The path is a little steep in some sections, but there are no difficulties, and there are some rope rails that can be handy if it's wet and the ground is slippery.
| Naejeongbyung Peak
clock-wise from Yong Dong Naejeongbyung Peak |
| Estimated net time | 2-2½ hours | ||
| Difficulty |
No difficulties. The path is a little steep in some sections, but there are no difficulties, and there are some rope rails that can be handy if it's wet and the ground is slippery. |
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| Drinking water | There's a fountain at the bottom of the path through the forest. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (June 2012). | ||
| Parking | Room for many cars at car park by trail head. | ||
| Start height | 70 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 460 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 5.3 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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In the city Changwon in southern South Korea, west of Busan, head to the north-west area of the city, to the large car park below the railway station Yong Dong. From here walk north-east approximately 200 metres, and soon after you have walked under the motorway turn right onto a narrow road. After another approximately 4-500 metres you get to a small bridge, and then a path junction immediately after the bridge. You will find a small toilet here, as well as a fountain offering drinking water. In the path junction follow the path with wooden steps heading directly uphill.
The path soon gets quite steep, but not in any way difficult. At approximately 190 metres you get to a T-junction, and should turn left. The path now traverses for 450 metres, and then north-west for 350 metres. At this point start climbing again by following the steep path up to the ridge at 430 metres. From here turn right (east) and proceed 300 metres to the summit, which is marked by a cairn.
Descend by continuing east and south-east, approximately 850 metres. Turn right and walk 400 metres west until you get to the T-junction where you turned left upon ascent. Follow the ascent route back to trail head.
I arrived Changwon together with several colleagues on Wednesday morning, after a flight from Saigon, and desperately needed some fresh air and a bit of exercise. The intention was to hike one of the many tops surrounding Changwon, but I didn't have much hope given the dense forests covering all the tops. But a request at the Pullman hotel reception turned out to give a better outcome than expected, and I was told where I could go, and they even set me up with a car and driver to take me to the trail head. Having managed to get the practicalities sorted I had no problems convincing colleagues Kai and Øyvind to join me for a hike.
The driver left us at trail head around 09:30, and to our surprise we saw a lot of other hikers going the same way as us. We tried to communicate with a couple of them, just to make sure of the directions, but it didn't seem any of them spoke any English. But we knew where we were, and we could see the summit, so navigation was in relatively safe hands.
When we got to the trail junction approximately 1 km from trail head we decided to head up the steep path, which certainly made the heart beat rise a few levels, which in turn was part of the point of being out. We then had some navigational challenges when we got to the path junction at 200 metres, and at the end decided to go left. But when this path stayed at 200 metres for many hundreds of metres we started to wonder if we were on the right track or not. Fortunately we met another hiker, and by using more hands than words we understood that this was indeed the right way towards the summit.
At the ridge we met an old man, who pointed us towards east for the summit, and soon after we could enjoy a fairly nice view of Changwon and the mountains surrounding this city. After taking a few photos and drinking some water we continued east, and made it back down to the car park in fine style. We now had to call the hotel to be picked up, and while waiting for the car we paid a quick visit to a rough restaurant where we ordered some lemonade and a couple of beers. This was all very nice, but the small snacks they served with it was more or less left untouched. The only thing all of us tried were the chillies, which were as hot as chillies ought to be, and hence nothing that would kill the hunger. But that would be rectified after a shower back at the hotel.