Jirisan National Park in southern South Korea is the closest thing to wilderness in the country, and is home of the mainland’s tallest peak, Cheonwangbong (1915m). The wide open views are pretty grand, although not as spectacular as some of the more rocky mountain ranges. Our ascent from Baekmudong was up a very pleasant valley. Unseasonable snow overnight added to the aesthetics as we gained the higher elevations.
A population of Asiatic black bears has been reintroduced into the area, indicative of the relative size and wildness of this park. You’re unlikely to see any however, which is probably a good thing.
Climbing Jirisan was a bit of a pilgrimage for me. My wife Sophia had visited a few times when she was young and picked up ‘Jirisan’ as a nickname (although she spells it differently in English). The surrounding area is quite picturesque with many traditional buildings preserved, so there are plenty of reasons for visiting other than the mountain.
There’s a few routes up to the highest peak, but I enjoyed ours on the northern side, which is perhaps a bit quieter than some from the south. Track notes are at the end. South Korea’s tallest mountain (by a small margin) is Hallasan on Jeju Island. And without much doubt their most spectacular national park is Seoraksan in the north-east.
Cheonwangbong 천왕봉 from Baekmudong 백무동, Jirisan 지리산: The Scenery
Here’s a video of the views:
Track Notes
You’ll likely travel in on the bus. From the bus station walk up the road for five minutes and then head left into the forest. Although there are routes on the topo map above that go up ridges, these are not official tracks and the valley was actually a highlight, so stick to the the main valley track.
There’s a constructed track the whole way to the summit. You visit a large ‘shelter’ (proper buildings) when you arrive at the main ridge, which has toilets. From there turn left for the last bit to the summit, which is where you’ll get most of your views.
Very rough time and distance estimates are 7-8 hours, 16km return, with 1400-1500m of change in elevation. It’s at the harder end of moderate mainly because of the distance.
You could return via another valley to the west which has nice waterfalls apparently, but we were on a deadline to meet friends afterwards, so we returned the same way. The bus station location is in the Google map below. And there’s more information on Jirisan National Park on the national parks website – in Korean so you’ll need to get it translated into English by your browser.
