Korean Trails

Cheonwang-bong (1915m) from the trailhead at Jungsan-ri (right)

Jungsan-ri - 5.4km - Cheonwang-bong - 1.7km - Jangteomok Shelter - 5.3km - Jungsan-ri / 12.4km, 6.5 - 7hrs (allow for an extra hour if starting from Jungsan-ri bus stop)

The most popular starting point for Cheonwang-bong is the trailhead at Jungsan-ri in the south-east, from where its only 5.4km to the summit and hikers have the option of a true circuit trail, walking the ridge to Jeongteomok shelter and down the Jungsan-ri gorge back to the starting point.

Jungsan-ri is a small but vibrant village about 45 minutes drive out of Jinju City and has a number of restaurants and minbak accomodation. The main village where the bus stops looks like the end of the road, but is in fact still over 2km from the trailhead - the road continues left through Jungsan-ri and skirts above the village before heading to the National Park office and trail entrance, where there are another couple of restaurant/minbaks and a large carpark.

Those coming in on the bus will have to walk up the hill from Jungsan-ri proper, which will add close to another hour onto the hike.

Park Entrance - 3.4km, 2hr - Rotary Shelter

From the upper park entrance the trail begins as a paved road past the National Park office and information centre. Follow this road, crossing a bridge over the Kalbawi Gorge, from where you can see a good view of Cheonwang-bong (above). Soon after the bridge the trail leaves the road, heading northwest into the forest following the right hand bank of the stream as you climb. The first section of the trail is a good easy warmup for the tough ascent to come, you'll enjoy moderate climbing along the riverside before reaching Kalbawi (knife rock) and the Cheonwang-bong circuit junction shortly thereafter. The junction is where the two trails coming down from the high ridge above Jungsan-ri meet. The track to the left follows the Kalbawi gorge up to it's source at Jangteomeok shelter. 

Winter on the high slopes

Rotary - 2km, 2hr - Cheonwang-bong

Only a hundred metres or so on from Rotary shelter is Beopgye-sa temple, one of Korea's highest (and toughest to get to) Buddhist temples. The grand main gate is on the side of the trail, and it's worth heading in for a look around before heading up the hill. It has fantastic sweeping views and beautiful fresh water.

Beopgye-sa has been around since 1544. From its high vantage point it faces south-east, toward Japan, emanating the force it take from the Baekdu-daegan ridge to its neighbour across the sea. Legend tells that if Beopgye-sa prospered, it would defend against Japan, so unsurprisingly it has been destroyed a couple of times by invading Japanese parties. On display outside Beopgye-sa's administration building is a heavy pure iron rod. This was removed from the ridge above the temple in the past decade, and there is a pervading belief amongst Korean's that rods such as this were drilled into the mountains of Korea by Japanese imperialists in the early 20th century, to stop the flow of energy along the peninsula - whether this is true is up for debate, but it's an interesting thing to see.

The relatively flat ledge around Rotary and Beogye-sa ends soon after leaving the temple, and the serious business of getting to the peak begins. It's steep, and fairly unrelenting, but the canopy is low up here and there are frequent and awesome views off to the east. Although only 2km from the shelter, this walk can easily take 2 hours, and gets extremely steep toward over the last 500 metres which has traditionally been a scramble over the loose rock, but in the last couple of years staircases have been introduced to make the going a little bit easier, and to cut down on surface erosion.

View along the Baekdu-daegan ridge from the summit, the first section of which

circuit hikers follow to Jangteomok Shelter

The trail arrives on the eastern side of the summit and its a scramble up a rocky pile to the left to the peak. You'll see a sign to Daewon-sa (10.3km), dropping off the peak on your right when arriving. If you want to complete the Jungsan-ri circuit you'll want to walk past the peak and follow the Baekdu-daegan trail south-west.

Cheonwang-bong - 1.7km, 1hr10-1hr30min - Jangteomok Shelter

The trail to Jeongteomok heads southwest along the line of the Baekdu-daegan, and if time allows I can highly recommend the 1.7km walk to the gorge trail rather than heading back the same way. It's a short walk but don't be fooled it can easily take more than 1hr30 to the shelter, especially on a busy day, as some sections are single file and slow going - most notably through the Tongjeon-mun natural gate some 500m from Cheonwang-bong and the climb to Jeseok-bong (1806m) shortly after. This walk though is a beauty, you're on the highest section of ridge in the land, with awesome views over the high peaks and even to the ocean. There are stands of twisted Jumok-namu, the native highland hardwood Yew Tree, and very often you're above the clouds. 

Traveling and Transport

By car - either from the north or the south the easiest way is to take Expressway 35 running NW - SE from Daejeon down to Tongyeong.

To Jungsan-ri get off 35 at at the Danseong Exit, once in Danseong turn right on National Highway 20 and head to Deok-san. At the T-junction stay left, continuing to follow the 20 which ends at Jungsan-ri - the carpark/post office area looks like the end of the road, but if you drive above the village it continues on almost another 2km to the trailhead, where there are a couple more minbak/restaurants, National park info centre, and just beyond this the camp ground (see road map at bottom of page).