Seoul is known by many as a massive metropolis of a city, an uber modern city that doesn't have room, nor allow for nature. However, for anyone that has that opinion, I ask that you change it! I have done many posts on the nature in and around Seoul, and today I want to do another. This time I will be focusing on Bukhansan National Park.
Bukhansan is probably the most well known mountain in Seoul, with its highest peak reaching 836 metres tall. While this might not seem like a 'mountain' to many (me included... My home is right next to a 2.5km high mountain, a mere 30 minutes drive away), when I climbed it with my friend... Well we realised it was indeed a mountain.
On a day in December, among final exams, me and my friend decided we would try and conquer Bukhansan. Equipped with a total lack of knowledge about where we were going, we headed on the most obvious path up the mountain. Signs told us that snow gear was required, but we didn't believe them! It wasn't bad at all! We walked for about 2 hours in peace before coming to the difficult terrain. Everyone around us was fully equipped, for what we had considered 'a walk in the park (literally)'.
We got told to turn back by some friendly locals who said it was too dangerous for us without cleats or spikes on our shoes (not to mention walking poles), and we even witnessed some fully geared people have accidents (slipping and falling), however we decided to push on. For the next 4 hours we questioned our decision at every step.. What was supposed to be a two or three hour walk ended up taking 6 hours. We had many accidents and near misses (we really should have stopped, it was very dangerous, but we were stubborn), but we did eventually make it to the top!
Thankfully the way down was far nicer! The track was in much better condition and the walking path was far easier on our bodies.
Today I want to share some of the photos from this memorable trip!
Bukhansan National park
Something that stood out instantly to me as a foreigner was the amount of Buddhist influence on the mountain! As a New Zealander, Buddhism is, in many respects, nearly non-existent for me. While I see monks quite commonly around Seoul, this was my first time seeing (what I believe to be) authentic Buddhist buildings. The mountainside was covered in statues, houses, and other buildings, and many of them had some form of Buddhist influence. It was such a cool experience for me, I had never seen such things before.
This was the entrance way to one of the many buildings. I don't know exactly what this building was, but whatever it was, it was pretty. I really love the colours that many traditional Korean buildings seem to use, the rich greens and bright reds. I have seen these colours and styles before on the palaces and fortresses around Seoul.
The walk is also filled with many different gates and walls that must be passed on the journey to the top! Bukhansanseong (the name of the fortress that was built on Bukhansan) was actually created to protect Seoul from the North. It was also created as a point of retreat if the need arose. On our walk, we were heading to the Great South Gate which is one of the six great gates to the fortress. There are also a further eight secret gates.
The path is built seemingly into all these aspects of the mountain, and due to this, I believe it must be one of the paths that has existed on the mountain since the creation of the fortress hundreds of years ago.
The walls are adorned with intricate stone carvings, such as the one seen in this image. It makes you think how amazing the craftsmen were hundreds of years ago.. To make such strong and large walls, that are so detailed and beautiful at the same time.
Another cool part about Bukhansan is that people actually live on it currently! There is a road that allows vehicles up the mountain, but this ends a certain distance up, and many of these houses can only be accessed on foot. These houses are beautiful traditional looking houses though and they blend into the rest of the mountain. It's great that people can live on the mountain yet the mountain can retain its unique identity.
Another building on the mountainside. This building wasn't a house (I don't think), however I am not sure exactly what it was. It was located right next to the building featured in the first image, and was right next to a giant statue (below)!
This is the statue that can be seen in the first image, but up close. It was right near the entrance to the park (maybe about an hour or thirty minutes in... I can't quite remember).
This picture is of what I believe to be a Buddhist shrine (please forgive my ignorance, I am totally new to these things!). Things like this are located all throughout the park, and on the way to the top of the mountain, you are bound to come across many statues (big and small) of Buddha!
As I mentioned earlier, people live all over the mountain. Right outside one of the many buildings we found these beans drying on plates. I don't know what was contained within the jars, but I can only imagine more?
On the journey to the top of the mountain we also found some cute animals!
The first star was this cute little dog. This was the pet of an old lady that we came across while going to the statue. He was so cute and we spent a while just watching and interacting with him.
We also found this cute stray cat. Someone was feeding the cat while we were there, so it was staying around. We noticed quite a few stray cats on the lower parts of the mountain (where there are lots of people and houses). However, they seem to be treated well by the locals and the people passing by.
Did I mention it was cold?!
This was exactly what we had underestimated, the cold, and the ice. The ice gave us a a few injuries, but we did survive in the end! I think we underestimated it because there was not much snow or ice on the ground, however, all of the water was frozen over and the temperature was around -8 degrees.
There are many streams that flow down Bukhansan, and this was one of them. However, they were totally frozen over at the time we were there.
There was ice and snow! We had to play with it a bit right? We went off the track at one of the points and went to spend some time by one of the streams. My friend though, has never ever touched ice or experienced it. So for her this was the first time, and there were some very near misses with slippery ice!
We made it!!
After about 4 and a half hours, we finally reached the Great South Gate! The gate itself was a work of art, and it provides an amazing view. Unfortunately, the day we were there the clouds were low and we couldn't see much. The top was quite busy, and when we got there we were congratulated by the older couple who had warned us to turn back earlier. They were surprised we had actually made it without giving up, and after their congratulations we felt great... We realised we had actually made it!
The way down. Luckily it was much nicer than the way up (we had contemplated going down the way we came up as we thought the other way may be even more difficult... Thankfully we chose to risk the new path!) and actually had steps and was maintained.
The final bridge on our journey! This bridge was right before the exit of the park, and I can't explain how happy we were to finally cross it, knowing we were near the end. A short 'walk in the park' had taken us 6 hours and had been extremely difficult and even dangerous.
If you have the chance... Visit Bukhansan!
I would 100% recommend visiting if you get the chance, or want to have a relaxing day (don't do the whole track, just a stroll haha), or a serious hike. Be careful in winter though, as gear is definitely recommended, and it is a difficult walk. I loved the journey and will definitely be visiting again. Although this time I hope to go in summer for a change of scene!
Thanks so much for reading, I really appreciate it. Feedback and comments are welcome :)