekend and go for a walk in Wolchulsan National Park. We caught the KTX from Yongsan after work on the Friday and three and a quarter hours later we were in Mokpo.

We stayed in a hotel across the road from the Peace Plaza. That’s the place where they have the dancing water fountains. I can’t remember the name of our hotel but it’s next door to the better-known Shangria Hotel. The rooms are good and at 80,000 won per night it’s about two-thirds of the price of its more famous neighbour.

It’s the skinny building in the middle.

From what I can work out there are three entrances to Wolchulsan National Park; Dogapsa temple, Cheonhwang Parking Lot and Gyeongpodae. You can get there by catching a bus from Mokpo to Yeongam and then another bus from Yeongam to Cheonhwang Parking Lot. This seemed a bit of an arse on to me and so we just took a taxi from Mokpo to Dogapsa temple. I’d estimate it at being about fifty kilometres and it took half an hour and cost 35,000 won.

Dogapsa temple isn’t anything special and just looks like most of the other temples over here. I suspect that they were all built by the same bloke. It did have air-conditioning though, which I’m sure the monks will have been very grateful for in the summer.

Dogapsa temple.

The hike that we were intending to do would take us from Dogapsa temple up to the 809m Cheonhwangbong peak and then down to the Cheonhwang parking lot. The National Parks website lists the route as 9.7km and estimates that it should take around six hours. We only had around seven hours of daylight and so couldn’t really afford to hang about.

The trail starts off pretty steeply with an hour or so of ascent until you reach the Pampas Grass Field. Apparently it is silver coloured at certain times of the year but not in November when it looks as if it has died off.

Part of the Pampas Grass Field.

We had maybe fifty yards or so of relative flatness at the Pampas Grass Field and then it was back to the trudging upwards towards the first peak of the day, Gujeongbong. We hadn’t seen too many hikers so far that morning but Gujeongbong was packed with people milling around, having their lunch and just generally making a racket. There’s an easier route up that starts at the Gyeongpodae entrance and I suspect most of them will have made their way up from there.

Gujeongbong.

We didn’t hang about for long at Gujeongbong, partly due to the crowds but mainly because we still had a fair distance to go. The ridge walk to Cheonhwangbong wasn’t the relentless grind upwards that the trail to the first peak had been but there were some extremely steep sections where it was necessary to haul yourself up or lower yourself down using the ropes or rails provided.

Looking back towards Gujeongbong.

Around four hours after we’d set off we reached 809m Cheonhwangbong peak. This one wasn’t nearly so busy as Gujeongbong and it had great views in all directions. We could see the Cheonhwangbong parking lot in the distance and so were reasonably confident that we’d be able to get there before it got dark.

Cheonhwangbong.

On the way down to the car park we had a choice of routes, one going via a suspension bridge, the other by a waterfall. When you are from Teesside you tend not to be easily impressed by bridges and so we chose the waterfall route. I’m glad we did as getting to the suspension bridge appeared to involve an almost vertical climb of around a hundred metres. Once I’m on the way down I like to keep it that way.

It’s no Transporter.

The Baram waterfall wasn’t anything too spectacular but at least it didn’t involve going back up again. There were quite a few people making the walk up from the car park to see it, some on a family day out with a sullen teenager or two in tow, others a couple on a date with the girl wearing heels more suitable for, well I’m not sure what actually. What are high heels suitable for?

And this was no High Force.

Bang on target we reached the Cheonhwang parking lot six hours after setting off. There were far more transport options there than there had been at Dogapsa and we were able to flag down a taxi almost straightaway. Half an hour and 40,000 won later we were back in Mokpo. We had planned to hike the following day too but quickly thought better of it. With my thighs and calves still sore four days later I feel that we probably made the right decision.

I haven’t managed as much hiking as I’d have liked this year, partly due to visiting Oman once a month but mainly because of my reluctance to hike in the hot summer whilst carrying more weight than I felt comfortable with. The temperatures are getting that bit colder now though and going for a walk in the mountains is a much more appealing prospect.

Jen and I had been to watch Jeonbuk Motors play FC Seoul the previous day and I’d identified Naejangsan National Park as somewhere that would be easy enough to get to afterwards. When the game finished we took a taxi to Iksan and then caught the KTX to nearby Jeongeup.

I’d marked Jeongeup down as a ‘one-horse town’, probably, I suppose, because it doesn’t appear to have any sporting teams. It’s not necessarily the most logical of assessments but in my book that’s the sort of thing that counts. As even the quietest of towns always have plenty of places to stay though, I was confident of having the pick of the motels around the station.

When we are hiking we will usually book the motel for two nights even when we are only staying for one. It means that we don’t have to check out and carry all of our gear with us and we can return to the hotel for a shower and change of clothes before travelling back to Seoul. It seems a bit extravagant, but with rooms usually costing around forty to fifty thousand won a night it’s not such a big deal.

The first place we tried quoted us 120,000 won per night. I was astonished, especially since we’d be paying double. We tried another motel and they were full. Apparently the ‘one-horse town’ of Jeongeup has a three or four week period in the autumn when it is swarming with visitors keen to see the changing colours of the leaves.

We tried a third motel whilst pondering whether or not we should have stayed in Iksan instead. The motel had one room left and quoted us 80,000 won per night. Despite being twice what they would normally have charged it seemed like a bargain. The room was fairly good too, if a little oddly decorated.

One of the rare remaining rooms in Jeongeup.

It was raining and so we decided not to bother going out to eat, instead getting by on a takeaway of kimchi mondu and kimchi fried rice. The bottles of wine that washed it down meant that we didn’t manage to achieve the early start that we’d planned the next morning and it was after nine thirty before we set off in a taxi for Naejangsan.

It’s a journey that should take around fifteen minutes, but the lure of the leaves caused so much congestion that after half an hour the driver dropped us at a car park a couple of miles from the National Park. There were dozens of coaches, hundreds of cars and thousands of people. It seemed that most of latter were queueing for the shuttle bus that would take them the remaining two miles, despite them being togged up in their best hiking gear.

Lazy gits. The bus is in the distance.

It took us half an hour to walk to the park entrance whilst I suspect that it took those on the bus a good while longer. There was a market at the entrance selling everything from soy beans to twigs for putting in soup. We noticed that a few of the restaurants were roasting half pigs and mentally filed the information for later.

Naejangsan map.

Whilst a lot of the crowd were only there for the shopping, a fair proportion of them kept walking once the stalls had petered out and followed the trail towards a temple and a cable car. There were so many people that marshalls with batons and whistles had to be deployed to keep things flowing. Everytime someone stopped dead in their tracks to photograph the foliage someone else would walk into the back of them and the bottlenecks would build up.

This was once of the quieter sections. Really.

After a further half an hours walking we reached the start of the trail to Janggunbong, a 696m peak a couple of kilometres away. We branched off to the left to follow it and immediately left ninety-nine percent of the crowd behind. Within five minutes we didn’t have another hiker in sight and we encountered far fewer on the way up than you would expect on a normal day’s hiking in Korea.

That’s better.

It was a steep climb and it took us an hour to reach the Yugunchi Pass, which is the start of the main ridge and the place where Korean Master Monk Huimuk gave the Japanese a pasting in 1592. Forty minutes later we got to the Janggunbong summit where the crowds of hikers made it difficult to find a place to stand. I suspect that a lot of them had approached from the opposite direction after taking a ride to near the top in the cable car. It’s a shame that there aren’t any Master Monks around these days to keep the crowds down.

It’s an ideal place for a picnic.

We hung around at the peak for ten minutes or so taking in the views. They were pretty much the only ones that we’d seen all day as the trail never really rises above the tree line, even when on the ridge.

We did think about pushing on to the next peak, but the volume of people made us wary about whether we would have enough time to be able to get back to Jeongeup to catch our train. Besides, there were half pigs being roasted at the bottom of the hill.

View from Janggunbong.

We retraced our steps and a little over an hour later we rejoined the crowds on their way to and from the temple. Despite it being mid afternoon the number of people arriving didn’t seem to be getting any smaller.

Still busy.

We had time for some roast pork before we made our way back to the park gate to flag down a taxi. It took us an hour to cover the distance that we had walked in half that time earlier in the day and then a further thirty minutes to get back to Jeongeup. It’s a journey that would normally take fifteen minutes.

There’s enough for a decent sandwich there.

All in all, it was a good day. The foliage was spectacular if you like that sort of thing and the trail that we took well-marked. It was also great just to get out into the hills again. It would have been a completely different experience though if we’d turned up a month earlier or later and had the place to ourselves.

I’ve not done very much hiking so far this year. Jen and I walked the last couple of sections of the Bukhansan Dulegil and there’s been the odd river walk on the way to a football game, but I haven’t been up a mountain since I went to Yongmunsan back in mid-January.

As I’m supposed to be going up Poland’s highest mountain in the summer when I’m over there for Euro 2012, I thought that it was about time to ease my legs back into it. Jen and I had been to Cheongdo to watch the bullfighting the previous day and when we had seen enough of that we got the train to Daegu. A taxi took us across the city to the Seobu bus terminal and from there we caught a bus to Haeinsa in the Gayasan National Park. The bus goes every forty minutes, costs 6,600 won and takes about an hour and a half.

Seobu bus terminal.

It was raining as we arrived at Chi-in village and we made for the nearest motel. There were a few of them around so I reckon that even in the height of the walking season it would be likely that you would find somewhere to stay.

Our place was ok, the main drawback being that not only would the outer door to the room not lock, it wouldn’t always stay closed. I wasn’t too bothered as it didn’t seem as if there was anyone else staying there. Later on Jen spotted a list at reception that not only showed which rooms were occupied, but how many people were in them. We had the lowest occupation rate with just the two of us, whilst other rooms had as many as eight people crammed into them.

That’s it on the left.

There were a few restaurants and we selected one that specialised in various produce from the surrounding hillsides. Radishes, ferns, bracken, surplus foliage from root vegetables, weeds, that sort of thing. There was an ungutted grilled fish and some soup with bits of tofu in it. On the plus side we got a pancake and a couple of beers with it.

It was quite cold in there but as we were the only customers we got to sit next to the stove. On top of the stove was an extremely large pot full of water. I wasn’t sure if they were heating it up to make us some tea or to bath their dog.

Just in case you wondered what a stove looks like.

Next morning the rain had stopped and it was a pretty good day for hiking.  We set off early in the direction of Haeinsa temple with the intention of walking past it and then onwards to the 1,430m Sangwangbong. It’s about five kilometres to the top and with Haeinsa being around six hundred metres above sea level, it’s a not too steep eight hundred metres or so ascent.

Haeinsa is famous amongst Buddhists for its temple which has a load of wooden printing blocks from the olden days. Jen has been there before and they made her peek through a gap in the wall to see them, so it’s maybe not the most tourist friendly of places. That didn’t seem to stop coachloads of them turning up though and by the time we reached Haeinsa it was already busy.

I’m not overly fussed about old wooden blocks and so we left them to those who were. The trail towards the summit was the quietest we’ve ever experienced. We spotted a monk out for a stroll early on and then after that we didn’t see anyone at all until we were within about twenty metres of the top. There’s an alternative route up from the Baengundong park entrance and most people must have been following that trail. We did think about going down that way but we didn’t know if we would be able to get a bus or not.

A monk.

Three hours after setting out we were on top of Sangwangbong. For a few minutes we were the only people up there before someone very handily turned up to take our photo.

It’s been a while since we had a summit photo.

There were decent views to the south with rows of mountain ranges disappearing into the distance.

I think I took this one a bit further down, but the view was similar.

The route was busier on the way down as we passed hiking groups and families who hadn’t made the early start that we had. Two hours later we were at the bottom and having a late lunch of beef and mushroom soup in a restaurant next to the bus stop.

Timetable for buses from Haeinsa.

Gayasan is another one of those places that I’d like to go back to, next time taking the route from Baengundong that goes past Yonggi Falls and then on to the 1,433m Chilbulbong peak, before descending via Sangwangbong to Haeinsa. It’s still only about ten kilometres in total and it looks as if the best way to do that one is to get off the Haeinsa bus a bit earlier at Gajo and then take a taxi to the Baengundong entrance.

And for what it’s worth, my legs knacked for days afterwards.

Yongmunsan is one of those mountains that is just outside of Seoul and ideal for a day’s hiking. Ideal that is if you can get out of bed on a morning. I’d planned to do this hike the previous Saturday but hadn’t adjusted properly to the time difference after my trip to the UK. Whilst I’d been waking up at around three every morning earlier in the week, luck would have it that I slept in until half past nine on the Saturday, which was a bit too late.

My second attempt was a little better. I’d been to Oman and back during the week, returning to Seoul the day before and had hoped that with the time difference there being only five hours rather than nine I’d wake up sometime around seven o’clock. Hoping isn’t really as good as an alarm clock though and after not waking until eightish, it was after nine before I left the apartment.

Yongmun is at the very end of the Jungang line and it took about two and a quarter hours from Yeoksam. I had a seat all the way and a book to read so didn’t mind the journey, particularly as the latter stages are above ground with views of some of the other mountains that I’d like to hike in the future. It’s only a 1,900 won fare as well which is about a quid.

I could have got all the way to Yongmunsan Resort for that 1,900 won fare if I’d been prepared to wait for the connecting bus that runs every half hour from the station, but as it was getting on towards lunchtime I took a 10,000 won taxi instead.

Yongmunsan Resort is likely to be quite a busy place in summer. There’s an amusement park, a camping ground, plenty of restaurants and a few small hotels. In January though, there wasn’t a great deal going on.

That's the big hill in the background.

I followed the road that leads to Yongmunsa Temple. It’s another one of those places that is apparently centuries old, but there is still construction work going on. It’s ages since the Japanese invaded and knocked it all down so maybe the monks are getting an extension to their Snooker Room. There is a great big Ginko tree outside the temple that is supposed to be over a thousand years old. It probably looks a bit more impressive when it has leaves on though.

That's still the big hill in the background.

I followed a path that went between the tree and the temple. A hundred metres or so further on I had a choice of following a path towards Sangwonsa or going directly to the main Yongmunsan peak. I headed straight on and the trail went upwards quite sharply, following the frozen stream. There weren’t many people hiking, or at least there weren’t too many on this particular route, although I suspect that most people would have started walking a little earlier than I did.

As I got higher there was more snow on the ground. It didn’t look too recent though.

Looking back in the direction that I'd just come from.

Progress was slow as there were some fairly slippery parts of the trail. The ice wasn’t thick enough to put chains or spikes on, so it was just a case of being careful. There were some quite steep sections as well where the ropes provided were a big help. After two and a half hours I’d only covered three of the four kilometres to the top and realised that I might not make it down again before dark if I tried to do the last kilometre. Yongmunsan is one of those mountains where you can’t get all the way to the 1,157m summit anyway as it’s fenced off to protect a load of satellite equipment, so not getting to the highest point possible wasn’t such a big deal.

I backtracked  to one of the lesser peaks and perched on a big rock to eat my cheese and crackers. I had a great view of the valley that I’d started from, some other hills in the distance and a bloke doing a bit of paragliding.

The photo doesn't really do it justice.

Further along the trail I took a different route downwards which eventually joined up with the route to Sangwonsa. It meandered back and forwards and was a lot less steep than the route I’d followed on the way up. It made the descent much easier than I’d anticipated and by the time I got back to Yongmunsan Resort I probably still had about an hour and a half to spare before it got dark.

I went up the blue route and came back down the yellow. I think.

I joined the queue of hikers waiting for the bus to the station and then got the subway back to Seoul. I think I’ll have another go at Yongmunsan as there is apparently a decent waterfall fifteen minutes or so beyond the main peak. I’ll just set off a little earlier next time.