Hiking in Seoraksan National Park

I made it out of the city on Sunday for a couple days of hiking at a national park here in Korea. It's on the Eastern coast and near the border with North Korea, near the coastal city of Sokcho. Sunday was crazy packed with people (imagine if Yosemite was less than 3 hours from SF and was 1/100th the size), but I had a half day, so I did the "must do" hike to some rocks called Ulsanbawi. Crowded, but very beautiful anyway.

Looking over the map, I decided to tackle a 22 km hike that hits the 3 highest peaks in park (1708 meters is the highest) and ended on the other side of the park. When I discussed this with the hotel owners' father (great guy who lived in LA's Korea Town for a long time), he said "start early."

So, Monday morning I walked out of the hotel at 6am and started towards the park in darkness. By 8 am I had made it over 6 km and enjoyed the sunrise at a Buddhist cave that had been carved in the side of a mountain (and bought a bandanna because (a) I really needed something that would work as belt for my pants and (b) it had a map on it and I left my map at the hotel).

I thought I was making great time and would reach Mt. Daecheongbong much earlier than expected...I was wrong. The trail got really steep - both up and down - and seemed like a mix of hiking and rock climbing. I averaged 2 km/hr (not including breaks) the rest of the day. Koreans don't do switchbacks!

All in all, though I had a good time. Lots of other hikers on the trail once I got to an area where there are a few "lodgings" and people were backpacking and later when I was near the park entrances near to the peak.

I posted a bunch of pictures on Picassa - I hope you enjoy them!

Seoraksan Hiking Oct 2009