SoKor 2015: Hiking up Bukhansan Part 1

When do you feel that you are freest? When do you feel like all burdens or ill thoughts are simply taken away from you by some other unseen force, leaving you so lightweight and… and free? I can probably name a few instances. One of them is being in the cradle of nature, when I am walking up a mountain path, up to the moment that I am standing somewhere high, far above everything (or almost everything) else. Well, that’s exactly how I felt on that day I went on a hike up Bukhansan, or Bukhan Mountain, in Seoul, South Korea.

When it was decided that I was going back to South Korea, I resolved to do some hiking, either Bugaksan or Bukhansan. I had to pick one of the two. Searches online revealed that a hike up Bukhansan is more up my and my travel buddy’s (Lorei) alley, so that’s what we picked.

Originally, we scheduled the hike on a Thursday, so we can avoid the crowd. But when we met up with Lorei’s cousin (who is based in Seoul), he convinced us that it would be better to move it on that Saturday because (1) he’ll join us as our guide, and (2) the ‘crowd’ will give us a closer look at the climbing/hiking culture of South Korea. Hey, we were flexible, so we switched things around and decided to brave the hiking crowd that Saturday.

Bukhansan

Mt. Bukhansan, Bukhan Mountain, or Bukhansan. Another name is Mt. Samgak or Samgaksan. Technically, it is Bukhansan National Park, since it was declared as such in 1983. It is a mountain in the northern part of Seoul, even extending up into the province of Gyeonggi. The name Bukhansan, unsurprisingly, means “big mountain in the north”. Very apt, huh.

This mountain is mostly made out of granite, but it also boasts a lot of flora that makes it an excellent place to hike all year round, no matter what the season. Its proximity to downtown Seoul also makes it a perfect getaway from those who want to take a break from the bustling city life.

And So We Begin…

This is the problem when we have a guide; we tend to just leave everything to him, haha! We met up at the station at 8:30am and caught a bus that will take us to the jump-off point to Bukhansan.

9:15. We arrived at the Bukhansan National Park Visitor Center, where we saw some other hikers lounging around, most likely waiting for their companions to arrive. Since we didn’t bring any packed lunch with us (we were told not to), we just bought some kimbap and water from one of the street stalls.

Our water was technically ice inside a water bottle. Which makes sense, because by the time you’re in the middle of your hike, the ice would have melted into icy water (as opposed to them selling icy water, then it’ll heat up immediately while you’re in the middle of the hike). Good thinking, if I may add.

The first part was relatively easy, because it was a walk by a river (that has no water, it’s summer after all). I liked how they made the concrete walking-friendly by putting in cut-up and braided (?) rubber from tires.

9:27am. We arrived at the crossroads. I noticed how all first-timers are recommended to take the Interpretive Trail. Our guide, Sir Steve, has been there countless times, but that’s where he led us still.

Our guide, Sir Steve, decided for us to take the opposite route, because he said that it will get much hotter in the middle of the day, and we’d be fully exposed to the heat of the sun if we take it. So we went up the other way so that, by the time we take the route others use to go up, the heat would be a bit bearable.

There are several trails or hiking courses, each with their varying levels of difficulty and durations. You can choose depending on the availability of time, as well as your capacity for hiking.

They have the cutest signs~!!! Like, don’t these bears look so friendly??

There were signs that indicate our progress, and tell us how far we are to the next point of the hike.  Like, from this bridge, its 2.2km to Bogungmun (Bogung Gate). This bridge seemingly marks the beginning of the hike.

Many of the other hikers that we encountered looked to be well past their middle ages, but it was clear they take this seriously, from their gear and outfits to how they physically exert and challenge themselves.

(Believe me, most of the people their age in my country would go, “Ah, I’m too old for this hiking and climbing stuff, let me just sit back and watch something while eating something”.)

So far, the trail was hiking-friendly. No slippery slopes here, and the path were well laid out, without making it too easy as to be a walk in the park. The challenge was in the ascent. It’s not steep per se, but you can feel winded after a while because the trail looked deceptively manageable.

 

10:41am. We arrived at Bogungmun (Bogung Gate). Which means it took us (our pace) around an hour and 30 minutes to hike 2.2 kms.

This is our first “brush” with the fortress of Bukhansan.

Bukhansanseong, or the fortress on Bukhansan was built in 1711, during the reign of King Sukjong, after the Japanese invaded Korea (also known as the Imjin War) from 1592 to 1598. It also came in handy during the Manchu invasion (or the Manchu War) in 1636.

The entire fortress has an estimated length of 12.7 kilometers and an area of 6.2 square kilometers. It had three command posts: Dongjangdae, Namjangdae, and Bukjangdae. And it had six gates: Bungmun, Daedongmun, Bogungmun, Daeseongmun, Daenammun, and Daesomun.

This is Bogungmun.

Bogungmun literally means “Patriots Gate”, and was used as a passage of ordinary folks, as well as a secret passage during wartime.

We didn’t go past the gate, though. And we didn’t linger, either. We walked alongside the wall instead, onwards to Baegundae.

While walking by the side of the stone walls, you can just look down, or back, and see other trails being taken by other hikers. Seriously, there are a lot of trails in this mountain, you’d probably need to visit multiple times to take them all.

10:55am. We arrived at Daedongmun, which is 0.4 km away from Bogungmun. This seemed to be a popular rest stop, because there were A LOT of hikers who were sitting around, relaxing, interacting, or having their lunch, picnic-style.

I thought we were going to stop here and have our lunch, too, but it felt kinda crowded already, so we pushed on. Sir Steve said there’s another spot up ahead where we can have our lunch.

11.10am. Sure enough, after some more walking, we caught a glimpse of this structure.

This is Dongjangdae, one of the three command posts of the fortress. It is here where we had our lunch. We walked around to the back, to a shaded area, sat down on the grass, and ate our packed kimbap and boiled eggs. Yum!!!

It was a quick lunch, and the kimbap was already so filling even after a few slices.

11:30am. We continued on. As we moved forward, the number of hikers on the trail was increasing, and we even had to make way for some of them. I can already sense that we were getting closer. (Also, the signs indicated the number of kilometers decreasing as we went further, haha!)

11.52am. We arrived at this area where several flights of wooden stairs were constructed. It was quite a climb, so one tends to get winded easily. Plus, the sun was high, so I was already sweating buckets. Which is normal, really, because I sweat a lot. Even when standing still. Crazy, I know, but there ya go.

It is also at this point where we started meeting hikers. Yes, meeting them, because they are coming from the other way. According to Sir Steve, these are the ones who took the other route, which means they have already been to the Baegundae Peak, and are already descending, taking the route that we took for the ascent.

12:05nn. We finally caught a glimpse of Baegundae Peak.

So I zoomed in to the Peak, and…. saw lots of people there. To say that I suddenly got even more excited to get there would be an understatement.

But, I will end here for now. In my next post, let us continue on our trek up to Baegundae Peak.

Personally, the hike was well worth it. Reaching the Peak is just icing on the cake. The whole time we were on the trail, I kept thinking how glad I was that we decided to do this. We were huffing and puffing and sweating like crazy, but we were loving every minute of it!

Tips or notes that may help:

1. Wear proper footwear. And comfy clothes. It was summer when we went there, so it was hot. Wear a hat, use sunscreen. The stones actually radiate heat that may burn those with sensitive skin.
2. Pack light. No need to go hardcore with your gear, though we saw some hikers with large hiking bags, foldable camping chairs strapped on their backpacks, and trekking poles. Lorie and I only had our camera, small rucksacks containing our money, water, and kimbap lunches, and we were good.
3. Do not forget to bring food. You can go all out with your food if you are all right carrying everything, or do as we did and just buy some kimbap and other stuff before starting the hike. There are no food being sold along the way.
4. Be courteous. Do not hold up the line of people walking. Move to the side if you want to stop to catch your breath or something. If you must overtake, do so carefully, and not aggressively.
5. Do not litter. The trail was clean, we barely saw food wrappers and containers thrown away carelessly. Keep your trash with you on your bag or something, and dispose of them later when you’ve descended.

See you next update!