Wild Korea

The park is just a short taxi or bus ride from downtown Gumi. There’s a tourist village with dozens of restaurants – that’s just above a lake where one can rent duck boats. Above the tourist village, the road leads to a parking lot for the cable car. Here one pays 600 won (about 60 cents U.S.) for adult admission. A short walk up to the cable car, and from here or from the upper terminus, trails continue on up to the summit. Geumo Mountain is 976.6 meters high. Besides its natural features, the park also features several temples. One, Haeunsa, is just a short walk from the upper cable car terminus. Most of these photos were taken in January; a couple in the Spring.

Read the rest of this entry »

Gyeongpo Provincial Park is in Gangneung City, Gangwon-do. It lies along the coast and includes Gyeongpo Lake. Its area is 9.471 square kms and it was established on June 26, 1982. I visited this park on November 9-10, 2005.

Gyeongpo Lake is 4.35 kms. in circumference. Here’s the lake looking south from the walking trail along the west shore:

A chain of statues along the trail tell a traditional story:

Read the rest of this entry »

This is a description of a trip I did at the beginning of May in 2005:

On Monday I got a bus to Chungju (no, that’s not the same as Cheongju where I went last week, even though it’s in the same province of Chungcheong buk-do.) And from there got a bus to the Songye Valley. I got off at Deokju village and found a minbak, the Weolsong Garden – had a big Korean-style room (sleep on the floor with a huge choice of bedding available.) Twenty bucks a night. I showed them where I had written that I am allergic to wheat, so they made me for dinner: acorn jelly, a very tasty large potato pancake, a large bowl of rice with some vegies – I think it was like bokkum-bap (Korean fried rice) with a broth added. The ajumah tentatively gave me some kimchi and when I ate the spicy cabbage she gave me some more. She wrote down that she would provide dinner, breakfast and a packed lunch, plus the accomodation for 40,000 won (US$40). Sounded good to me.

Read the rest of this entry »

As the autumn days shortened and the leaves thinned on the trees I accelerated my travel schedule to visit as many places as possible before winter set in. At the end of October an overnighter to Hwayang was one of these trips. I wasn’t sure public transport went there when I started, but in Goesan I found I could do it with just one more change of buses. After arrival I started walking up the valley and took lots more photos than I can put here. Here’s what’s of interest everywhere in the park – the autumn leaves; the stream; and the hills:

Read the rest of this entry »

In October I just stopped by overnight on my way elsewhere – hadn’t been here before but autumn sounded like a good time to visit. From Wonju took a local bus to Guryeongsa on the north side of the park. The temple is a bit of a walk from road’s end, up a valley with trees like this:

Read the rest of this entry »

This year I’ve been to the Songni Valley twice: in Spring blossom time and in Autumn leaves time.

This from my April diary:

I got an early bus from Cheongju and got off at the tourist village below Popchusa, a very ornate Buddhist temple in Songnisan National Park. Had a bowl of seollangtang with rice and panchan to start out the hike, then headed up the valley. Stopped briefly at the temple (I had visited here in 2003, so didn’t stay long this time.) Farther along, the trail headed steeply up with no switchbacks and continued in that vein till I’d climbed over 2000 feet. Today was the first really warm day of the year, hot even in the mountains. Near the top I met folks on an English-immersion field trip. They were studying at a teachers’ college and were conversing among themselves in English. We climbed together to the summit of the mountain, Munjangdae, Wind was very heavy, but we stayed long enough to take photos of each other. When down at the saddle again, they returned down toward Popchusa and I headed east into Kyeongsang buk-do. This section of trail feature sections of stairs lined with rubber door mats – this made walking down easier on the feet. It was after 5 p.m. when I got down to the main valley. I walked a mile or so south to Hwabuk, the main village in that area (though a very small one.) There was a bus stop but no schedule posted. Finally, a bus came along going the wrong way. He said he was going farther up the valley and then returning. I waited quite a while longer till he came back, and rode down to Sangju. Then another bus took me north again to Jeomchon and home.

Sanae-ri is the quite large tourist village below the temple. It has all the yeogwans, minbaks, restaurants and souvenir shops you’d want. There’s a little tourist office in a corner of the bus station, and spring water from a fountain right outside.

Read the rest of this entry »

Jung-do is an island in the lake on the west side of Chuncheon. There are a couple of restaurants, and there’s cabins for rent. The south end is wooded, farther north there’s a maintained lawn.

We stayed in one of the cabins. They run about 50,000 won a night. Ours had a kitchen with utensils, bath, refrigerator, TV, Korean-style sleeping arrangements, a picnic table outside. You want to cook, you need to bring food from the mainland, though.

Access to the island is by ferry. They run every half hour in the warmer season.

Read the rest of this entry »

I took the local bus to the tourist village at the South end of the park. Mungyeong SaeJae is a Provincial Park located right on the western border of Mungyeong-shi, in Gyeongsang buk-do. I walked up through the village. Near the park’s entrance is a large collection of these Korean wooden carvings, known as Jangseung. They are designed to keep away evil spirits.

Read the rest of this entry »

This was just a short trip- stayed in Cheongsong overnight and then went up to the Juwangsan National Park. This is one of Korea’s more isolated and less-visited parks. Started up a valley after a visit to the temple next to the entrance booth. Went up close to the head of the valley. There’s an interesting artisan’s village up there. Came home that night with the weather turning to rain. Here’s some photos.

Read the rest of this entry »

South Korea has twenty National Parks. There are also Provincial Parks, forest recreational areas, local parks, and interesting and scenic area with no particular protected status. There are hundreds of interesting islands off the coasts, ranging from tiny to quite large. There are many hiking trails in the country, ski areas, rafting, climbing and fishing spots, and other outdoor recreational possibilities.

I’m going to post my experiences in these wild regions, add photos and links where they exist. So here goes…..