goheonsan 고헌산 (Yeongnam Alps 9 Peaks 영남알프스 9 봉)

1034 meters

5km return

📍trailhead

In my effort to complete the Yeongnam Alps 9 Peaks Challenge, I planned to knock Goheonsan off the list on a Sunday morning, the day after completing Ganwolsan, Sinbulsan, and Yeongchuksan.

It is a much shorter hike, but still steep going up. This made for some wobbly legs from my big hike the day prior. I’ll include my garmin stats to give a rough estimate of duration, elevation gain, etc. (I’m a pretty average paced hiker.)

If you are arriving by car, it’s important to note the the parking area is very small. I arrived at 6:30am on a Sunday so was lucky to find a spot. Other cars were quickly arriving though, and it was completely full by the time I finished my hike 2 hours later.

The trail entrance is well marked with a large sign.

The start of the trail is a bit deceiving for what’s to come. I was so pleased how flat-ish it started out as, but it didn’t take long before I was climbing up.

Once you start climbing up, it seems as though there are diverging trails a lot, but it’s simply mini-switchbacks and they all merge together, so don’t stress about which one you choose.

You’ll encounter a few signs along the way up. Just keep heading for the peak (고헌산 정상).

The trail gets rockier as you’re nearing the top and eventually the view will open up. Don’t forget to look back, the view is amazing!

Once you reach the ridgeline area you can see the peak off to the left.

At the top of the ridge, follow the sign pointing left towards peak. There is another “bong” straight ahead, but you can stop and visit that bong on your way back.

At the peak, there is a large summit stone, a doltap (stone stack - 돌탑), and a viewing platform with a great view.

At this point, I had a lot of trouble with my Yeongnam Alps app and it would not open up for me. It was only me and another man at the top (along with a guy in his tent). The man was so kind and tried helping me with the app for more than ten minutes. I was legit panicking because I thought that I was gonna have to re-hike this one and my legs were just like “hell no” at that point. In the end, I deleted the app and reinstalled it and logged in. Luckily the previous three hikes were still logged and then it seemed to work fine. (I’ve never had any other issues with the app, but am only mentioning this here in case someone finds themselves in a similar situation at some point.)

Finally I got my peak pic and was ready to start heading back. To reach the other bong (Where the cover photo was taken) start heading back, but you can follow the path to the left once you are getting close.

Climb up the rocks and you’ll have a nice little spot to hang out and bag ONE MORE SUMMIT STONE! Although this one is a mini stone, this peak is still a meter higher than the main one that is used for the completion of the Yeongnam Alps 9 Peak Challenge. I have no idea what the name of this one is since it’s written in Chinese, but maybe someone can enlighten me.

From here, it’s all gravy. Just head back the way you came and pat yourself on the back for knocking another peak off the list! ^^