16 November 2022
The low down
Mudeungsan from Jisan amusement park
Today I did a big lap of the lower parts of Mudeungsan national park, so let me give you the low down.
Somehow I amassed 20km and just under 6 hours and 34,000 steps. This tells me the steps were easier to come by than most of the other hikes, because there were not as many climbing bits.
The first bit was through a spooky abandoned amusement park, and finding a trail that was not overgrown was a bit of a challenge, but eventually I found the one the locals had designated as the one to use.
After a brief climb it was over a ridge and into some temples, and even some small farms for a while, with a gravel track suggesting vehicle access was possible.
Then I had choices to make, my goal was to go to the same ranger station as the day before yesterday, at Wonhyo where there was a bus if I wanted to pull the pin...
The trail to Wonhyo was great, over some glacial looking fields of rocks, with no other people, not a lot of elevation change.
Once at Wonhyo, I looked at the temples and decided, why not walk all the way back to town over some different trails from the day before yesterday. These proved to be excellent trails, with only the occasional view back up to the top of Mudeungsan. A couple of times there was almost a view worth photographing down to the valley where I came out the day before yesterday but always just too many trees.
The final part of the hike looped back to nearly where I started, and found a ghost monorail, and an abandoned pavilion with an excellent view of all of Gwanju.
So given that I had no plan and walked from my hotel door in the general vicinity of the mountains, found a trail, found more trails, then just continued on until I found new ways to come back down, it was indeed a great day of hiking. ONTO THE PICS.
The walk up from the city was very picturesque. Raining yellow leaves, streets lined with cafes, cool early morning. I went up via an area called Jisan, which is near the barley rice street. Which is it? Pick one.
Some people would be very excited to just take photos of the abandoned amusement park and call it a day. Here is a chair and an overgrown tunnel covered in vines. To the left there were pagodas standing in what used to be a fake lake that was now dry.
The amusement park is abandoned, but the LED clad shrine still lives on.
My first attempt at a starting trail was here. But the path was so overgrown I could not find it. The building on the left claims to be a cafe. Maybe last century. Behind me is the temple from the above pic, with dogs chained up going absolutely crazy. I retreated.
The next trail was better, and soon got a view of an abandoned golf driving range.
There was also the chair lift, at this point I had no idea where it was going, but I figured it out late in the day, stay tuned.
I did not think there would be many views at all today as I was planning to stay down low in the valleys, so here is an early view of Gwangju. It is crap compared to the views at the end, so feel free to scroll past this one.
I often say 'off limits' which I thought was a term only I used. It seems it is the official term. I suspect these areas are off limits for military reasons.
After going over some small peaks I ended up in a valley in a little village with shrine number 2. Great weather, about 14c, no wind, a bit cloudy at times but also plenty of periods of blue sky.
The trails were mostly leaf covered, and at times hard to follow, but also generally flat... sometimes rocky.. sometimes piney. OK there was every kind of trail.
Shrine / Temple number 3 was closed for renovation, but you could walk around the back to look at some graves, so I did.
Time to head in the direction of Wonhyo, things got rocky.
Great views up Mudeungsan, if you squint you can see antenna world from two days ago.
The main glacial field of rocks. Probably best not to hang around here in case another one comes tumbling down.
A similar view to 2 photos prior, but the light was great.
Glacial field of rocks number 2, looks just like number 1.
This should look familiar, it is Wonhyo where I started my hike at this very bus stop 2 days ago. Today it was the mid point. I could have caught a bus back from here, they depart every 20 minutes, but I decided to keep going.
I did not go the same way as 2 days ago, I went to the right instead of the left and headed to the nearby shrine, a cat was here to greet me.
The cat was guarding the place. I could not go in, had to move on.
Over the top of a ridge behind the shrine and it got very piney, great trail for quick progress.
A bit more view back into the heart of the national park.
What is that? It is a monorail. Abandoned. And now I realised it joins on somewhere to the abandoned chair lift from the start of the day.
The monorail takes you across a valley and up to a peak where this pavilion still stands. It says it has a cafe. It does not.
There is however a view of Gwangju, this one was taken before going to the pavilion roof so stay tuned.
First I needed to do this.
Behold, all of Gwangju. I suspect this is the single best place to get this view, hence the pavilion, monorail, chairlift combo.
It is also a good place to look back up to the top of Mudeungsan.
You can see a bit more of the monorail tracks here.
The monorail may be dead, but this horse lives on. After riding on the horse it was time to go back down to the city.
Nearly down, steps and ropes appeared. If you look through the trees you can see apartment buildings.
And here is where I came out. A new development built into the side of the hill.
The housing development surrounds the Gwangju Institute of Creative Convergence Education. Which totally sounds like something I would make up. Lots of pics today, there probably will not be many tonight.