One of the most gorgeous yet easily accessible hikes in Korea, the Ulsanbawi Trail at Seoraksan National Park takes even beginners up the sides of precarious cliffs and granite pillars on well-engineered boardwalks and steel staircases. There is nothing technical about the route -- you just need to be physically fit enough for 40 minutes of pure stairs.
This is the real life inspiration for those classic Korean ink paintings of snarly pine trees growing impossibly out of vertical rockfaces, up in the clouds with commanding views of snowy mountain ranges in the background. It's Northeast Asia's answer to Huangshan's West Sea Canyon, on a smaller scale and with a far less intimidating trail.
Did I mention the marvelous Korean architecture at several historic Buddhist temples along the route? What about the lipsmacking seafood at the neighbouring town of Sokcho just 30 minutes from the National Park by local bus? For independent travelers in Seoul with a couple days to spare, the unbeatable combination of Seoraksan and Sokcho would make a great detour for the eyes and thighs, as well as the tastebuds.
To set up our day-hike at Seoraksan, we rented a service apartment on the south side of Sokcho, a short hop to the National Park by bus and a 5 minute walk to some excellent restaurants (see review) as well as the highspeed bus terminal for our trip back to Seoul. The above night view of Sokcho across the Cheongchoho lagoon was a bonus.
This apartment was unexpectedly among the most expensive of our travels across Korea, but it also turned out most comfortable with a separate living area equipped with the best ondol flooring for a chilly February. The sofa was hardly needed as I was hugging the balmy floor half the time.
For most hikers a functional kitchen would be a necessity for prepping a hearty pre-hike breakfast, and a washing machine would be much appreciated for those sweaty undershirts and socks in the aftermath. And a state-of-the-art Korean clothing steamer? That's pure icing on the cake.
Thanks to the English-speaking front desk which directed us to the nearest major supermarket, we were able to warm ourselves with a morning pot of Busan style eomukguk, some microwaveable tteok-galbi patties and the most authentic instant chicken porridge to come out of a foil package. Fellow Canadians please let me know if you come across the Ottogi brand ginseng chicken dalkjuk on the right at your local Korean supermarket!
After a carb-filled Korean breakfast, the National Park was a quick 25 minutes away on local bus 7 or 7-1, terminating at the imposing sanmun gate of the Sinheungsa Temple. With buses running as early as 07:30, there was really no need for day hikers to stay at the overpriced hotels near the park entrance and miss the unbelievable seafood scene at Sokcho.
Upon paying a nominal entrance fee for the National Park, hikers are guided on the right by the unmissable landmark of the 15m tall Tongil Daebul or Great Unification Buddha, a 21st century addition funded by Sinheungsa's faithfuls -- many belonging to the North Korean diaspora at nearby Sokcho -- wishing for reunification of the Koreas.
Crossing the stone bridge of Sesimgyo above a stream of pristine snow melt, our route passed the historic Main Hall and monastery living quarters of Sinheungsa. The temple also provides a temple stay program popular with foreigners, at 50000 Won per night at the time of writing.
Purported by some as the world's oldest Zen Buddhist temple, Sinheungsa's current wooden structures date from the 17th century after its previous incarnation was lost in a fire. Numerous national treasures and provincial level cultural properties abound in its grounds, including this enchanting Gate of the Four Heavenly Kings.
Starting from the National Park entrance, the Ulsanbawi Trail measures 3.8 km each way with an elevation gain of 600m, mainly towards the end after 3 km of relatively slow ascend. The first half consists of mostly dirt paths with some stone steps leading towards the medieval hermitage of Gyejoam.
Everyone's midpoint pit stop at 2.5 km, the enigmatic Gyejoam has a spotlessly clean, contemporary Korean temple retrofitted inside a timeless stone grotto settled by buddhist hermits more than a thousand years ago during the Silla Dynasty.
Poems and names from distinguished visitors of past centuries were hewn into the smooth rock faces, many located at heights that would have required rapelling from the top -- or scaffolding from the bottom -- to chisel this perfect calligraphy in block Chinese characters.
More famous than Gyejoam itself is the Heundeulbawi, literally Wobbling Rock, a large roundish boulder resting delicately at a small indentation atop an even larger boulder and inviting everyone to push against it. If you're unfamiliar with how nationally famous this landmark is, stories of its destruction after being pushed down by a bunch of over-enthused youngsters made national news and topped Naver search ... before being rescinded as an April Fool's joke.
Many casual visitors would turn back after their obligatory wobbling of the Heundeulbawi, shortening the route to two hours or less. Those pressing forward would see a gradual increase in steepness, eventually exposing this quintessentially Korean vista with rows of dark pine trees on snowy mountain ridges, as if you're transported inside a traditional ink painting.
Finally we reached the evil final boss of the hike so to speak: 40 minutes of non-stop stairmaster to the mountaintop. Exceedingly well-engineered and mostly covered with rubber mats, these stairs were nothing technical from a hiker's perspective; just bring reasonable footwear and be fit enough to negotiate the 800+ steps.
Once in a while we would stop to catch our breath and look back -- and whoa! -- at the dramatic panorama of vertical granite cliffs rising out of a sea of ancient forests. With sceneries like this you too would wish the stairs were longer.
Just before the summit a steel ladder led up a narrow, sail-like boulder, with sheer 200m drops on either side and little potholes of residual ice to complicate the footing. At this point I could barely stand against the 60 km/h winds and had to drop to all fours to reduce my drag atop the exposed rock.
The reward for clambering to the end of the rock was a jawdropping 270-degree view down the slippery cliffs, its smooth rockfaces perennially polished by the springtime dust storms of hwangsa from the Gobi Desert.
90 minutes after Gyejoam we finally reached the summit the Ulsanbawi for easily the most spectacular sight of our Korea trip. An easterly view stretches as far as the East Sea, and to the west the 1708m peak of Daecheongbong, highest in Seoraksan National Park and third tallest in Korea, looms among an impressive row of granite peaks.
A young couple from Germany kindly pointed out the pig and the little bird in this vista on our way down. The percentage of foreigners here seemed to be the highest outside of Seoul, at least during our visit in the low season of February. The hike down, via the same skyscraping stairs, was conceivably tough on the knees in the absence of hiking poles.
For a relatively short trail of 3.8 km each way, our hike took 2.5 hours up and 1.5 hours down with generous photo breaks for the mesmeric scenery. Back on level ground we stretched out on a park bench with a picnic of supermarket braised jokbal and half a styrofoam box of Korean strawberries -- my favourite Korean fruit in winter season -- to the approval and envy of fellow hikers.
Given the beauty of the Ulsanbawi Trail and the national fame of the Heundeulbawi Rock, you'd think that this must be the national park's most popular attraction. Unfortunately -- or fortunately for photographers -- that's just not the case.
Seoraksan's most popular attraction is the Sorak Cable Car, a Swiss made gondola zipping visitors up a steep pine-clad mountain to Gwongeumseong, the barely-recognizable ruins of a mountaintop fortress built to withstand the Mongol invasion back in the 13th century. Compared with the majestic granite pillars of Ulsanbawi though, the scenery here was downright anticlimactic.
We spent barely 45 minutes at Gwongeumseong before taking the gondola down, followed by the next Bus #7 back to Sokcho for a tour of its seafood market at sundown. If we had one more day in Sokcho, I would have loved another day hike to the combination of Biryong Falls and Geumganggul Cave. With such great hiking and fabulous local cuisine, Seoraksan and Sokcho turned out to be just the perfect weekend getaway from the breakneck speed of Seoul.
IF YOU GO
Seoraksan National Park (see map) is accessible via local buses 7 and 7-1 from the neighbouring city of Sokcho, at 15 to 20 minute intervals from 07:00 till 20:00 at the time of writing and taking about 30 minutes. If you're coming from Seoul, frequent coaches depart Dong (East) Seoul Bus Terminal (Line 2 Gangbyeon Station, see map) and the Seoul Express Bus Terminal (Line 3/7/9 Express Bus Terminal Station, see map), reaching Sokcho in 2.5 to 3 hours.
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