This trail is an 18km walk around Dalmasan Mountain in Haenam. This was day 2 of a four-day trip to Haenam and Gwangju.
This hike popped onto my radar after a trip to Haenam; I was driving from the cable car at Duryusan (두류산) on my way to the south of the peninsula, when I spotted an epic looking ridge mountain in the near distance. I looked it up and saw there was a trail going around it; this planted the seed! The first time I actually visited the mountain was September 19th 2024 when I went to Dosalam/Dosaram Hermitage (도솔암) with Romana (we were glamping nearby). The views from there made me determined to do the full trail.
The day before
The morning before, I got the KTX to Mokpo then rented a SOCAR. I got my hiking food in town, plus lunch before heading to Haenam. I drove to the reed fields hoping to see some green, but like last time, this isn’t the season! I then went to Masil (마실), a cafe next to a lake or reservoir. It was raining at this point so I sat inside. Cute cafe! Then I drove to the accommodation, Haenam World Pension (도솔암월드펜션모텔). It was on a street with lots of restaurants near Duryusan cable car entrance and other hiking entrances, so a good location to stay FYI. I went to Mullebanga Sikdang (물레방아식당) one of the restaurants for a HUGE meal of Ssambap. I found out that this meal was only meant for two people but they served me anyway; I’d rather they’d have told me so I felt less like an arsehole! I wouldn’t have minded as it was way too much food and I couldn’t eat it all. Tasty though. Then it was back to the hotel to relax and pack for the hike.
Dalmagodo hike
On the morning of the hike and after a small breakfast, I made my way to Mihwangsa temple (미황사) which is the main trailhead. It was about 25 minute’s drive from the hotel. I didn’t explore the temple as I wanted to reserve energy for the long distance. At the start of the trail is a little booth with leaflets explaining the QR stamp collection system; you scan a QR code at each stamp point and it records it online (there are other authentication steps which I forget that were a bit annoying, but once set up, it was easy). Apparently, GPS information is sent when you scan to make sure people aren’t cheating. Ther are seven stamp booths and the trail is in four sections; the first stamp point isn’t until section 2.
The trail is mainly through forest and mostly flat. It’s a mixture of dirt and rock slabs. There are very few inclines. It’s very well maintained and there aren’t any places where you might get lost (just look at the signs!).
The highlights of the trail are the sections where rocks from the sides of the mountain have fallen. These are epic looking area of rocks just strewn down the mountainside in vast rivers or flows (don’t know the technical term) of rock. It seems like the result of the mountain shedding its sides throughout the years. Was it through earthquake action, or something else? I have no idea. It’s odd in that there are about seven sections like this around the mountain and an eerie thing about them is that are no trees or bushes growing up between the boulders. Is this because they have fallen relatively recently, or the rocks are layered so deep there’s no soil close enough to the surface for vegetation? Again, no idea!
The south eastern and western side of the trail seems less travelled. There were some sections where the built-up path had fallen away, so I had to take care. Also, some kind of mammal appeared out of nowhere to my left and dashed across the trail. I yelled! To quick to get a photo. I think it was probably a badger. Later on I saw either two dholes, or martens; they were brown with black bushy tails and dashed across the path about 20 metres ahead of me. No photos… As you head north on the western side and close the loop there are more of the rock flow sections and views to the sea. The gallery photos are bit mixed up timewise!
At these rock flow points, you get views down to the floodplains below and out to the sea.
So far, I’d hiked from 8:20 to 15:00, about 6.5 hours with breaks. The last stamp booth in in the middle of the temple grounds by the office.
Mihwangsa Temple
I had a quick look around for photos, but was keen to continue. It’s a lovely temple with great mountain views, however there’s a huge ugly building at the back of the grounds that looks like a factory; temporary?
Hike to the peak
After getting my last stamp I had to decide if I had the energy to get to the peak. It’s not too high but the trail is short meaning it’d be steep. Also it would be getting dark in two hours. Anyway, or course I did it. On the forest trail as the incline started, I hid my backpack in the bushes and took only my hiking pole, water and sandwich; much nicer! It turned out that was a good idea as the going quickly got a bit gnarly. The trail was steep and wet from the day before. Also some rock sections were falling away. Manageable but it would have been safer to take your time and be more careful! Anyway I got to the top pretty quick (40 minutes) and was glad I went up. There’s a 360 degree view of the surrounding area, sea, plains, distant mountains, and the ridgeline on Dalmasan.
On my way down, I heard a human yell that scared the shit out of me! Another hiker had just arrived below me and had bellowed out to the valley below! She had no idea there was anyone around probably and so when I passed her, she didn’t look around at me. Embarrassed? Getting down was tricky due to the damp slippery rocks and damaged trail. I took my time but still slipped on one section…ow. Then I drove back to the hotel, showered, napped, then ate at another restaurant on the same street as yesterday. 22km hiked today!
Video from various section of the rock flows, then the peak
Update from Nov 12 2024
I received my medal, pin, and certificate from Haenam county. The medal is a pretty hefty bit of metal with very child-unfriendly edges! Even the envelope it was delivered in was nice.
Places visited this Haenam trip