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Start
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Sogongwon
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Seorak Mountain
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Sinhungsa
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Heundeulbawi
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Ulsanbawi
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Sunrise Park
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Naksansa-1
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Naksansa-2
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Naksansa-3
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Baked Fish
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Jungang Market
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Tourist Hotel
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Gaetbae(ferry) Quay
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Abai Village
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Sindasin Restaurant
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Lighthouse Observatory
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ports
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Beach
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Cheongchoho Lake
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Finish
Seorak Mountain Sogongwon
As we got out of the information center, the autumn was almost over but the red leaves of Mt. Seorak were waiting for us. We were so glad to see them so we started to walk along the street thoughtlessly.
Then we came to a conclusion…that it's quite far to walk to the entrance to Mt. Seorak from the info center so we should take something. If you are drawn into the views and start to walk with no plan like we did, you might get exhausted even before you get to the entrance.
But the views caught our eyes that we could not even watch our footsteps. Rock mountains standing high to the blue sky, falls, and clean valley water flowing under them surrounded by tall pine trees… This is indeed mind-blowing scenery.
That fall would be probably Towangseong Falls at the eastern end of mountain. Over the falls, there's gotta be Gongryong Ridge, the best scenery of Mt. Seorak and of national parks in Korea.
Just before we arrived at the entrance to Mt. Seorak after 30 minutes of walk, there stood a stone pagoda. It's Hyangseongsaji Three Story Stone Pagoda(Treasure No. 443). It's a quite old cultural heritage designed with United Silla style but it did not get so much attention since it's standing alone somewhere unexpected.
When we passed the crowded parking lot, the entrance to the mountain finally showed up over the V-shaped valley far away.
Next to the parking lot, you'll find four or five restaurants, convenience store, and a toilet for tourists who climb the mountain, and the area was more crowded since the entrance with gold roof was under construction.
We saw another info center called Seorakdong Information Center on one side. This center was different from the one we showed you earlier in that it provides information for tourists, not to exhibit something. It also offers information on trails on Mt. Seorak, wheelchairs, emergency medicines and so on.
Mt. Seorak is a natural park so they are not supposed to charge us admission fee. But we still have to pay 3,500 won. The reason we pay is that it has cultural assets but as a tourist, if we don't show an interest, we probably would assume that we pay it for the park.
The admission fee is actually for the Buddhist temple located not so far from the entrance called Sinhungsa (Temple) and if I'm a tourist from afar, I would be glad to take a look around but since I'm not, I was not satisfied that I didn't have choice. Wishing it would be fixed in the future, we decided to focus on the real aspects of Mt. Seorak.
As a natural monument No. 171, Mt. Seorak is divided into three parts, Naeseorak that belongs to Inje-gun to the northwest of Daecheongbong Peak, Oeseorak that belongs to Sokcho-si overlooking the ocean to the east, and Namseorak in Yangyang area to the south.
So where we visited is Oeseorak. The sculpture of Asiatic black bear that represents Seorak Mountain was so popular among tourists at the entrance to take pictures with. You'd have to at least 5 minutes to take one picture.
Oeseorak is easily accessible so many people visit here as well as it has beautiful sceneries of rugged precipice with rocks of fantastic shape and falls including Cheonbuldong valley, Ulsan Rock, Gwongeumseong, Geumganggul (Cave), Biryong Falls, and Towangseong Falls. For your information, Naeseorak is famous for Suryeomdong-gyegok(Valley), Baekdam-gyegok(Valley), Gugokdamgyegok(Valley), 12 Angels Falls, Daeseung Falls and Yonga-jangseong.
The center of Mt. Seorak, which was designated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in August 1982, is Naeseorak where the forest is dense and various animals live on a gentle slope and thick soil layer with an inland climate while Oeseorak where we paid a visit has oceanic climate and steep slope which consists of cliffs.
The street from Sogongwon at the entrance to Sinhungsa (Temple) is almost a flatland so that for those who might get bored, there's a place where you can weigh your bag. It also displays consumed calories on the signboard right next to it.
My wife's backpack weighs exactly 4kg. My bag was bigger but somehow I felt it was lighter so I didn't weigh it. Sorry~~.
'Let's make up for the calories you burn by drinking magolli'. There were restaurants lining up in Sogongwon for tourists who were on their way down from the mountain selling pajeon (Welsh-onion pancakes) that it almost reminds me of a market.
Across the loud restaurants, a 800m high stone mountain was proudly standing and there's 2,100m high Gwongeumgseong Fortress that was known to be built by Kwon and Kim on the stone mountain. This fortress is one of the must-visit places on Oeseorak since you can enjoy the whole view over endless east sea and beautiful Oeseorak.
You could easily climb up to Gwongeumseong Fortress by cable cars. Plus, the cable car ticket office is only 300m away from the entrance and it is equipped with a small food court and clean toilet so even if you don't drop by the fortress, you could start of finish your climbing here.
First of all, we entered the cable car ticket office to go to Gwongeumseong Fortress. It costs 9,000 won for one adult. It's quite reasonable for the view we'd get on the fortress.
But the problem was the number of people waiting for cable cars. We were expecting so many tourists 'cause it was the weekend but they said we should wait at least two hours.
“Well, you lucky people.” We couldn't just wait for it and our schedule was tricky to try it after we visit other place so we just had to pass them by watching them with envious eyes.
People like us were watching old cable car box in the front yard…I couldn't possibly. We started to take a walk along the trail to Mt. Seorak wishing it would be less crowded on our way down.
Address : 109, Seorak-dong, Sokcho-si, Gangwon-do
Admission fees: Adult: 3,500 won / Middle/high schooler: 1,000 won / Elementary schooler: 500 won
Cable car: Adult: 9,000 won / Child: 6,000 won (two-way)
