I knew it is not practical for us with a toddler and a child, to hike up the tallest mountain in South Korea – Mount Hallasan (1950m). However, we have always love hiking through nature reserves and it was hard to miss this opportunity, when we had already taken two flights to be there in Jeju Island.
Thus, I decided to still try to get to a high point beyond the forest cover, before heading down the same path. It was our third day and the last full day in South Korea. We still had other places in Jeju Island to tour, so time for hiking is limited.
My parents did not accompany us for this itinerary because it would be too strenuous for them. We drove the car to the foot of the mountain and after just making a few turns, we encountered a long line of cars in front of us. Someone was signalling the cars in front to stop. We were confused and stopped for a while. Vin got off and asked the person what was going on. It turned out that he wanted us to park there and walk up!
We were really surprised as it was still a long way up the mountain. This would be impossible for us with children. We decided to just drive ahead and assess the situation.
Along the way, we saw people walking along the side of the road. I did not know how they could do it because it was still such a long way up!
Hard to go up Mt. Hallasan on a weekend
It took a while before we reached a point where moving further in front would be a car park entrance. Someone was there directing vehicles to turn back. There were no more car park space higher up. Oh no! Everyone would have to get down to walk up! I was disappointed as we had really wanted to visit Mt. Hallasan. I regretted placing this itinerary on a Sunday. There were just too many people!
In the end, we parked at a mushroom farm for an hour plus after asking permission from the kind owners and took a cab up to the starting point of the hike.
If you need to hike up Mt. Hallasan, it is best to park at the foot of the mountain or go there by cab directly to drive you all the way up to the starting point. [which is still a long way off even from the ticketing booth]
We followed a narrow path to walk up to this point with a ticketing toll booth for cars. Vin tried to ask them some information but communicating in English was difficult. I think vehicles have to pay for a parking fee and this booth regulate vehicles going up. Vehicles were queueing behind for a long time before allowed to go up. Thus, we were relieved that we could already start proceeding up instead of waiting in the car. At that moment, we were still unsure how long it would take to go to the entrance of the forest reserve to start our Yeongsil hike trail.
At the ticketing booth – To Reach Yeongsil Trail
We decided to walk up a little further in front of the ticketing booth as there were several bus and cars parked. There was also a building with restrooms. We saw some people standing around some taxis. Vin went up to ask them about going to the entrance to start the hike. At first, they were not quite friendly. Finally, someone with limited English informed us that we could go up in his taxi. We were so happy to hear this! He also mentioned that they have certain timings for taxis. In the morning, taxis are down here driving passengers up and not allowed to stop there.
In the afternoon, the taxis would go up there driving passengers down. We were worried whether there would be taxis driving us down later after we finished about an 1 hour plus of hike (our planned time). He told us not to worry and there would surely be taxis taking passengers up (so we could get one down). Still, we got his number in case we need to call him to go up and fetch us.
He quoted us a price to go up (I cannot remember now). At that point, we did not care whether the fare was exorbitant or not. All we wanted was to go to the entrance to start our hike, so our trip is not wasted!
Taxi Ride up Mt. Hallasan
It was with great relief that we finally sat in the comfortable taxi. He drove past several people hiking up, even families with young children. I really wonder how they could do it since we had not even reached the entrance of the hike yet! Would they still have energy left after this?
Finally, Entrance of Yeongsil Hike Trail
He dropped us off after about ten minutes and told us to walk up front, saying he could not proceed further. We walked up and discovered some shops and a designated place for taxis to stop or drop off. It was not easy to communicate due to his limited English, thus we still do not quite understand what were the rules regarding the car parks in Mt. Hallasan. To play safe, just hire a taxi driver to drive you up to the hike entrance if it is a weekend (too many hikers). Do not drive up yourself.
Starting Mt. Hallasan Hike
From the time we encountered the first obstacle until we were before this marking stone to start our hike, it had already been 50 minutes! We were late in our itinerary plan but would still want to hike for at least an hour before going off.
Entering the nature reserve, we went through wooden planks, passed through little streams on wooden bridges and walked up steps lined in between stony paths. Vin carried Ling in the baby carrier and she was so comfortable with all the swaying, that she fell asleep soon after we started!
HIKING SCENERY ON MT. HALLASAN
The paths kept changing so it wasn’t boring at all to walk through. I also admired several nice species of plants along our paths and the occasional small streams we came across.
The objective of the Yeongsil trail is to reach the Witseoreum Shelter before hiking down the Eorimok Hiking Trail. It is not a summit trail. We chose this because it was the easier trail suitable for beginners, out of the hiking trails available. We certainly would not have energy or time to reach the shelter but just wanted an experience of hiking Mt. Hallasan.
Start of a Steep Climb
Finally, we reached a point where it started getting steep. From this point on, it was quite tiring and especially so, for Vin, who was carrying our toddler.
See how steep it was! Adding to the difficulty was large boulders that we had to step on, gingerly putting our foot in between the gaps. Proper steps were only scattered in between. Compared to the easy hike in Seongsan Ilchubong, this was totally another level for us beginners! Fortunately, I had read enough information beforehand and knew this was to be expected. Thus, we specially bought Dar a pair of hiking boots before the trip and wore hiking boots ourselves. The hiking boots helped us to get a good footing on the rocks and prevented our ankles from twisting, especially useful when we were descending!
We reached a marking stone at 1400m. I was astonished and disappointed that we had only made such a small ascent (started from 1280m). It had felt like ages before we reached here! We were not really physical fit for this but I know if we trudged on, we would get the scenery we came for! (note: We took about 35mins to reach here from the start)
The Open Air Trail
After persevering for another 14 minutes upwards and non-stop, we finally saw the blue sky! I was excited to have finally reached the open air.
We stopped at the viewing point to view down. It was an achievement for us so we asked someone to help us take a picture in that narrow platform. This was just the beginning. We would still need to go higher up to see more of the scenery.
Up and Up – Gorgeous Mt. Hallasan
We walked up for another 5 minutes and this time, looking back was really gorgeous! The entire forest was underneath us and we could see settlements miles away. The scenery was breath-taking. Ling was still in her dreamland and had not woken up one bit!
We decided to go higher once more. The steps were getting really steep now. Every few steps we take, I had to stop and catch my breath and encouraged myself mentally.
As I stood and looked at the mountain wall in front of me, we noticed tiny black dots walking along it. Wow, those people had gotten so far and high!
Our End-point on Mt. Hallasan
We checked the clock and it had been 1 hour since we started hiking up Mt. Hallasan. As we had only planned to do a short hike of about 1.5 hours and it was already overtime, we decided to make these steps the end-point. I would have love to go up further to where those people are (where I zoomed in) but that would eat into our time for other itineraries on the list. I was also worried about our car parked at the mushroom farm. If we do not go back soon, I do not know what they would do.
Reluctantly, we took a picture here and lingered to look at the scenery for a while more. Ling got woken up when Vin tripped a little and immediately cried out. Fortunately, she stopped pretty fast or the hikers would be wondering why there are infant cries in the middle of the mountain.
Many people walked past us up and down while we took out some potato chips snack for Dar to eat, to replenish some energy before going back down again. It would take a while to go down, take a taxi and get our car.
While waiting, some elderly hikers passed us by and I was again amazed at the Koreans. If they had come from the other end of the trail, they might had been hiking for hours! (the full trail takes about 5 hours) Their elderly people were so fit and hiking mountains seemed so easy to them. Someone put up a thumb to Dar to show a “Good” sign when he passed him by. I chuckled. Was he praising Dar for being able to hike up so far, or because he agreed that the Korean brand of potato chips was delicious?
Hiking back down Hallasan
Walking down is another experience because it was quite steep and every step we take had to be extremely careful. One wrong step and we might tumble down. Other people were also ascending while we were descending in the narrow space, so sometimes, there was a “human jam” and we had to choose the right stone step to put our foot down. I grabbed hold of the ropes at the sides to help me manoeuvre and they were really useful! However, do be careful of sliding your hand down on it causing friction burn.
It was much faster going down than up because we had already seen those stuff earlier. Thus, concentrating on just moving downwards, we reached the exit in 30 minutes! Dar was still energetic and happy to have hike through this trail of Mt. Hallasan. He did not show signs of tiredness at all. To him, it was a nice and fun experience stepping on the rocks to ascend or descend!
Heading to the shops, we were in luck. A taxi was dropping off some passengers. We quickly told him we wanted to take the taxi down to the restrooms area and he agreed.
Toilet Break
We went for a toilet break before walking down to the farm to collect our car. Ling could finally exercise her legs.
It was a good experience for us hiking up a mountain. We had been to several mountains overseas but usually there would be funiculars or other transports to bring us right up to the top of the mountains to admire the scenery. This was the first time we hiked it up ourselves to capture the scenery. From this experience, we realised we required tremendous effort and more training before we attempt this again and we probably would not do this with young children. Even though the scenery was worth it, it was too tiring when we need to tour other places too.
[ INFO ]
[ SUMMARY ]
Travel Period:30 May – 5 June 2017 (Tues – Mon)
7 DAYS 6 NIGHTS IN SEOUL/JEJU ISLAND | 6th Day of the Trip – 3rd Day on Jeju Island
Total Time We Spent for Hike:
- 30 minutes from bottom of mountain, to reach the middle carpark area
- 10 minutes by car to reach the top carpark area and start of the Yeongsil trail
- 1 hour to hike to our end-point
- 30 mins to hike down
MT. HALLASAN HIKE – Yeongsil Trail: 4/5
Great: The scenery and view of everything beneath us was worth it! Even though we are not mountain hikers, we felt it was a must for us to get a view and the paths were well-established for us amateurs to do so. There were several safety ropes in place for us to hold onto while we made our way up and down. Lots of nice flora to look at, streams to cross, different types of paths so it wasn’t boring at all.
Con: Extremely tiring. We were not fit enough for this. A lot of time is needed to hike the entire Yeongsil Trail to be able to see something different down the other trail. About 5 hours.
Tip: Get a taxi/rental car up and down the entrance/exit of the trails because it would take a long time to even reach the entrance of the trail by foot.
Read Next Post: Jeju Island Day 3: Jeongbang Waterfall
Read our Summary Itinerary Post for South Korea 2017 Trip : 7 Days in South Korea Seoul and Jeju Itinerary
For Tips on Driving in Jeju Island, Read: South Korea: Jeju Island Driving Tips and Experiences
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