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Start
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Snow Festival
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Coal Museum
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Hill of Wind
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Yongyeon Cave
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Chujeon Station
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Hwangji Pond
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V-Train
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Buncheon Station
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Coal Mine History Town
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Paleozoic Museum
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Gumunso
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Finish
The Highest Natural Cave in Korea, Yongyeon Cave in Taebaek
Gangwon-do area, within Baekdudaegan mountain range, has more natural caves than any other city because the land contains large portions of compounds of calcium. Today's destination, Yongyeon Cave located in Taebaek-si, is the highest natural cave in Korea at 920m. The biggest cave in Korea is Hwanseon Cave in Samcheok, Gangwon-do(currently explored area is 6.5km long and unknown area is 2km long), while Yongyeon Cave is 600m long, in total 1km long, a relatively small cave. But this cave shows a higher percentage of humidity and rich organic matters so the ecology is well-developed as well as it is a three-dimensional and old cave with stalactites, stalagmites, stone pillars and cave corals in different sizes. It's small yet has a lot to see. Let's get going!
Unlike other caves, there are narrow courses or passages so everybody had to wear a safety helmet. It was uncomfortable but I had to wear it for safety. Because even when I wore it, I bumped into low walls in the cave.
The entrance is in the deep underground. I felt like I was getting sucked into the throat of a dinosaur. It's a strict one-way passage so it was good that I didn't have to bump into other people. Total length of the trail route is 826km that takes 40-50 minutes.
습도가 55~70% 정도되는 동굴이라 입구 벽면엔 이끼가 껴있고, 거기에 동글동글 수분이 매달려 있군요. 바깥은 영하의 기온이라 추웠는데, 여긴 영상의 온도라 두꺼운 옷을 입고 들어가면 조금 더울 수도 있을 거에요. 간편한 옷차림을 추천합니다.
Coming down the stairs, the inside gets bigger. Wow, inside the cave is so much bigger than I expected.
In the middle of the wide space, there was a small pond formed and somebody made a fog fountain there. Pretty.
The holes were made on the ceiling where the water falls constantly. As I couldn't find any water pathway, guess this probably flows into other cave.
It's not artificially made, it's a fountain made of natural water. A fountain in a big place made it look cool and exotic. There are four different fountains including rhythm fountain, volcano fountain and fog fountain.
Wow, as an old cave, there are lots to see in here. This is named as Old Castle of Bat that was formed with water flowing from the ceiling. Amazing.
The reason why you need to wear helmet is because of this structure. The ceiling gets low out of blue so you can pass only when you bend your waist forward. It's uncomfortable but you have to wear the hemet!
This round thing looks marvellous as well. This is called a cave coral that was formed due to water oozing throughout the wall while Old Castle of Bat is formed from water flowing on the wall. It must've taken millions of years to create this so you can't touch it even if you can approach it.
These things look like they're going to move like monsters in a horror movie that were formed at least throughout millions to hundreds of millions years by water drops. It looks so small in the picture but the real size made me WOW.
Even then, water was dropping from the ceiling and it was mysterious and like a fantasy movie that water drops could make something in long years.
As I got inside further, something scarier showed up! This is a hole I cannot see the end of that's called Dream Palace. What'd be there at the end of this dark hole? It wouldn't be dug to the centre of the earth, would it? ^^*
I was bending my waist to pass but strange-shaped stalactites growing from the ceiling. But as people pass by these stalactites, people must've bumped into them and touched them because the ends were severely damaged. I felt bad. Please be careful when you pass by.
Isn't it just amazing? This place with stone pillars and flowstone is called Dragon's Throat. I couldn't see well in the dark but where there's a yellow sign looked like a beast's throat with its mouth open. I've been to many caves but Yongyeon Cave is the best even if it's small.
Stalagmites and flowstone were growing in strange shapes with water dropping from the ceiling and flowing on the floor. It's called Sahara Desert and it looks a little bit like Grand Canyon in the U.S. or desert in Australia that I saw on TV. It's amazing.
Yongyeon Cave is the highest cave in Korea and has a lot of things to see after 3 hundred million years of history. If you're traveling Taebaek, it's worth to visit at least once so I hope you drop by to see it.
+ Address : 283-29, Taebaek-ro, Taebaek-si, Gangwon-do (Hwajeon-dong)
+ Telephone : 033-550-2729
+ Entrance Fees : Adult: 3,500 won, Adolescent: 2,500 won, Child 1,500 won(Train fees are included)
+ Parking Fees : Compact car: 2,000 won, Heavy truck: 4,000 won(Occupying 16+)
+ Opening Hours : 09:00 - 18:00 (Ticketing by 17:00)
※ The train between the ticket office and cave enrance is not available in winter.
