It was a winter wonderland! There were icicles coldly dripping off of the edges of rocks. Hoarfrost painted the edges of still-green leaves. A beautiful icy grass grew in clumps from the ground. Snow even covered the trail in places. This was winter in Gayasan National Park (가야산국립공원), and I loved it!
My husband and I arrived at Gayasan National Park on the earliest bus of the day: a long, warm journey that had lulled me into sleepiness. But stepping off the bus, the crisp mountain air woke me up instantly. We set off up the trail at a rapid pace, excited to see what wonders this new mountain held for us.
It didn’t take long for us to be surrounded by snowy splendor. The trail wound up slowly, as a series of wood and earth steps. Beside the trail was a forest filled with fresh snow. It covered the ground, dusted the leaves of plants and coated the branches of trees. As we ascended, it was packed into the cracks of rocks. Hoarfrost grew long on twigs and signposts. Whenever a patch of bare earth was exposed, we saw some ethereal, transparent ice-mushrooms poking up!
High up above the forest, snowy peaks disappeared into a snow-white sky. It started to sprinkle snowflakes. One or two would fall at a time, then a little gust of wind would bring more of them. Looking down, we could see a patchwork forest of bare, brown deciduous tree branches and the deep green needles of conifers. All of this dusted in white. We were breathless in the cold beauty.
The final scramble to the summit was made difficult by the ice covering the rocks. We climbed like spiders: our hands and feet, and sometimes knees and elbows, on the rock. The views from the top were spectacular, and we were alone. A thick ice fog descended, and we could no longer see down the mountain. But what we could see was magical: rocky grey spires piercing the clouds and gnarly trees dressed in thick, wind-sculpted frost.
We turned around in circles, looking around the peak in every direction, staying warm. We could make out a set of stairs and some other hikers nearby. We’d discovered another peak! We slid down from our icy perch, and trekked over to meet a second summit. There we found more wonderful views amidst swirling gusts of snowflakes.
Actually, we didn’t want to descend. But our toes and fingers seemed to slowly be turning to ice, so we did. The gentle slope down made the going all too quick, and soon we stood below the snow. We’d been in winter, above, and we returned to fall at the trailhead.
But our adventures weren’t over! At the foot of Gayasan we stopped to visit Haeinsa Temple. It’s a beautiful temple, famous for storing the Tripitaka Koreana – an ancient collection of over 80,000 wooden printing blocks containing Buddhist texts. This collection is more than 750 years old, and is kept safe in a specially designed building. Visitors can peer through ventilation windows at the collection, and have a closer look at a couple of the printing blocks displayed just outside. Mountains and history – what a great adventure!
Know and Go! Gayasan
Transportation
This park’s inland location is pretty remote. It’s about an hour and a half from Daegu. However, Daegu is very well-connected by high-speed train and buses. From Daegu, you can take a bus directly to Haeinsa Temple and the trailhead for Gayasan. The trick is just getting to the correct bus station in Daegu, which has a confusing multitude of stations and stops. The direct bus we found departs from Seobu, near Seongdangmo station on the red metro line. You’ll need to buy a ticket for Haeinsa, rather than Gayasan, but rest assured that they’re one and the same. And both worthy of exploration, after you’ve come this far!
Hike & Run
The main hiking trail to the summit begins just beyond Haeinsa Temple. This can be quite a quick hike or run. About two kilometers past the bus stop, you will reach Haeinsa. The trailhead here is already quite high, and the route from here to the summit is just 4 kilometers. The trail has a gentle, rolling grade right up until a steep section immediately before the peak. Sangwangbong and nearby Chilbulbong are rocky summits with great panorama views. Most hikers go out and back from Haeinsa. However, from Chilbulbong, there’s an option to descend to Baegundong information center and campground. Additionally, there’s another point-to-point hike across the highway from Haeinsa that takes in two peaks before descending to Cheongnyangdong. We didn’t have time to check this one out, but it looks beautiful and you might well have this out-of-the-way route to yourself!
Stay & Eat
There’s both a hotel and a motel near Haeinsa Temple, within the national park. There’s a campground located at the Baegundong entrance as well. If you want to combine your hiking trip with some cultural and spiritual education, temple stays are available at Haeinsa. Since this park is accessible with a direct bus and the hikes are relatively short, another option is to stay at a motel in Daegu. As with most national parks, unique mountain cuisine is available near the main entrance. Alternatively, you can stock up on snacks in Daegu before you go!
Other Notes
Sangwangbong is Gayasan’s main peak at 1430 meters. It’s a rocky peak with tremendous views. Nearby Chilbulbong is actually slightly higher at 1433 meters, and also has terrific views. Gayasan is on the Black Yak 100 summit challenge, here, and the Korea Forest Service noted mountains list, here.
We did a 13.4 km hike in Gayasan National Park in November 2015. This was the 3rd national park we visited during our mountain mission year. We stayed the night in Daegu, and took the earliest bus heading to the park in the morning. Our route was an out-and-back from Haeinsa Temple.
We went just after the first snowfall of the year. While that snow had already melted at sea level, it was still present on the summit. Climbing to the summit and looking over the snowy forest was a really special treat!
We spent some time at the end of our hike exploring Haeinsa and learning about the Tripitaka Koreana.
I used the Korea National Park Service website to research Gayasan National Park in advance.
More mountains await on the 120 summits list – or continue exploring Korea’s national parks!