virgin thread

shoegazer · #1 11-06-2005, 04:41 PM

I figured that I'd be the first person to post in on this topic. BTW this is my first time here since the site was redone. Good job! Have "summited" most of the "high" peaks here in the last 2 years. If anyone here is into backpacking around Korea or SE Asia, just let me know. Im always up for a trip. Again, the new site is great. CYA.

Eric · #2 11-06-2005, 04:57 PM

thanks for the kind words, shoegazer. love the custom title.

which park, in your opinion, offers the best multi-day backcountry potential?

eric

shoegazer · #3 11-06-2005, 05:13 PM

As far as sheer beauty I would have to agree with the masses and say Soraksan. http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/...ak_naksan.html has some good, quick info. Jirisan will make you think youve died and gone to heaven though. At 1,915m its the tallest in S. Korea excluding JeJu Island. A great place to get lost. Long ridgelines, breathtaking valleys, actually Im kinda torn between both of them. Its great for anyone. Soraksan in the winter time is as close to mountaineering as your gonna get here. Check em out sometime.

skinsk · #4 11-08-2005, 09:11 AM

Having speant spent weeks at both Sorak and Jiri, I agree they are both excellent and come by their reputations for a reason. Maybe Jiri reigns in autumn; hard to beat the Sorak backdrop, though and both have enough trails and mountain huts to spend days inside the park exploring. One caveat with Sorak: if you don't bring climbing gear you'll wish you had! The Dinosaur Ridge in Sorak makes for a nice long day. . . Jiri is convenient if you want to start in one place and end up at another. . . there are many entrances and exits to the park and it's smack in the middle of the country. . . and, Jiri now has what no other park in Korea does: bears! They reintroduced Asian brown bears

Hypoxic · #5 12-28-2005, 06:45 PM

Coming into this thread kinda late, I know.

I'd agree with the general consensus. I'd like to add Kyeryeongsan on that list as well. It's a smaller summit, and a tiny park, but it radiates with energy.

shanja · #6 12-29-2005, 04:08 PM

The ayes have it it seems...I'd have to give Jiri San the edge over Sorak San for pure hiking pleasure...it's trails are oft times less frequented and even in the blistering swelter of summers grip, therein one can be wrapped in chill folds of high-born mists and the fleeting hide and seek of wildflower strewn flanks nearby. Some of the trails can run torrential streams in the wet season, and when deep in the green darkness...well it adds to the adventure! And yet...there is that more ragged craggin' pull of Sorak sans clefted rock too. Can there be a more stunning greeting to the climbers eye than that of Ulsan Bawie seen across the bronzed right shoulder of Buddha? The hike there and back is short and pedestrian perhaps but the climbs and lines on the rock itself!
Hypoxic Snow Leopard is also right I feel, about Kyeryong San. There is a delightful ridge hike, little coursed by anyone, that runs up to the crests behind the camp ground (access it by the small trail that goes round the left of OB slabs). It isn't marked on maps but makes a great high running trail, with options as to when and where to descend (and it avoids the need to buy a ticket!). It can be made into a long days outing all the way around to the slabs at Goreyo, and in winter is quite an adventure I believe (walking crampons, a short rope and trekking poles are good accessories).
Up north OdaeSan also has some really interesting and off-beat trails. It is at it's peak in early October when the valleys are an orgy of riotous colours, and the clear streams bubbling merrily. Topping it off at the bottom is a goodly intriguing museum and temple complex!

shanja · #7 07-19-2007, 06:49 PM

KA and I just did a nice long day in Naejangsan Nat Park (내장산국립공원), which is just near Seonunsan (선운산) and Halmae bawi (할매바위). It had been about 5 years since I hiked there last and so I remembered almost nothing. It is a good park, and though it was a rainy cold fog shrouded summers day (and midweek), really fun (for me, KA was a bit ambivalent about the inclement weather).
The camp ground is small and sandwiched between two roads on a stream. It has good bathrooms and a nice warden, but no showers and is a few clicks down road from the actual park. Unless walking up ashphelt roads with the traffic is your thing, bus/ drive right up to the Visitor Info centre/탑방안내소 (not merely the park entrance) and start from there. We went up to Iljumun (일주문), the 1 pillar gate and hooked a right there up the track to the ragged clifflines of Seoraebong (서래봉), then around to Bulchulbong (불출봉), Manghaebong (망해봉) and finally to Kkachibong (까치봉-717m). This isn't the highest point (that's Shinseonbong/ 신선봉 at 763m), but weather and so on meant we descended back down from here to the temple of Naejangsa (내장사). All in all, about 8.6kms and about 5 hours. Much longer hikes are definitely possible though. The trails are decidedly harder/ more technical than Jirisan/ Kyeryongsan, and that may be why it's much less frequented by hordes. A few short sections here and there demanded good scrambling skills and the rock itself is slick outward slabby shaly stuff. A few "stairways " are in place, but it's still pretty wilderness hiking with trails barely 2 feet wide. Check out the pics. I'd reccommend it as a hiking destination for sure. It's most famous in the Autumn, but any time should be good.

skinsk · #8 07-19-2007, 08:17 PM

Been to every mountain national park in Korea (and most if not all the sea ones?!) and a good number of provincial and county parks. . . each has it's charm and most have a unique feature, legend, or something to make it worthwhile. . .

In that way, you can't go wrong. Look at proximity and time necessary and hit them all as time allows! (I still hold by Seorak and Jiri comments. . . but variety rules!)