Seoraksan in November – Cable Car and Gwongeumseong walking course

10 November 2014

After checking into the Kensington Stars Hotel, we changed into our hiking clothes and got ready for our first hike in Seoraksan or Mount Sorak.  Kensington Stars Hotel is ideally located for visiting Seoraksan National Park. It was a 5 minutes walk to the park’s entrance from our hotel.

Entrance and ticket booth to Seoraksan National Park.

Visitors to the national park has to pay 3000 KRW each time they enter the park. Unfortunately, there is no multiple entry or multiple day tickets.  Seoraksan is a good place to view the beautiful autumn foliage in Korea. On the way, we were relieved to see some trees with nice autumn foliage still intact.

Since the weather was very good, we decided that we should take the Seoraksan Cable Car up to Gwongeumseong walking course first. I have read that visitors may have to wait in line for approximately 2 to 3 hours during the peak seasons (summer vacation and fall foliage seasons). Fortunately, being a Monday, the queue for the cable car was short and soon we were on our up, after paying 9000 KRW for a round trip ticket each.

Cable car coming down to fetch us.

The cabin of the car was fully packed for the trip. I managed to find a spot by the side so I could take some pictures on the way up. Here are the photos.

The Great Unification Buddha as viewed from the cable car.

Ulsanbawi Rock – there is a very arduous hiking trail that leads to the top and I was still pondering whether to go for it in the days ahead.


The Upper Cable Car Station is a two storey building housing a cafe and also an outdoor viewing platform. At the platform, we could see as far as Sokcho, the East Sea and Ulsanbawi Rock to the north. Faint Buddhist chanting could be heard.

View of Sokcho at the viewing platform at Mount Sorak.


From the Upper cable car station, there is a 300 metre trail that leads uphill to the site for the Gwongeumseong Fortress. 

Interpretive signage signboard at the plateau after the 300m trail. Quite a confusing signboard as a reader may think that the mountain in the picture is the “fortress” and is just a legend. Or it there a real fortress somewhere in the past. Maybe something lost in translation.

Nice views but have to be careful not to be too near the edge as there were no fencing.

The weather was very good and there was practically no wind. Even then, it was wise not to go too near the edge. A strong gust of wind could happen anytime to make one lose his balance.

Many Koreans, young and old, were making their way up to the peak, marked by a Korean National flag.

From the plateau, one can still climb up the rocks to the peak, marked by a Korean flag.

Negotiating the upper part of this peak requires the use of a knotted rope. Going up is probably easier but coming down is a challenge due to the steepness.

Many were on their butts, sliding down carefully.

Getting to the peak of the Gwongeumseong Fortress requires some work up  the steep rock face.

Young and old were doing it. With the aid of a rope and some guts.

The objective, marked by a flag.

Side view of the rock face, from the plateau.

I was enjoying myself watching them and taking the above shots when suddenly my wife said to me, “Let’s go up.”

Gulp!  

So, up we went. Stowing away my Nikon DSLR in my backpack, tightening all the straps, we went up the rock face like the rest. Going up was not too bad after all.

Mission accomplished. Korean flag at the peak at site for the Gwongeumseong Fortress.

There was a guy manning a stall that sold medals to those who succeeded in climbing to the top.

The flag was not actually at the peak, but on a small ledge. There was still a few meters to scamper up before we were actually sitting at the peak.

More climbing from the flag to get to the real peak.

Finally, sitting and resting at the peak.

View of Ulsanbawi in the distance.

A selfie before we went down. Sokcho town can be seen in the background.

Another couple on the peak.


Going down was harder than going up and we had to control our decent down the steep rock face on bent legs.

After our descent.

After our descent, we sat down for a short rest. When we next stood up, both of us burst out in spontaneous laughter as we both felt our legs turning to jelly at the same time.

We still had to make our down this slope on our rubbery legs.
The Koreans were so nicely dressed in their colourful hiking gear as they made their way up to the peak.

The sun was fast setting behind the mountain as we made our way back to the cable car station.
V for victory – target achieved.

Time for a nice break before our descent to  the lower station. We need to show our tickets to board the cable car again.  It is a good thing we did not misplaced our tickets.

Our reward is a nice cup of hot coffee at the Cable Car Station and the colourful beads – guess what that is.

Trip planning: A hike like the above at the Seoraksan National Park could be done as a day trip from Seoul too. Check out the Seoraksan National Park One Day Tour.  There are also other Seoraksan and Eastern Province Day Trip Packages from Seoul. All includes direct round trip transportation from Seoul, commentaries from English speaking guide.

 

Answer to the question above. The little colourful beads are Ice Cream.

More a gimmick than something nice tasting.

Where we stayed for 3 days while visiting Mount Seorak National Park:

Kensington Stars Hotel is the hotel closest to the entrance of Seoraksan National Park and a few minutes walk to the park entrance. The bus terminal just outside the park provides convenient access to the nearby Sokcho city.

Beatles fans would be thrilled by the hotel’s Abbey Road Sky Lounge featuring some original Beatles memorabilia.