This was a full day trip where I rented a car and explored one of the northern most mountains of S. Korea, then took a wander around a geo-park to look at a waterfall.
This mountain is part of a group of mountains which includes Hwaaksan (the tallest in Gyeonggido), Yeonninsan, and Unaksan. Hwaaksan and Yeoninsan will take a bit more logistical planning to do because they’re huge, at least according to some AllTrails and Facebook research. Anyway, Unaksan looked great on the photos and there was a convenient loop trail on the west side about an hour and forty minutes drive from Seoul.
The drive up was smooth enough, though it always surprises me the amount of people driving north on a Monday morning; what’s up there?! The parking lot for this hike is near Unjusa temple. It’s free and quite big with toilets. From the car park, walk to, then through the toilet building then turn right onto the trail. There’s a trail map showing three trails. I did the loop starting and finishing at the parking lot.
I recommend doing the loop anti-clockwise; this is because the trail on this route features a lot of rocky climbs where you’ll be using rungs and ropes! This kind of terrain is much easier going up than down. The route coming down is far less technical. Of course, you could go up and down the less rocky route, or even takt the third (blue) route which would avoid the technical (but fun!) climbing sections. I’m not great with exposed heights, but the rungs felt safe and there weren’t any sections where you are just hanging onto a cliff face (via ferrata style!) so at no point was I feeling any “nope, nope, nope!). Just take it easy, don’t rush and remember basic climbing stuff, like three points of contact at any time.
The hike as always starts quite gently through trees. We then get rocky steps that lead to Unaksan temple. I wandered down the steps to this small temple and was barked at by a dog on a roof. The temple is small and completely overlooked by a tall imposing cliff face.
Back on the trail and it’s maintains it’s quite steep incline. There’s forest and rocks and steps and you eventually reach an your first set of metal rungs sticking out of the rock. In some places there is also rope. Anyway, these sections are boulders and steep rock faces that would require good bouldering skills to climb and you basically wouldn’t be doing this route without them; you’d be climbing in a team of two with proper equipment and training!
There are probably about five or six sections with rungs and rope. Some are more challenging than others. The last one was the steepest and longest, though none of the stretches were as long and the famous Y-valley handrail ascent on Dobongsan, Bukhansan; if you’ve done that and were okay with it, then Unaksan isn’t really going to bother you!
The rocks formations up these sections are pretty amazing. Looking down west from these outcrops was quite awe inspiring. Before you reach the top, there’s a wooden deck with a great view below.
Finally at the top, there is a small plateau with a map and stone. Actually, this isn’t the main peak; it’s 300 metres more to the right! However, I stayed here for my packed lunch. To be honest, I was expecting more from the top; after all the rocky out crops and hangin on the rungs, I was expecting a vast rocky peak! This was more akin to a mountain park with it’s flat sandy top. There wasn’t a viewing spot here that really captured what you’d done since there were a lot of trees. You could however see down below to the west and east by peeping through the trees and by the steps. After eating, I quick-marched to trail east to the real peak (it’s 3 metres taller with more trees and less of a view!). I then marched back to the map and picnic spot and used the steps to take me on the trail heading counter-clockwise down.
The way down was pretty standard forest hiking and there weren’t any sections requiring you to take a series of rungs going down! There was a great view to a rocky ridge in the distance; probably another trail. There were more fantastic rock formations to marvel at.
Back at the car, I took a very short nap, then drove to the a nearby cafe called Poaetteul (포애뜰카페). It had a really nice green lawn garden and also a glass conservatory seating area. I had a peach and relaxed deciding where to drive next.
Bidulginang Waterfall
Bidulgi Waterfall (비둘기낭폭포) is a beautiful fall that goes over a huge cave entrance. The cave itself is hidden in a deep river canyon the you get to down some steps. It’s a really unexpectedly beautiful location, like some Disney or Miyazaki fantasy landscape. This place is part of the Hantangang Geopark area. The nearest big town is Pocheon and Romana and I went to Pocheon Art Valley a few years back. There are also bridges and paths along the nearby rivers and gorges. It’s a great place to spend the day hiking in this scenery.
