Eungbongsan (응봉산) is awesome! There’s just something wonderful about this mountain with it’s cozy forest and runnable trails. I loved every minute of this particular adventure.
The path up Eungbongsan was strangely familiar. Especially in the pale pre-dawn light, the dirt trails through a pine forest were just like those on Suncheon Bonghwasan!
But these trails were much longer, and leading us to a much higher summit! Although we zipped along Eungbongsan’s forest trails with ease, we were enjoying the journey and not in any hurry to reach the top. We stopped to take in a lovely sunrise through the trees.
When we did arrive up top, it was iced-over! There was a special fenced summit area and an observation platform made for serious mountain enjoyment. In another season, you would have had to pry me off Eungbongsan’s summit!
But, this was deep winter. On our way up, we’d been warm and protected by the forest. The sun had even shone down on us (a little) through the trees. We hadn’t even seen any snow until the summit!
However, on the way down Eungbongsan, everything was different. A wind was whistling up the valley. It started to snow. Unlike like the long runnable ridge we’d come up on, trail conditions here were tough. It was steep, slippery and slow-going.
Eungbongsan still remained high in our esteem though. Swirling snowflakes on mountain are beautiful, no matter how slippery they make the trail!
And we soon reached the valley, where we were once again protected from (most of) the elements. There we also found an amazing collection of bridges! There were 13 in all, all made to resemble other famous bridges from around the world.
As it turns out, this valley hosts many surprises! In addition to the cool bridge designs, there was a little hot spring in the forest! The water was bubbling up out of a fountain. Splashing into the cold air, it froze quickly and made interesting ice sculptures.
People were beginning to filter into this valley, and we ran back dodging and weaving through them. The trail roughly paralleled a huge pipe that was busy delivering the hot spring water to a spa hotel.
We wrapped up our run after three hours of fun on Eungbongsan.
KNOW AND GO! EUNGBONGSAN
TRANSPORTATION
Access to Eungbongsan is via Deokgu. The transit hub is Uljin, just over the provincial border in Gyeongsangbukdo. If you can reach the Uljin bus terminal, you can connect directly onto another bus bound for Eungbongsan. Hop on the Uljin-Deokgu bus for either 75 or 90 minutes: the route varies by time of day.
Technically, Eungbongsan resides in Samcheok, Gangwondo. That city is so far away that this fact is difficult to swallow, and getting to the mountain from Samcheok will require you to go to Uljin anyways. Same story for Taebaeksan, which although closer than Samcheok, is still pretty far away. Just goes to show you about the vast, wild spaces of Gangwondo!
Of course, you could always drive instead. We drove for the very first time in Korea on this particular mountain mission! It was definitely not the last time, either: we found renting a car to be extremely convenient for multi-mountain missions in remote places. So from this point forward, 2018 became the year of summits and road trips! But I digress.
If you’re driving, you will also have the option of heading to Punggok village. This area on the western side of Eungbongsan is inaccessible via public transit, but looks tremendous.
HIKE & RUN
We started on the east, coming up from Deokgu. There are two routes to the summit from this side: one via a long valley and the other on a ridge. We explored both, and I’d highly recommend for you to do the same!
But you could also take a walk on the wild side and ascend from the west! There are a few, long, summit-access trails starting here, one of which snakes up a remote river valley past several waterfalls!
STAY & EAT
Eungbongsan wins for convenience! Despite being a long haul away from the rest of Korea, there’s a little village on this mountains eastern slopes. Deokgu is set up for tourists with large parking lots, many motels and places to eat, too. We stayed in one of the motels here, and it was absolutely perfect: we just woke up and went running!
There’s also accommodation on the west side of Eungbongsan. You can rent a room or camp in the Punggok valley area.
OTHER NOTES
Although not the tallest mountain of this name, the very special summit of this Eungbongsan is (nearly) 999 meters high! For this reason, and probably others as well, Eungbongsan made both mountain lists! Find the Korea Forest Service listing here and the Black Yak listing here.
We did a wonderful 13.5 kilometer run up one side of Eungbongsan and down the other. This was in February 2018, on a trip that also included Deokhangsan, Dutasan and Hambaeksan!
Don’t stop exploring! Find your next mountain on the 120 summits main page.
I had an excellent time on Eungbongsan, and I sincerely hope you do as well.