Morak Mountain - 모락산

Location: Gyeonggi Province - 경기도
Distance: 5 km (3.1 miles)
Time: 3 Hours
Max Elevation: 385 m (1,263 ft)


View Morak Mountain - 모락산 in a larger map


March was a bit of a bad month for me, and I was unable to get much hiking done as you can see from the lack of posts. Quite a few pressing engagements came up in the middle of the month, and during the latter part of March, I was hit by a bad case of the stomach flu.

Since I haven't been able to get much hiking done over the past few weeks, I decided I needed to get back into the swing of things before my ten hour Baekdu Daegan trip coming up later this month. Normally I don't go hiking on Sundays, but since yesterday I had to attend both a wedding and a birthday party, I had to get my hiking in on Sunday.

I got in touch with my hiking buddy 'Guardian' (수호신), and we met up in the parking lot behind Kyewon Art University (계원예술대학교) with our hiking group. It seems that quite a few people in the hiking group have heard about me since I am the only non-Korean in the group. Maybe it is the fact the my reputation is proceeding me, but this group seemed to warm up to me quite quickly. I think it also helps that about four people in the group have already been hiking with me before.

After my time on the Beakdu Daegan, this hike was a bit of a breeze for me. While I did break a sweat a few times, I really wasn't ever out of breath. Although there were a few inclines here and there, much of the trail was quite flat.

From Morak Mountain - 모락산

In light of the recent 'tantrum' that North Korea has been throwing, Guardian and I practiced our military terminology in Korean and English during our ascent. I learned the Korean word from him for aircraft carrier (항공모함), and Guardian was quite exasperated to learn that the Korean word for missile silo (사일로) was a loanword.

For anyone who is concerned about the recent developments on the Korean Peninsula, this intervew with Andrei Lankov really put things into perspective.

After about thirty or forty minutes of hiking, we had already made it to the peak of Morak Mountain. Despite the brevity of this hike, the group of Koreans that I was hiking with stopped, as per usually, and had a light meal at the peak and rested for awhile. After we cleaned up, we took in the sights. From here, Guksa Peak (국사봉), which I hiked back in February, was clearly visible to the northeast. We were also able to see Suri Mountain (수리산) to the southwest. I am quite familiar with Suri Mountain since I have hiked it many times in the past. To the north of us was Gwanak Mountain (관악산), which makes up the southern border of Seoul. In addition to these two mountains, we were able to get some great views of the Pyeongchon (평촌) area of the city of Anyang (안양시). It amazing that a few decades ago this densely packed residential area was nothing but farmland.

From Morak Mountain - 모락산

From Morak Mountain - 모락산

From Morak Mountain - 모락산

Even though I have passed near by this mountain many times during my five years in Korea, I had never realized that this location had so much history. The Morak Fortress (모락산성) was built here during the Kingdom of Beakje due to the fact this peak has a commanding view of the surrounding area.

In addition to being a fortress during antiquity, the peak also played a major role as a lookout point during the a battle during the Korean War. After North Korea's initial attack on June 25th, 1950, Seoul and the surrounding areas changed hands between the UN and Communist forces multiple times until the battle line normalized into the modern border of the two Koreas. In January of 1951, Korean forces, with US artillery support, were able to dislodge the Chinese forces that had fortified themselves on Morak and Suri Mountains. UN forces were later able to recapture Seoul in the forth Battle of Seoul in March of the same year. Seoul would remain South Korean hands from that point on despite North Korea's failed attempt to recapture the city in the fifth Battle of Seoul.

From Morak Mountain - 모락산

From Morak Mountain - 모락산

After exploring the top of the mountain, we took a trail that went down into the valley to the east and took us back towards were we started our hike. During this part of the hike, we were able to get a drink of water from the local natural spring. This water is potable for most of the year except for I believe the monsoon season during the summer.

From Morak Mountain - 모락산

Instead of taking the same path down to our starting point, we looped around over the Morak Tunnel and came back to the starting point from a different direction. Especially in this area, we were able to see some of the first blossoms of spring.

From Morak Mountain - 모락산

While all of the barley rice restaurants at the end of the trail were extremely tempting, I was ready to head on home, relax and get ready for work the next day.

Gaya Mountain & Haein Temple - 가야산과 해인사

Location: South Gyeongsang Province & North Gyeongsang Province (경상남도와 경상북도)
Distance: 9.3 km (3.8 miles)
Time: 6 Hours
Elevation: 1,433 m (4,701 ft)


View Gaya Mountain & Haein Temple - 가야산과 해인사 in a larger map


I usually don't go on hikes that require a long bus ride on Sunday because I don't want to be completely exhausted at work the next day. However, since I was a miniature vacation between school sessions, I was able to go on this trip. On this outing, we went to Gaya Mountain (가야산) which is located in Gayasan National Park.

This park (and our hike) spans the two Korean provinces of North Gyeongsang Province and South Gyeongsang Province. In 1413, during the Joseon Dynasty (조선) [1392 - 1897 CE], the Korean peninsula was divided into the Eight Provinces (팔도), which included Gyeongsang Province (경상도), the predecessor of North and South Gyeongsang Province. In 1896, five of the eight provinces were divided in a northern and southern halves. For almost six hundred years, the internal political boundaries of Korea have stayed the same except for some redistricting in 1953 at the end of the Korean War.

The name of this mountain is derived from the Gaya Confederacy (가야) [42 - 532 CE], which was a collection of cities-states before it was conquered by the Kingdom of Silla (신라) [57 BCE - 936 CE].

After a three and a half hour bus ride from Seoul, we got off at a small resort in the village of Baekun (백운리) on the eastern slopes of the mountain in North Gyeongsang Province. This weekend was surprisingly warm after the long cold winter we had here in Korea. Quite a few of us took off our outer layer before we started to hike while everyone put their jackets in their hiking bag a little ways up the first slope. The view of the mountain from the resort was quite deceiving since the ridge that we could see was only the first part of the mountain that we had to ascend. There was a set of even higher peaks behind the first ridge.

From Gaya Mountain & Haein Temple - 가야산과 해인사

At the entrance to the Gayasan National Park there was a small forest ranger's station. When we arrived, a group of forest rangers came out and had everyone gather around and take a picture with their banner reminding hikers the dangers of forest fires. This public awareness campaign seems to be taken from the tradition of hiking groups taking pictures with their club's banner at the beginning, the highest point and the end of their hike. Additionally, I was hoping to see a mascot of the Korean version of Smokey the Bear, but as far as I know, there is no equivalent in Korea.

An interesting aspect of the Korean language is that the word 'forest fire' in Korean is san-bul (산불) which directly translates into English as 'mountain fire'. I believe that this word came about because Korea is a very mountainous country and flat land that can be used for farming is usually cleared. Therefore, any tree or forest that can burn is most likely going to be located in the mountains.

The beginning of our hike at the bottom of the mountain was around 500 meters (1,640 feet) above sea level while the highest peak of Gaya Mountain is 1,433 meters (4,701 feet) high. As you can see from the map above, especially the first part of the trail was quite steep.

From Gaya Mountain & Haein Temple - 가야산과 해인사

From Gaya Mountain & Haein Temple - 가야산과 해인사

As we climbed further and further up, we could get some wonderful views into the valley below where we started.

From Gaya Mountain & Haein Temple - 가야산과 해인사

From Gaya Mountain & Haein Temple - 가야산과 해인사

Much of Gaya Mountain consists of rocks and boulders that jut out of the terrain. Luckily for us, it hadn't rained recently so the surfaces of these rocks were dry and not slippery at all. These rocks made for some wonderful views, but at times the trail would have to wind around, over and through many of the rock formations.

From Gaya Mountain & Haein Temple - 가야산과 해인사

From Gaya Mountain & Haein Temple - 가야산과 해인사

While Gaya Mountain provided many spectacular views, we weren't covering much ground since the majority of our hike at the beginning was mostly vertical. After reaching the top of the first incline, we took a break and had lunch. As typical with virtually every Korean meal, our dining experience was a communal one. One of the hiking members shared with me a dish from South Jeolla Province (전라남도) called Hongeohoe (홍어회), which consisted of slices of raw, fermented skate in a spicy red pepper sauce. The meat was quite crunchy and a bit hard to chew, but beyond that, it was a tasty treat.

After lunch, we continue up the last section that leads up to the pinnacle of the mountain. Luckily, the first part of the slope rises quite gently before it becomes steep again, so we had some time to digest our meal before the hiking became strenuous again.

From Gaya Mountain & Haein Temple - 가야산과 해인사

From Gaya Mountain & Haein Temple - 가야산과 해인사

As we reached the top, I noticed two interesting thing. The first was a young man who was doing his government service as a park ranger. Every able body male in Korea is required to do two years of government service during their twenties. Most men end up in the Army or the police. However, there are a few positions open for the National Park Service of South Korea. This young man was wearing the brown/beige uniform of the park rangers while he was picking up trash at the top of the mountain. If I had had to do mandatory government service in Korea, I would definitely have applied for the National Park Service. Two years of hiking would've been a dream come true!

Another peculiar item that I found near the top was weathered tree that was carved into a smiling face. One thing you might notice on the lower part of the tree is the carving of a manja (만자), which is a carving of a Buddhist swastika. The first thing that you should notice is that fact that the outer arms go in the opposite direction of the swastikas that are normal identified with World War Two. This symbol is extremely common on Korean maps since they represent the location of a Buddhist Temple. The word manja is derived from the Chinese character of man (만, 萬), which literally means 10,000, but also has the meaning of 'eternity'. In Korea, whenever someone wishes show their support for an organization and hope it lasts forever, they shout out 'Man-se!' (만세!), which directly translates to '10,000 Years!'

From Gaya Mountain & Haein Temple - 가야산과 해인사

Once at the top of the mountain, my hiking friend 'Guardian' (수호신) and I took some pictures of ourselves, the peaks and the surrounding valleys at both Chil-bul Peak (칠불봉) and Woo-doo Peak (우두봉). Since both of us are apart of the Baekdu Daegan (백두대간) hiking team, this was a relative short hike for us and we were the first of our group to reach the peak.

From Gaya Mountain & Haein Temple - 가야산과 해인사

From Gaya Mountain & Haein Temple - 가야산과 해인사

From Gaya Mountain & Haein Temple - 가야산과 해인사

From Gaya Mountain & Haein Temple - 가야산과 해인사

From Gaya Mountain & Haein Temple - 가야산과 해인사

While the peaks were wonderful, we didn't spend too much time there because we wanted to get down to the valley on the other side of the mountain to visit Haein Temple (해인사), one of the most famous Buddhist temples in South Korea. Haein Temple is considered what of the Three Jewel Temples of Korea (삼보사찰) and represents dharma, or the teaching of Buddhism. The temple was first constructed in 802 CE and was renovated multiple times throughout the years. Unfortunately, most of the temple burnt down in 1817 but was rebuilt in 1818.

From Gaya Mountain & Haein Temple - 가야산과 해인사

From Gaya Mountain & Haein Temple - 가야산과 해인사

One very interesting item that I came across while wandering the grounds of the temple was a maze like path where people can pray and contemplate as they walk through it.

From Gaya Mountain & Haein Temple - 가야산과 해인사

One of the most amazing things about this temple is that it houses the Tripitaka Koreana which is a collection of Buddhist scripture that have been engraved onto wooden blocks that can be used for reprinting. These wooden blocks, which were carved in the 13th century, are known in Korean as the Palman Daejanggyeong (팔만 대장경), or the Eighty Thousand Tripitaka. These blocks were given this name since there are 81,258 blocks. In all of these blocks, there are 52,382,960 Chinese characters.

Luckily, these blocks survived both the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592 and the 1817 fire of Haein Temple. While tourists are allowed to walk up to the buildings that store the blocks and look into them, tourists aren't allow to enter the building nor take pictures anywhere in the vicinity of the blocks.

There were quite a few more different Buddhist statues and shrines in this area, but we didn't have much time since we had a long drive up across virtually the entire country of South Korea back to Seoul.

Later that evening, when we finished dinner at a nearby restaurant, I was walking down to the first floor where I saw four young Korean men who were doing their government service at a local fire station. When I saw these four young men sitting at the dinner table, I thought they were praying before their meal since they all had their heads bowed. As I walked quietly by, I looked over and realized they weren't praying but were using their cellphones which were on their laps!

Pangyo to Uiwang - 판교에서 의왕까지

Location: Gyeonggi Province - 경기도
Distance: 9 km (5.6 miles)
Time: 4 Hours
Max Elevation: 614 m (2,014 ft)


View Pangyo to Uiwang - 판교에서 의왕까지 in a larger map


This morning, I headed over to Indeogwon Station (인덕원역) and from there caught a bus that passed through the mountain range that separates the city of Anyang (안양시) to the west from the district of Bundang (분당구) to the east. I got off the bus a bit before entering Bundang itself in an area called Pangyo (판교), just to the west of Bundang.

With the high prices and overcrowding in the extremely wealthy Gangnam District (강남구) in Seoul, Bundang and Pangyo have been built to serve the needs of the affluent just outside the capital to the south. While this area does have a lot of nice, upscale restaurants and a plethora of parks along the local streams, it is a well too organized city that has been overly planned. Tens of thousands of wealthy families (or families that are trying to appear wealthy) have moved into this grid-like residential area, yet the place feels quite artificial. Enough of my critiques of social stratification; I digress.

Once off the bus, I walked for a bit to the entrance of a nearby park and headed up the stairs to start my hike to the city of Uiwang (의왕), which is located right next to Anyang.

From Pangyo to Uiwang - 판교에서 의왕까지

From here, I traveled west through park along some hills until I came across Expressway 100, which is a highway that completely encircles the city of Seoul. This expressway also connects the Bundang and Pangyo areas to the cities of Anyang and Uiwang. This expressway could been seen for most of my hike back to Uiwang since the trail runs parallel to this road for most of the journey.

From Pangyo to Uiwang - 판교에서 의왕까지

Before most of my hikes, I used Naver Maps (나이버 지도) since they are quite good at plotting all of the different hiking trails throughout the country. Because of this program, I was able to find a good location to start and end, along with the easiest ways to get there by public transportation. However, when I was mapping my route, the trail guide on Naver showed that the path kinked to the north and the east before crossing the expressway. When I got to the end of the park, I noticed that the trail was heading south and west. After doubling back and not finding the supposed northeast passage (sorry for the bad Northwest Passage allusion), I followed the path that was there and was able to find the tunnel that traversed the highway. I had to be extra careful exiting the tunnel on the opposite side since the stairs were a literal sheet of ice.

From Pangyo to Uiwang - 판교에서 의왕까지

From Pangyo to Uiwang - 판교에서 의왕까지

From Pangyo to Uiwang - 판교에서 의왕까지

From there, I headed up some steeper slopes as I continued west out of the park area and into the Cheonggye Mountain (청계산) area. I didn't actually reach Cheonggye Mountain itself since it off to the north. That will be another hike for another time. In this area and for most of the rest of the trip, there was quite a bit of snow and ice on the ground. I believe that was from a mixture of higher elevation, more shadows and more hikers packing the trails into ice. Even though the temperature was above the freezing mark that day and we hadn't had real accumulation of snow recently, I had fortunately brought my crampons (아이젠).

At roughly the halfway point of my trip, I reached Guksa Peak (국사봉), which is the highest point on this particular trail that I took. The word Guksa can be translated into English as 'love for one's country' and is based off of two Chinese characters, which are called 'Hanja' (한자) in Korean. Like Greek and Latin roots, many high level words in the Korean language are derived from Chinese characters. In this case, 'Guk' (국 - 國) means 'country', while 'Sa' (사 - 思) means 'to think about'.

In Korean, there are many other Chinese characters for 'Sa' that all have different meanings. Another meaning of 'Sa' (사 - 死) is 'death'. My high level Korean is not that great, but if someone chooses the wrong Chinese character when writing the name of the peak, it could have a completely different meaning. Additionally, 'Sa' (사 - 四) can have the meaning of 'four'. Because of these homophones of 'four' and 'death', most Korean buildings don't have a fourth floor. Instead, the elevator buttons say 'F' instead of '4'.

From Pangyo to Uiwang - 판교에서 의왕까지

At the top of the mountain, despite the cold, I ate my lunch of a friend egg on brown rice (which was kept nice and warm with my new thermos!) and a chicken-fruit salad. It turns out that Guksa Peak is a popular hiking destination for Koreans and the peak got quite crowded. I ended up eating my meal behind the stele at the top of the peak while a number of middle aged Koreans took pictures of themselves posing in front of the monument. I am sure that my unkempt, auburn hair on the back of my head will turn up in quite a few hiking pictures.

After my meal, I was able to take some pictures on top of Guksa Peak and the adjacent peak of the surrounding areas which included the Cheonggye Mountains, Gwacheon (과천) to the north, and Anyang & Uiwang to the west.

From Pangyo to Uiwang - 판교에서 의왕까지

From Pangyo to Uiwang - 판교에서 의왕까지

From Pangyo to Uiwang - 판교에서 의왕까지

As I descended from the peak, I was able to get some more views of Expressway 100 as it winds its way through the mountain pass and into the city of Anyang. Farther west, as the highway crosses through Gunpo (군포), a city that is adjacent to Anyang and Uiwang, the road becomes an extremely tall raised highway. Luckily, unlike Japan, Korea is not prone to earthquakes.

From Pangyo to Uiwang - 판교에서 의왕까지

From Pangyo to Uiwang - 판교에서 의왕까지

From Pangyo to Uiwang - 판교에서 의왕까지

When I finally made it down from the mountain, I was in Uiwang and near a bus stop. After a short wait, I was able to catch bus back into Anyang and trasfer another bus that took me back to my apartment in a short amount of time.