Gamaksan, Paju, Korea 감악산

My first hike in the Paju area. I rented a car to get to the trailhead and walked to the famous red suspension bridge. I walked up the post-typhoon flooded trail to the peak. I finished with a visit to a Korean War memorial for the Gloucester regiment. The AllTrails recording below isn’t mine but it’s roughly the route I took:

This hike caught my attention simply because of the striking red footbridge in the photos online. Lot’s of mountain parks seem to have their own red feature, probably to attract hikers like me! I rented a SOCAR and drove about an hour to a parking lot with convenience stores and restaurants, arriving at about 12:30; pretty late! Trail goes through a forest with plastic animals and some army bunkers.

I got to Gamaksan Chulleong bridge (감악산 출렁다리) at about 13:00. It’s quite impressive! It goes over a valley and road and you can see the peaks.

Later on you get to the impressive Ungye waterfalls (운계폭포). They’re very high and loud. I was greeted by an equally loud cat!

A bit further on is Beomnyusa Temple (범륜사) which features a cool, fierce looking statue and other interesting bits and pieces.

The trail continues into the forest and up a rocky path. This was the day after Typhoon Hinnamnor had gone over Korea and the trail was more like a mountain stream! Fortunately it wasn’t deep but it made going up a little more challenging. At some point you can choose a few options for making a loop. I chose what appeared to be the ‘middle’ of three routes that took me to peak with the radio tower then returned via the route north of that.

Next time, I’ll try alternative routes that apparently go to more interesting peaks.

Gloucester Hill Battle Monument

I had a bit of time remaining, so visited a Korean War memorial dedicated to a fierce battle and the UN soldiers that died there, in this case British, Belgian, and Korean soldiers. It details a last stand type battle of British troops against Chinese forces in 1951. It’s a moving memorial. There’s a sealed off gold mine where the wounded and killed soldiers were laid before being buried later after the battle. Another striking part is the line of life-sized statues of British troops marching in full battle kit through the grass.