Whistling winds and a layer of ice on the ground made it tempting to stay inside the cafe for the day. But ultimately we decided to go for our second mountain of the day, and I’m so glad we did! Chungnyeonsan (축령산) was worth it, even in the wicked cold.
Before we left Namyangju (and Cheonmasan), we scoured some nearby marts for extra gloves/hot packs/tights for me. Then we took a taxi straight to Chungnyeongsan Natural Recreation Forest and found the trail to the ridge!
Although not a long trail, Chungnyeonsan was a pretty steep and scramble-y mountain for a snowy day! There was lots of exposed rock and roped-up climbs. Lots of other hikers on the mountain, too!
Despite the challenges, we had to hurry to avoid getting chilled. So we raced our way to the top in no time! The summit had vast views, a nice flag, the classic stone stele…and a weird phallic snow sculpture (I’d feel uncomfortable showing you).
After briefly considering a traverse along a snowy ridge with no footprints, we opted for a gentler loop down the valley to where we’d begun. The trail we chose was chill: surprisingly runnable after our gnarly route up! It was even getting a little warm now that it was nearing midday. A little stream featured enough greenery that we were reminded that this was, in fact, spring!
Still, it wasn’t warm enough to lounger or linger. At the base of Chungnyeonsan, we hunkered down inside the entrance to a public restroom while I stretched and Kent ate a cup ramyeon. There we waited for the first in a series of three buses and a train that would take us to the foot of Yongmunsan, three hours away, for the next day’s adventure.
KNOW AND GO! CHUNGNYEONGSAN
TRANSPORTATION
Like Cheonmasan, Chungnyeonsan is located on the Seoul subway network: making for a nice, easy day trip!
The mountain calls Namyangju home but, truth be told, the city is a little far. Better to stay on the Gyeongchun (aqua) line to Daeseong village station, and walk a-ways north up the road. This will get you to the southernmost trailhead for Chungnyeonsan. Alternatively, several 1330 series buses serve this trailhead directly!
However, that’s not the fastest route up. The fastest route is the one up from Chungnyeon Natural Recreation Forest on the mountain’s western slopes. However, this area is a little trickier (read: longer) to get to via public transit. The most direct option seems to be to take bus 30-4 from Maseok (which is the second stop on the aqua line after Namyangju). You’ll have two options to access the trail from this bus route, with the final stop at the forest making for the speediest climb.
After originally planning to run to Chungnyeonsan from Cheonmasan and finding ourselves in unexpectedly icy conditions, we opted for a relax-y taxi. Don’t tell me we’re getting fancy: I already know it.
HIKE & RUN
Your Chungnyeonsan hike is expandable based on your time and interest! There are several peaks on the very same curved ridge as the main peak. The shortest way up is just about two kilometers, but where you go from there is up to you!
If you recall, our original plan was to connect Chungnyeonsan with Cheonmasan – something you certainly can do for an epic day out, hopefully with good weather conditions!
STAY & EAT
There’s a lot on offer here on Chungnyeonsan! Specifically, there are lots of places where you can sleep if you’re relatively self-sufficient. There are campsites and dormitories in the natural recreation forest, and pensions abound in the village below. There was a bit of a paucity of eating options, but there was a at least one dry goods shop (where Kent got his noodles).
The same is also true of Daeseong village, but I think there’s a restaurant there too – better hope its mountain cuisine!
OTHER NOTES
No, you’re not seeing double, and no I didn’t bumble the name of this mountain. Chukryeongsan is not the same mountain; it’s not even in the same part of the country. Do they share a name? In a word, yes. For this mountain, the spelling is different in English (Chungnyeonsan) versus Korean (축령산), but the root of the difference is in the pronunciation – for both mountains! It’s a bit confusing, I’ll admit.
The peak of Chungnyeonsan is at 886 meters, and is included on the Korea Forest Service list of 100 summits: check it out here. (By constrast, Chukryeongsan is on the Black Yak list instead.)
Kent and I ran a brisk 6.5 kilometer loop on Chungnyeonsan on a surprisingly snowy day in April 2018.
Head back to the 120 summits main page for more mountains. If you missed it, we also visited nearby(ish) Cheonmasan earlier in the day. Also, the next day, we went to even more mountains: Yongmunsan and Yumyeongsan, if you’re interested!
Enjoy your Chungnyeonsan quest, and all your others!