I was up here very recently, but wanted to try a different way up. I walked to the road that runs to the east of the mountain, a place I’ve been to before when the mountain path was closed once. It’s a lovely walk with lots of side trails and parks. There was also a lot of blossom out so I made a note to bring Romana here soon. After stopping to get pizza for late breakfast, I stopped by a temple or shrine dedicated to king Dangun. The temple was very yellow, unusual in my opinion. Nearby was a very Narnia / Addams Family looking wall and gate.

I kept heading north and revisited a traditional archery ground and stopped for a few photos. The last time I was here, people were practising and it looked extremely peaceful. There was no one around today and suspect this was something to do with the coronavirus situation.

Further north, I could see the mountain in full and it looked impressive from this angle. I saw a steep trail heading up on my left and a valley and park on my right. I took a quick detour to the park and saw it ran down into town and that it looked like a promising place to explore another day (which I did with Romana. This place is called Inwangsan Suseongdong Valley (인왕산 수성동계곡) and leads into a cool part of Seoul called Seochon, another place to explore!).

I started up to the peak encountering quite a few people on the way; I guess everyone is trying to social-distance by heading out…and encountering lots of people with the same idea… The rock steps were in bad repair but usable with care. It was hard work too but quicker that following the wall trail up. I got to the peak, had a rest then headed down to the place to turn off to Gicha Rock.

As this was the third time I’ve gone this way it was much easier and quicker. Of course I stopped off at Scoff, but there were no seats for coffee, so I headed back home.

About the point you find the steps going up the east face: