I’m hoping to get back to Korea in November to continue my Jeju Olle hike another couple of hundred kilometers.
Jeju is a semi-tropical island, south of this map.
While there, what other hikes should I do?
What are the best hikes in Korea?
So far I’m leaning towards:
• Seoraksan National Park
• Jirisan National Park
Leave a comment if you’ve hiked Korea.
related – my Jeju Olle trip report (Nov. 2010)
besthike.com 
It takes 2 days for each Seorak and Jiri Mountain hikings. There are nice camps just before the peak so you can have night there. you don’t need tents..the camps are like huts(very big, it can hold around 30 people-as long as I remember- there are kitchen place but you need to bring everything you need. they rent some blankets with very low price. there is no garbage can, don’t forget to bring all the garbage you made.
I strongly recomend both but you must see Jiri mountain.
If you’re serious, then quite simply the Baekdu-daegan is the best long distance hike you can do in Korea. 735kms along the spine of Korea that takes you through a realm of cultural, religious, and rural relics, and it runs between the two points you are prospecting (Jiri-san and Seorak-san). The walk is still relatively unexplored for westerners, but some of us like myself went ahead and walked and wrote a guide book on the trail. You can see an edited ebook version of it at my homepage at website on http://www.hikekorea.com (available for purchase through penpal), or visit my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/hikekorea. There is also an old blog of the pioneering expedition from 2007 at http://www.baekdudaegan.blogspot.com
Korea is a warren of trails that are interspersed all over its landscape. It was how men, monks, soldiers, scholars, traders, and many more moved from A to B. Its landscape is recognized as a system of life giving energy sources with the Baekdu-daegan being the spine, delivering energy from Baekdu-san (2774m) in North Korea all the way down the peninsla.
Regards
Roger Shepherd
Hike Korea
Regards
Roger Shepherd.
Thanks Roger. I’ll follow up on those links. And get back to you if I have any important questions. 🙂
735km is too long for me. But I’d love to do 100-200km. Or less.
What’s the best section?
I speak no Korean and would be traveling public transit late October / early November.
Advice?
Ok Rick.
You’ve chosen a good time of the year. I’d need to now how much time you have in Korea.
If hiking mountain here long distance you are looking at averaging about 2km/ph including rest stops etc.
If for you that equates to 2 weeks of hiking then maybe you can visit more than one region of the BDDG, public transport is excellent here in Korea.
Otherwise I’d suggest that you start in the Songni-san area in Central Korea, and then meander your way north into Worak-san, then east across Sobaek-san and finish up at the Shamanic sacred site of Cheonjae-dan in the Taebaek-san area. This section is abound with a good variety of mountain-scape. I’ll be able to help you out (by phone), and even join you for some days, if I’ve got nothing else on.
I’d love for you to take a look at the Baekdu-daegan as its like walking along the roof of Korea. Otherwise Jiri-san is spectacular and you could easily just spend two weeks or more there just roaming the mountain scape. Seorak-san is probably about 5 days of walking exploration, because the southern and northern sections of it are closed and well marshalled…but probably the most visited park in Korea in late October due to colours of the Fall season.
Look forward to hearing back from ya soon.
Roger.
I’ll email. THANKS Roger.
If wanna visit NPS, Korea NPs also have a very good website at
http://english.knps.or.kr/Knp/Odaesan/Intro/Introduction.aspx?MenuNum=1&Submenu=Npp
They are all great parks, but Songni-san and Worak-san are personal favorites.
I had a great few days doing outdoorsy things in Korea, Rick, but when my local ‘guide’ turned up in her high heels I guessed we weren’t going to walk very far!
http://hikinginkorea.blogspot.com/2010/10/seoraksan-trifecta.html
I’ve hiked seoraksan in every season now, espcially great in snowy winter! but nothing compares to the leaves in fall!
The dinosaur ridege is the most challenging trail and my favourite in all of korea!
Hey everyone,
I would like to hike (~3days) in Korea mid-March. Can you recommand an area where not too many tourists go and where snowy whether will not make the hiking trip impossible. We will start in Seoul so something easily to travel would be great.
Thank you