My second hike up Buramsan (불암산) was fantastic; it’s definitely worth hiking northwards as it feels like you experience the epic rocks in a better way. My first trip up was back in 2018 in the winter and it felt a lot different then.

Getting to the trail entailed a bus ride from Nowon Station (the green 1142 bus from Gate 1) and getting off at 중계본동종점 (see map below), then walking through a somewhat run-down neighbourhood that might be headed towards destruction; some of the buildings had red circles sprayed on them. Most buildings were somewhat in disrepair but there were signs of life still, so who knows…I certainly don’t!

One on the trail, I really enjoyed the light green new leaves of spring. The sun was out, there was a nice breeze and not too many people on the trail. What I like about this mountain is that you don’t have to get too high before you come across real rock and granite. There are huge ‘slabs’ of it quite early on which just feel nice to walk on, even amongst the trees. I came across an interesting rock that looked a little like a turtles face. There were quite a few rocks that had rounded pits, that I assumed were from rain? Ask a geologist! I also passed the remains of Buram Fortress. Nothing there now, except a helipad and a plaque.

After the helipad, there was short hike downwards before getting the start of the main ascent. This is what I remember coming down back in 2018 and having to double back a few times as it wasn’t obvious what the best way was. Going up would be much more straightforward. The lovely rock is perfectly steep in that it feels nice to go up, it’s solid underfoot, and it doesn’t make you feel like you’re going to slide onto your butt. A little way up, I was on odeng restaurant in a tent, but there wasn’t anyone around; maybe next time. Across from that was my lunch spot, a slightly sloped bit of rock looking west towards Dobongsan. It was a fine location to rest before the big, steeper push to the peak.

After my break, time to go up. It was steep and it’s lined with steel cables with steps every now and then. I can’t imagine having to have gone up without these, but I guess people did all the time in the past. It was a fairly simple hike, not exhausting because I kept stopping to look around! Great rocks and great views.

Now for the peak. I snapped a quick photo by the Buramsan sign (some people take ages at these signs…just click and go!!) then hopped a few rocks to the peak. The peak is a lump of rock with some studs nailed into the rock and a couple of hefty ropes leading up to a flag. These things always make me nervous… anyway up to the peak of the peak! It feels epic up there and once up, there’s enough space to sit for a quick bite, I was approached by a couple of birds which weren’t nervous of humans; I guess they’ve been spoiled with a few crumbs from picnickers.

Now it was time to head back to town. It was mainly uneventful but a bit slow going as I chose to go west immediately after the peak, and this was pretty much straight down. There were more great looking rocks that seemed to have been molten at some point (is that true of all rock?) and the further down I went, the more gravel I encountered: gravel on sloped rock is the bane of my hiking life since I always feel close to sliding on my arse! Slowly and carefully is the key. Back into wooded areas and then I somehow lost the main trail and ended up going into the ‘wilderness’, but just kept heading down, through some rather obviously unhiked parts of the mountain!

I ended up in a part of town with a bunch of apartments and a place to stop for a coffee and snack before heading to the subway. I’ll definitely be doing this route again.

To start, I got the 1142 bus to Junggye bon-dong:

Sangye Station: