This was a place I read about at TheGirlwithaBigBag blog, so thanks to her! It’s a mountain park, south of Seoraksan National Park and the Osaek River. There isn’t a huge mountain, more of a forest trail with a few hills. The park is very regulated; there’s a reservation system, and only two trails. In the afternoon, I visited a country restaurant, a lake side art cafe, Surfy Beach, and finished the day a slap-up meal of bulgogi and fish! This was day 4 of a five-day trip to Sokcho.
Gombaeryeong hike
Gombaeryeong park requires you to register on their website, then make an appointment; this is the website. I couldn’t find an English language version, so used the translate feature on Chrome. Also, it was a bit fiddly with the ID checking and authentications it asked for, but eventually, I got a 10 am reservation and a Kakao confirmation. There’s also no charge to enter. I did this a few days before.
On the day, I got up early to pee and was met with a lovely sunrise in the room. Later, at about 8, I got up to pack and leave for the 40 minute drive to the the park. The road to the entrance is quite narrow and windy, but fortunately, everyone was driving the same way. The parking lot is huge and even though there’s not entrance fee, you need to pay 5,000 won for parking. The car park was about one third full and there were quite a few hikers milling around and heading towards the trail entrance. There was a small line past the checkpoint (they simply asked to see ID and check your name and give you a red plastic card), then I was on the trail. There are two trails, blue are red. I’d recommend going anti-clockwise so you can do both (one of the trails is one-way only). It took me about 3.5 hours including a lunch stop at the observation deck at the top.
The start of the trail goes through nice stream-side forest with lots of colourful leaves. As I passed a few groups of people, it got less busy and soon I was mostly alone on the trail. At some point you get to a small food village where owners wait for customers. It was a little early for me to get food so I guess the owners do most their business when people take the blue trail back; I’d be doing the loop, so I wouldn’t be revisiting the village unfortunately.
Eventually, you get to a wide grassy area which is the endpoint of the trail. This is Jeombongsan (점봉산). It’s a tall grassy hill, green in the website photos, and autumn brown now! There’s stone marker to take photos next to, but I was too impatient to wait. I took photos of the scenery, the walked up further to the observation deck on the hill opposite. There was plenty of room to sit and eat my sandwiches and enjoy the views across the grassy plain and mountains. It reminded me little of the grassy mountain tops of Hallasan, Sobaeksan, and (later) Mudeungsan (I would go there in the following week).
From the observation deck, I took the red trail back to the starting point (or you can take the easier blue trail back the way you came). The red trail takes you up the hill quite a way, all in forest. It levels out then continues on with a few minor inclines. It was all very pleasant. One inconvenience it that the trail is quite narrow, roped on both sides, so it’s basically single-file. Not a big deal unless you need to pass people.
Toward the end of the hike, there’s a leaf-covered hillside leading back down to ‘ground level’. Then it’s along more forest, some stream, up then down a minor rocky bit, across a bridge, and back to the entrance. I got there about 13:30. There wasn’t much to eat there, so I got in the car a searched for my next destination.
Makguksu
There was a point of interest I’d pinned on my map app about 30 minutes away, another trail, so I drove there. I got makguksu at ‘Forest…Binteobangdong Makguksu’ (숲속의빈터방동막국수) a local country restaurant, then had a look at the trail. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a well organised trail and seemed to be going through private farmland. On closed inspection on the map, it was also quite long to I opted to not do it! I then look for a cafe I could drop by on the way back to the hotel. On the way, I stopped at a stream that had some important looking signage and took a few pictures; nice spot.
Lakeum Cafe
The cafe was beside a reservoir. It also had art works displayed around the interior, and some other unique features, like themed rooms. The garden was a large lawn that led down to the lake, so I sat there with my pine needle ade. I didn’t really enjoy the drink (bit bitter) but I like sitting under an umbrella on the lawn, then down by the lake under the pine trees. I was also happ at that point that I hadn’t decided to try that other trail, although it did mean I’d have a longer drive to the hotel.
Surfyy Beach
I’ve never been to Surfyy Beach but has heard lots about it a cool destination in Korea for weekend surfers. My wife has been and the photos looked great. I drove across to take a look. Of course, out of season, it was very quiet (only one beach bar place open) and people on the beach were mainly taking photos of the signs on the beach! I sat for a bit and decided that, yes, this place has a pretty good vibe and would also be rammed mid-season. I left soon after, and showered and rested at my hotel, before looking for a place to eat.
Pork bulgogi
Two buildings down from Benikea was Jeongam Sikdang (정암식당), a family restaurant where I got a very decent plate of pork bulgogi (usually, it’s beef) and a whole table of side dishes. That went down well after today’s hiking, especially with the makgeolli. Then I walked around the beach area a bit before heading back to my room to prepare for my last day in Sokcho. Instead of blogging, I spent a bit of time tracking down a traffic violation I’d just been messaged about; turned out it was a 130,000 won fine for the last time I was in Haenam (September this year with Romana…sheesh…).
Places visited this trip