Bukhansan





From May 2nd - 5th, many of us had a long, 4 day, weekend because of the Children's Day holiday May 5th. So naturally, we left Ulsan in search of an adventure elsewhere in Korea. This time, we headed back to Seoul to explore some of the endless list of places we had yet to see.

The first day of our small vacation, we spent most of the morning and early afternoon hiking Bukhansan (북한산). This is a relatively small mountain compared to others we've climbed in Korea at 836 m, but it was a great trek and offered an incredible view from the highest peak: Baegundae.


It ended up taking us about 3.5 hours to get up and back down again, but we spent a considerable amount of time hanging out at the top eating gimbap and taking pictures on the cool cliffs.


The first great photo-opt of the trail was of a different one of Bukhansa's 3 peaks: Insubong. We had to hike around it to get to the trial leading up to Baegundae, but it was neat to see all the brave climbers that choose to scale Insubong's penguin-shaped cliff face.




When we were nearing the top, we reached a stone wall that ran part of the length of the saddle between Baegundae and Bukhansan's 3rd peak, Mangyeongdae. We had seen signs earlier on in the hike refering to Bukhansanseong (or Bukhansan Fortress), so I assumed this wall to be one entrance or gate to the fortress.


As you neared the highest peak, the cliffs grew steeper and steeped. The trail was a combination of steel pipes serving as railings to keep people away from the dangerous parts and little scoops carved into the shear stone surface to act as foot holds or steps.


Before you even reached the peak, there were TONS of great spots for photos.


Also, I noticed this rock below shaped like a bird, or duck.


When we made it to the top (the highest point of the actual peak was very small, so most people rested on the large flat surface surrounding it), we settled and ate our gimbap while we rested and enjoyed the view.



The gigantic boulder on the right in the above photo was one of the more spectacular and adventurous spots to explore at the top. We took many photos jumping over the crack in the center.


And we also were able to lie on our stomachs and look over the edge at the straight drop below. It was both scary and exciting to be up so high -  a feeling I love.





This was the small part of Seoul that we were able to see from the top, obstructed by fog and other mountains in the distance.

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