Wolchulsan II

Caitlin and I went back to Wolchulsan National Park over the weekend and decided to camp the night instead of heading back to Gwangju. Our original plan was to hike from Dogapsa Temple in the West to Cheonhwangsa in the East (8km, about 5-6 hours) with all of our gear. That plan was quickly fumbled as our jackass taxi driver sped off towards the wrong end of the park. He tried charging us 5,000 won for a 1 minute taxi drive that had us buckled up and hanging on for our lives...when we got out I flashed him the stink-eye and stiffed him with a measely 4,000 won. Prick.

It turns out that he got the best of us, as I later found out that the mouthpiece of my camelback had come loose in his trunk and we would be without a water carrier for the day. We hadn't planned to be on this side of the park and our water was gone so we decided to setup camp on the Cheonhwangsa side of the park, hike the peak, then return the way we came. It worked out much better this way because the course was much steeper than we expected and would have been an unwanted pain with our packs.

Hiking up to Cheonwangbong at 809m is not the highest of peaks but it is certainly one of the most beautiful in Korea. Wolchulsan has some of the craggiest landscape I've seen in any park here and a cool sky bridge to boot. Just before crossing this bridge, we were invited by a troupe of adjumas to share in their Korean feast. It would be rude not to indulge so Caitlin and I were glad to accept some of their mysterious Korean wraps. After being reassured there was no meat inside, Caitlin ate hers only to find that it was oddly crunchy and tasted like putrid fish. She was polite and swallowed even though the taste could have ensued vomit. Caitlin hurried away before losing it to the pavement and tried washing the taste out of her mouth with a granola bar and pumpkin bread snack. The strong taste, however, remained in her mouth for the rest of the day and made for some bouts of queasiness. Gross.




Reaching Cheonwangbong, we snapped some pictures of adjumas at the top then rested with the perky-eared squirrels to have some lunch. We had a pbj and a veggie sandwich, homemade granola bars and bread, and a couple handfuls of cherry tomatoes. From up here you could see Yeongam to the north (where we arrived by bus), spreads of rice fields, and the descending western trail to Dogapsa. After a brief lunch we gathered our things and headed down the valley path before Caitlin would lose full circulation in her fingers. The peaks and valleys here and very windy and can make your extremedies rather numb.




Tempted..hell, you couldn't stop me from calling it a "bread-shaped" rock.

During the descent we came across a disappointing, dried-up waterfall, a rock that looked like a "book," and caught a pack of climbers ascending the main ridge up from the valley floor. Upon returning to our campsite, I found that a family of Koreans had taken over my fire pit and were using all of the wood I had collected that day. Naturally unphased by the situation, I gathered more wood and had a blaze aset in our new pit within two shakes of a kitten's whiskers. We spent the night enjoying my favorite Korean beverage, Makgeolli, eating cream-filled cookies, and throwing wood on our amazing fire.


Koreans camp much different than we do. They do not have open-flame fires or pitch their tents right on the ground. Rather, the campsite was contained and manicured, allowing for tents only to be setup on designated platforms and lacked any fire pits. All of the other campers had with them portable stoves and cookware for making elaborate Korean feasts and early-morning noodle dishes. We even one spotted one group of campers had their kids glued to a television set inside of their family tent. Caitlin and I opted to setup camp away from the buzz, constructed amazingly complex bench structures, and enjoyed an unweilding American fire.


If you are coming from Gwangju, you can catch a direct bus from U-Terminal to Yeongam for 6,000 won that takes about an hour. From Yeongam, you can ride a shuttle or a taxi to either end of the park. There are many labeled trails to the peak from either side, tea fields, temples..there is also a hot spring just north of the city and a rock climbing gym in the area.

Here is a park map for those of you planning to go hiking here.

More pictures from our weekend in Wolchulsan are here.