Mt Palgong: Hiking into History

The rugged beauty of Korea

Going off an address that we had gleaned from the simultaneously vague and informative Palgong Provincial Park website, we set off in what we hoped was the general direction of some good hiking. The back roads from Waegwan wound themselves through villages with crooked brick bus stops and past fields of rice turning from green to gold in these early days of autumn. As we got closer to our destination, the scenery began to change: restaurants sprouted up everywhere and little resort motels appeared. There were crazy colour combinations, flashing lights, strange sculptures (a mushroom straight out of Alice and Wonderland was seen), and an abandoned airplane on stilts poked out from behind some trees.

Gaining altitude, we headed toward the ‘pin’ I had set on googlemaps ( I remember successfully traveling through central Europe years ago with addresses and little notes written on scraps of paper. Technology has really simplified things…And taken a bit of the romance away.) We soon found ourselves at a campground-not a hiking trail. The man in the little parking booth pointed in the direction from which we had come, and handed us a map of the park- I was beyond thrilled! From the website I had learned that there was more than one national treasure tucked into these peaks and valleys…and now we could actually put things into perspective. After a couple of hairpin turns, we were in the parking lot of the closest trailhead. It was completely swamped. We felt lucky when we finally managed to squeeze into a parking space- it was obvious that a couple hundred other people had also decided that it was a perfect day for a hike.

When you see Jinnammun Gate, you know you are in the right place!

According to the map, we were going to be hiking Gasanbong, significantly west of Gwangbong, where we had originally thought we were headed. Not only is Gwangbong home to yet another cable car and a restaurant atop a mountain, but also the Gatbawi Buddha. The nearly 22km hike separating us from this other peak meant that while we would be far from the Daegu express bus day-trippers, we also wouldn’t have the opportunity to partake in kalguksu –a culinary specialty of Mt Palgong. An exploration of Eunhaesa Temple and the national treasures associated with it was out of our reach for today… Yeongsanjeon Hall and the Sumidan Altar would have to wait.

We were however, on the right path to see remnants of Gasan Fortress. Through an ornate gate, past a newer construction Buddhist temple and a couple of produce stands, and we were finally on the trail. Following along with the masses, we made our way up. About 3 kilometers in, we stopped to catch our breath and admire an arch and accompanying segments that compose part of the Joseon Dynasty era triple walled structure that makes up Gasansanseong- sections of which date back to 1640. After some research, I learned that the fortress was built in response to invasions by Japan and Mongolia (1592 and 1636, respectively) during which Korea was nearly conquered.

We decided that we felt invigorated enough to keep on going. Even though the skies were starting to change and the winds had picked up, it still seemed like a good day to check out the panoramic views that could only be appreciated from the flat expanse of Gasanbawi ( 가산바위 ). A bit over a kilometer from where the changing leaves had found a perfect frame within the history of an arch, a very steep set of stairs led to the top of Gasan Rock. The astounding, almost 360 degree view was amazing- even with the haze from below and the incoming weather preventing us from seeing all the way to Daegu.

Top o’ the rock

As the wind started to whip around us, we began to make our way down. We found a narrow path to the left of Gasanbawi and decided to try our luck along the rocky trail in hopes of escaping the crowd. Our wishes were answered: we were thrilled to find that the road less travelled was far superior to the interior route we had taken on the way up. Not only were we alone on this part of the trail, we got to walk along the top of the fortress wall.

It was amazing- the view of the valley with the clouds collecting around the tops of the hills, and the colours of autumn just beginning to appear. We felt as if we had stumbled upon a little secret, but before we knew it, and just as little drops of rain began to fall, our private path merged with the main trail and we were again with all the others.

Upon reaching the bottom, we were greeted by the park ranger who invited us into his office for cups of green tea and a chat about our hike. He was especially interested to find out if we thought Mt Palgong was better than Mt Apsan (a little bit of friendly competition between them!) From there, we stopped by one of the fruit stands where we purchased a large jar of local acacia flower honey. An old woman brought over little squares of dotori muk (acorn jello) to place on our tongues- stepping back with a large smile on her face to watch our reactions- just as another filled our hands with pretty orange fuyu persimmons. What an amazing way to finish a hike!

How to get there:

We drove from Waegwan to the trailhead located at Jinnammun Gate:
Head out of town on route 4. After a short distance merge onto route 79…Follow this route for a few kilometers. When you reach Dongmyeong-myeon you will start to see a sign or two for Palgong. Make sure you take the correct left hand turn to stay on 79 (don’t turn until you reach the intersection and light with the big two-story hiking gear store on the corner. There will be a slightly misleading sign with an arrow before this: don’t take it!) Merge off 79 to the left and head up the winding mountain roads, and you will soon reach your destination.

Click here for a map.

By bus to the Gatbawi Buddha area of Mt Palgong:
Take Palgong express bus 1 or 3 from Dongdaegu Station (about a 45 minute ride from Daegu). If you get off at the Donghwasa area bus stop you will be close to the cable car platform. Palgong 3 also offers a ‘customized’ route on the weekends- info here

The loop we hiked was a nice 7 mile venture. We used a smartphone and a free GPS tracking app to record our trip. Feel free to download our GPS log to see where we went! Google provides a great write-up of how to import the file!