The Defeat of Chiaksan (Chiak Mountain)

On Thursday we headed out to Chiaksan National Park, which is what this corner of the country is best known for. It is about 30mins in a taxi, a little longer on the bus - from my place.
The first part of the park is a rebuilt temple, and then a picturesque river...It is gorgeous, not powerful, but very peaceful with delicate falls and japanese maples overhanging. Green deep pools abound as well. I didn't have time to really cover it with my camera, I'll have to come back. But you'll get the idea from the pictures.

You walk past the temple and meander along the river past many photo worthy mini waterfalls - you can also camp if you so desire, and many Korean families were. . After a while the trail stops at a formidable looking set of stairs. The hike up was so much harder than I thought it would be. I had been led to believe it was pretty easy...but it was probably the hardest hike I've done. I ended up going to the top alone because the others didn't feel up to it. It was just so steep and never let up. Picture going up 1288 metres up in a 4km span....steep trail! But it felt good to be out in natural beauty with peace and quiet again. And the views were spectacular. Mt Finlayson and Mt Work and Jocelyn Hill are all about 500m if you want some perspective.

That's Wonju you can see under the red patch of cloud in the above picture, and its in the valley in the mist in the second picture. Anyway, the park was beautiful... the stone says "Chiaksan - Birobong" (the name of the peak) I think I made a good choice being outside of Seoul. But more on Seoul in tommorows blog.

PS This peak was supposedly of strategic importance in the Korean War for any history buffs out there.