Easy, but not to be overlooked if you're covering both mountains, as I learned today. I'd hiked up Achasan before, which is a super easy mountain, less than 300 meters high. Since I hadn't gone hiking since last fall and felt a little rusty, I decided I'd hit it up for my first hike of the year on Children's Day. My friend and I started at Achasan station exit 2, line 5. We didn't have any maps or directions; all we had to do was follow the groups of middle-aged people in ridiculously colorful hiking clothes and gear, and we knew we'd end up at some sort of hiking trail.
The trail starts off fairly easy, with a mostly dirt path and a slight slope. About halfway up our particular trail, we ran into a pavilion called Goguryeojeong (고구려정), which I assume has to do with the Goguryeo kingdom but I was too lazy to read more about it.
Just a few more minutes of hiking and you're pretty much at the top. There are a few ancient forts that aren't particularly impressive, and that's it. However, there are quite a lot of viewpoints that offer fantastic panoramic glimpses of the city and its surrounding mountains.
Basically, up to this point, the hike feels like something minutely more rigorous than a leisurely stroll. No sense of achievement or anything, but after a short hike of only about 40 minutes the views are already great. We decided to continue on and follow the ridge that leads to the connected mountain, Yongmasan. Along the way we found a few peddlers selling old-school Korean ice cream, as well as snacks/water/hats/equipment and other random stuff.
And since it's spring, I found some nice flowers as well, though very sparsely.
After some more walking I noticed some orange ribbons tied to the trees lined along the path. A closer look and I could see that we'd stumbled upon the Seoul Trail, which is a hiking trail that runs through several mountains and over 150 km around the whole city.
We didn't follow the ribbons though - to be honest, there only seemed to be one path to follow, but at one point the ribbons disappeared, so I guess we walked off the trail eventually. Some more uphill/downhill stairs and paths, and we ended up at the peak of Yongmasan (348m). It seemed a lot more like an actual peak, because you had the stone indicator and the flag to show it.
From there all that was left was going down. There were 3-4 trails leading down from the peak, and we asked for directions to the nearest subway station. We didn't really get an accurate answer from anyone, so we chose a random path and decided to take a cab if we didn't end up near a station.
We followed the signs that were supposed to lead to a waterfall, but apparently we went the wrong way because we didn't find it. Instead we passed by another smaller pavilion and this outdoor gym that looked very ghetto.
After this point the trail turned very steep, with lots of rock and rope to hold on to for support. I felt this was definitely the more interesting part of the whole hike. It would have been better and much more exercise to start the hike from this part, and end with the easy Achasan trail - which I think I'll do next time.
The weather was perfect, with some strong breezes in between. And yes, we ended up in a remote part of town and had to take a cab to the subway station for a late lunch around the area before heading home. Since the downhill part was a lot more difficult, my knees nearly gave away at the end and were still shaking well after the hike was over. Compared to other higher mountains, however, Achasan/Yongmasan are very doable hikes that don't require long hours or a lot of stamina. Plus, you get an awesome view without much effort!
The trail starts off fairly easy, with a mostly dirt path and a slight slope. About halfway up our particular trail, we ran into a pavilion called Goguryeojeong (고구려정), which I assume has to do with the Goguryeo kingdom but I was too lazy to read more about it.
Just a few more minutes of hiking and you're pretty much at the top. There are a few ancient forts that aren't particularly impressive, and that's it. However, there are quite a lot of viewpoints that offer fantastic panoramic glimpses of the city and its surrounding mountains.
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| Lotte World Tower from a distance |
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| One of the designated er... nicest pine trees of the mountain. No really, it has a sign and everything. |
Basically, up to this point, the hike feels like something minutely more rigorous than a leisurely stroll. No sense of achievement or anything, but after a short hike of only about 40 minutes the views are already great. We decided to continue on and follow the ridge that leads to the connected mountain, Yongmasan. Along the way we found a few peddlers selling old-school Korean ice cream, as well as snacks/water/hats/equipment and other random stuff.
And since it's spring, I found some nice flowers as well, though very sparsely.
After some more walking I noticed some orange ribbons tied to the trees lined along the path. A closer look and I could see that we'd stumbled upon the Seoul Trail, which is a hiking trail that runs through several mountains and over 150 km around the whole city.
We didn't follow the ribbons though - to be honest, there only seemed to be one path to follow, but at one point the ribbons disappeared, so I guess we walked off the trail eventually. Some more uphill/downhill stairs and paths, and we ended up at the peak of Yongmasan (348m). It seemed a lot more like an actual peak, because you had the stone indicator and the flag to show it.
 |
We followed the signs that were supposed to lead to a waterfall, but apparently we went the wrong way because we didn't find it. Instead we passed by another smaller pavilion and this outdoor gym that looked very ghetto.
After this point the trail turned very steep, with lots of rock and rope to hold on to for support. I felt this was definitely the more interesting part of the whole hike. It would have been better and much more exercise to start the hike from this part, and end with the easy Achasan trail - which I think I'll do next time.
The weather was perfect, with some strong breezes in between. And yes, we ended up in a remote part of town and had to take a cab to the subway station for a late lunch around the area before heading home. Since the downhill part was a lot more difficult, my knees nearly gave away at the end and were still shaking well after the hike was over. Compared to other higher mountains, however, Achasan/Yongmasan are very doable hikes that don't require long hours or a lot of stamina. Plus, you get an awesome view without much effort!
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