Bukhansan National Park is located in the northern suburbs of Seoul. The highest peak, Baegunbong (or Baegundae, 836m), is an enormous granite summit that provides excellent views of the surrounding area in the right conditions. The route to the top gets quite adventurous as you walk steeply up the smooth granite summit, inevitably queuing with many others on the narrow and precipitous sections if you do it on a weekend or holiday (as I did). But despite the crowds it was an excellent walk.
My photographs from the day were rather hazy, due to either weather or pollution. The mountain itself is very attractive though, so there’s still lots to look at if you can’t make out much of the city and surrounds. Plenty more photos from 2023 when I climbed it again, this time doing a long and scenic circuit over Uisangbong Peak. See that post here.
Track Notes
The national park is accessible at various points by public transport, so you can choose a one way route and still get home easily enough. I can’t actually remember what the route I took was, but it was a one way route with a temple at the end. Here’s some info on the park from Visit Korea. Whatever route you take there will be some steep sections, and it’s probably not great for those with a fear of heights. Nevertheless, I remember that some younger hikers were doing the walk in their flat soled sneakers, so it can’t have been all that hard. Perhaps at the hard end of moderate if you take a long route.
And a final note on this walk: I’m not entirely sure whether I actually climbed it in early April. Certainly it was very green in mid May 2023 when I did it again.
Baegunbong / Baekundae ascent, Bukhansan: The Scenery
