This one. Minjujisan (민주지산) was a mountain I’ll never forget. We had a perfect experience on ‘democracy peak’: it was memorable and delightful from start to finish.
Even our drive was fun! We drove to the foot of the mountain in the dark, the headlights of the car illuminating all of the ripe persimmons hanging over the road. Our starting point was the famously scenic ‘waterfall valley’, but we would need to wait for a few hours to actually see it. It was over an hour until dawn, and just finding our Minjujisan trail was hard enough by headlamp!
It began to the right of Hwangryeongsa temple, on a path alongside the river. The temple glowed from within, and the inky water rushed and gurgled over rocks. It was a striking scene that we struggled to leave behind.
On the other side of a suspension bridge, we realized our trail was actually a road! Not terribly surprising, because often our trails begin as roads – but this one seemed to come from nowhere – and it never thinned down to single track! It was bumpy and rugged, but it remained a wide track right up to just below the summit, where we climbed a set of stairs for the first time.
Minjujisan’s forest was magical at night. We listened to the soft calls of birds and other rustlings. This forest felt very much alive, and I remembered reading that this is a particularly pristine area. The trees grew thickly on either side of the trail, but sometimes we caught glimpses of a tremendously clear and starry night sky directly above. It was so, so beautiful. I felt really happy to be right there, right then.
I led our ascent, and the going felt good. At a slow running pace, I could consider the scenery and conserve my energy. Still, we were much faster on this gentle road than we’d predicted! Even after starting an hour later than planned, we were at the crest long before sunrise.
That made Minjujisan our first night summit! Far from being dismayed about this, we were both genuinely delighted. The sky was just beginning to brighten to blue on the horizon, and dozens of stars and planets still twinkled overhead. It was incredible. The massive stone summit stele caught the faint light and appeared to glow. It stood on a rocky outcrop high above the forest, and was one of the most dramatic sights I’ve yet seen in my mountain adventures here.
And looking down, we could see little pinpricks of light in faraway villages, and the starlight afforded us views along the ridge and over the forest. Ethereal! Even though it was chilly, we couldn’t resist taking our time. We were playful and joyful and everything felt wondrous.
An unknown amount of time passed before we were ready to run back down to the junction. Then we had a decision to make. Should we head down? Being cold seemed like an argument in favor. Plus, it would give us a headstart on climbing our second mountain of the day (Jeoksangsan) and help us get home to our kitty fast!
But Minjujisan has a long ridge that’s part of the Baekdudaegan. Her sister peaks awaited us, along with new adventures and a nice loop. We couldn’t help but chose the loop.
We ran over the undulating ridge, with steep drop-offs to either side. But Minjujisan’s trail was rolling and runnable, and we used our headlamps to navigate. To the left and east, the horizon began to redden as dawn approached. It was the most glorious thing to be running on this high ridge with sunrise approaching. I was profoundly happy, and deeply grateful.
We weaved along at the perfect pace for moving and simultaneously taking in all the sights. The extremely pointy peak of Seokgibong loomed ahead of us, and I kept peeking over my shoulder to spot that dramatic summit stele back on Minjujisan’s main peak, glowing like a beacon.
We ran over to the rocky base of our second summit, and wrapped almost all the way around it past a lone tent! Up a few boulders and stairs, we found the man who had camped below – a friendly fellow who was happy share a summit sunrise with us!
And what a sunrise it was – one of the best of my life! It was so warm and golden, and it bathed Seokgibong in such sweet hues. Everything was beautiful.
We could see beyond to our next peak, Samdobong, and back to Minjujisan’s main peak. The more distant peaks included familiar faces, including Hwangaksan, Gayasan and Deogyusan! For just a few minutes, everything was absolutely perfect in the world. Our photos and videos can only hint at the reality of being in that place at that moment. Incredible. We forgot about everything, even our time pressure, in that one beautiful sunrise.
It was a long while later when we bid our new friend goodbye, and carried on towards the next summit. After a rocky scramble down from Seokgibong, the terrain was once again runnable, and I found myself laughing for joy. It was one of those pure flow experiences, where everything was just feeling fun.
It did not take long before we arrived on Samdobong, the second peak of this name that we’ve visited – the other is found on Jirisan! Like Jirisan’s peak, this one is so named because it stands at the boundary between three provinces. It has a large monument about peace rather than a summit stele, set in a huge observation deck.
Another man was camped out here – a spiritual brother to the man we’d just met, perhaps. We didn’t linger as long because time was truly a’ticking now, but we appreciated the views and the statue before heading on.
The trail ran just a little ways further along the ridge before dropping down towards Mulhan valley again. There was some frost on the wooden steps here! But we quickly left that wintery touch behind as we descended into the forest.
This was a picture-perfect fall forest, with all of the colors of the rainbow on display. This forest is known for being especially pristine, and it certainly seemed so to me. It was beautiful. I could not stop exclaiming about it. I was awed.
We hopped over some rocks on a few fun river crossings, but mostly we were able to dash down on the wide, easy trail. In fact, we were already back to the temple and its suspension bridge before I felt ready to go! But instead of being sad about our necessary departure, I felt really glad that we had been – and lucky that everything had worked out so perfectly. Minjujisan and friends will go down in history as one of my all-time favorites.
KNOW AND GO! MINJUJISAN
TRANSPORTATION
Minjujisan’s closest outpost is Muju, which is a cute small town that’s best known for being the gateway to Deogyusan National Park. Muju has a small bus terminal. Depending on where you’re coming from, you might need to make a connection, but you can get here directly from Seoul.
From the bus terminal, just 15 minutes on the Muju – Micheonri bus will get you to the closest Minjujisan trailhead. Or, 30 minutes on the 145 will get you onto the shortest trail to the top and/or Minjujisan’s Natural Recreation Forest.
There are other trailheads, but none of the others are as easy to access via public transportation as the ones mentioned above.
If you’re driving, you can gain access to Mulhan valley, which is a terrific place to start and end a Minjujisan loop if you ask me!
HIKE & RUN
You know, you could happily connect Minjujisan to Hwangaksan – these are neighboring peaks on the Baekdudaegan! If doing so, note that the connection is on the high pass of highway 901. There are a half dozen or so other high peaks in between that are just as delightful as the mains.
The most straightforward way to the top of Minjujisan is the 4 kilometer trail up from Pyeongcheon village in Yeongdong county.
My recommended route begins in Mulhan valley – this is waterfall valley! Plus, the forest here is in especially good condition. You’re gonna love it.
STAY & EAT
Muju is a solid choice, especially if you’re also visiting Deogyusan! Alternatively, if you’re reaching Minjijisan via Hwangaksan, you’ll likely be coming from Gimcheon, which is another good option for you. Muju is much, much smaller than Gimcheon, but is a tourist town.
There are no campgrounds close to Minjujisan – the nearest one is on the opposite side of Muju. As for pensions, however, there are plenty! The greatest density is in the popular Mulhan valley, but there are also several choices in Yeongdong Pyeongcheon. There’s even one high on the mountain slopes near Sinbulsa temple!
OTHER NOTES
Minjujisan is a tall and proud 1241 meters. This mountain has more than just height – it’s got great views, a runnable ridge, and several other scenic summits. Basically, Minjujisan is awesome. Accordingly, Minjujisan appears on both of Korea’s 100 famous summits lists. The Korea Forest Service listing can be found here and the Black Yak listing is over here.
Our very happy 13 kilometer running exploration of Minjujisan took place early one October morning in 2018, and was one of our favorites.
Care for more? It’s back to the 120 summits main page for you then!
I hope you love Minjujisan as much as I did. This is a great one!
