Seoraksan

I made the pilgrimage this weekend that every visitor to Korea is required to make.  I traveled to Seoraksan, which means Snow Peak Mountain, and conquered two of its famous peaks with a travel group from Adventure Korea.

Seoraksan, located in the northeastern corner of South Korea, is not only one of South Korea's top natural tourist attractions, but the national park contains the third highest peak in the country.  It's especially popular in the fall because it's supposedly one of the top places in the country to catch a fantastic display of fall colors.

Unfortunately, maybe fortunately for my aching calves, we were unable to climb the 1,708 meters (5,603 feet) to the highest peak because we didn't arrive until Saturday afternoon.  But we still climbed the famous Ulsanbawi, which is over 800 meters high and boasts a steep finish.  Ulsanbawi contains six granite peaks and on clear days you can see all the way to the East Sea.

It was a quite foggy when we arrived, but it cleared up nicely, although not enough to catch a view of the East Sea.  Still it was spectacular, and as advertised, it was packed, especially as we got to the steep stairs near the peak.  And that actually made the hike, although quite steep at times, not that difficult because we had lots of rest on the stairs.

All the waiting was well worth it.  The view from the top was spectacular.

My friend Alex at the top.  (I borrowed this photo from Marc.)

After working our way back down, and having an interesting conversation with a student from Kazakhstan, we got back on the bus and made the hour journey to our hotel.  After dinner many of us hit up the natural Osaek Hot Springs that were harnessed and pumped into a hotel near ours.  It was heavenly and just what I needed after a long hike.

Although it was my first Korean spa experience, and it is quite something if you're not used to it.  Koreans, unlike Americans, don't think anything of nudity amongst people of the same gender.  So first you have to get over an uneasiness of walking around naked, but once you get in the spa you almost forget about the fact you're wearing nothing but your birthday suit!

The next day a small portion of the 130 people on our trip got up early and hit the trail at 8 a.m.  We hopped on the bus and rode to the other side of the mountain to hike up and over and back to the hotel.  Starting on the opposite side was the best decision we could have ever made.  We had the mountain to ourselves almost the whole way up.  One of the valleys on the course, the Heulimgol Valley, was closed to the public for 20 years to allow nature to repair it after severe flooding.  The canyons were beautiful and the water running through them serene.

After reaching the summit (1014 meters), we worked our way down and ran into a number of waterfalls including Yeongso Falls.

Me at the top.

Yeongso Falls

Then it was back from lunch and the long trip home.  If you like hiking and nature this trip is one I'd definitely recommend.  In fact, I'll probably go back in the spring to check out the rushing water from the snow melt.