Naejangsan national park 내장산 국립공원

sinseonbong 신성봉 763meters

11.8km loop

📍Trailhead

With a 4-day weekend for Buddha’s birthday holiday and Labor Day, I opted to go on a solo hiking trip since Andrew was stuck working. Day one of my hike was in Naejangsan National Park, a famous fall hiking destination, but pretty year round. Although Andrew and I had visited here a year ago to see the temple, we didn’t have time to get any hiking done.

Flash forward to April 2020 and I returned ready to tackle the mountains that I admired on our first visit! The route that I chose was shaped like a horseshoe, taking me 11.8 km over 8 different peaks. The highest peak (and the only one with a summit stone, being Sinseonbong at 763 meters. This turned out to be a tougher hike than I anticipated due to a lot more up and down than I was expecting, but overall it was still a great day.

Starting out, you will make an immediate right at the temple gates to follow a paved road that leads to Baengnyeonam Hermatige.

After about a 700 meter walk on the paved road, you will enter the trail on the right hand side. I was blessed with clear skies and an empty trail for a while.

It’s about 1.2 km from entering the wooded trail to the first peak: Seoraebong 624 m. Once up on the ridgeline though, you’ll start to get some pretty views below, a glimpse of the horseshoe route you may follow, and, opposite from you, where this route ends.

I want to point out here that the trail between this first peak and the second peak was definitely the most exciting/picturesque of the day. In fact, it seemed like a lot of people only hiked this small section and took a trail leading back down after the second peak. Although I’m happy I hiked the entire course, I can see why people would opt to just complete this section and take in some of the other sights in the area.

Moving on from the first peak, there were so many stairs repeatedly going up and down. It was almost comical at one point where I climbed to the top of some never ending stairs only to take 4 steps and then climb all the way back down again. It seems I was too tired to take pictures of all the stairs so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Next, I stopped for lunch! I had planned on holding out until later in the trail, but I was ravenous at this point and came upon such a gorgeous spot, that I just had to stop.

I was feeling re-energized and ready to continue onto the second peak. Be sure to look back often as it’s quite pretty to see the ridgeline that you just covered. Expect a lot more stairs and rock scrambling along the way.

Peak #2: Bulchulbong, offers a great view on the other side of the mountain looking towards Jeongeup City and a large reservoir below.

Onto the third peak, Manghaebong! The third peak is about 1/3 of the total trail and, along this route, you will start curving back for your return along the “horseshoe”.

Continue on climbing up and down to reach Peak #4: Kkachibong. The fourth peak is about the halfway point. If you’re feeling tired, there are still some options to head back down from here, but I’d suggest trying to push on to get to the next peak; Sinseonbong, which is the highest in the park. After Singseonbong, there is a steep trail where you can head down to the temple below.

To be frank, the rest of the trail was not as nice as the first half, but I was determined to continue on to complete my planned route in full. There are a few nice spots along the way leading to the final two peaks: Yeonjabong and Janggunbong. However, I was mostly just trying to complete the course so I could get off my feet and make the drive to my motel in Byeonsandbando…which turned out to be another fantastic hike!