There are 5 official hiking trails on Halla-san. Two of them go all the way to the summit, three of them explore other sides and vistas, all of them take most of the day to complete, and….we conquered all of them before going home for Christmas break! Since then we have summitted in the snow, which was INCREDIBLE! But honestly, that day in itself deserves a blog of it’s own, so for now check out our summer and fall seasons of hiking Halla!
Here are the Halla-san routes, in reverse order of our “Top 5"
5. Seongpanek: (Summer) This trail connects with Gwaneumsa, so we actually climbed down this trail after climbing up the other one. It started off with a long rocky way down to the woods, where we turned off to explore an oreum with a pond of it’s own before heading back through the forest to the trailhead.
4. Donnaeko: (Almost Winter) This was the trail that we had attempted to hike (and failed miserably) in one of our first weekends here. After hiking Donnaeko, we were so happy that we had accidentally discovered that other trail the first time, since the surprise waterfalls were more magical than anything Donnaeko had to offer- though of course, it, being a Halla trail, was still pretty epic. We enjoyed the view of the backside of the peak, and we especially loved walking above the clouds!
2. Yeongsil: (Autumn) Similar to our Seongpanak experience, Yeongsil connected with Eorimok, so we hiked down Halla yet again- which turned out to be amazing! Yeongsil is directly on the backside of the summit, so we were able to see our side of the island from up there. As we kept walking, a huge cliff/canyon opened up, which we were able to enjoy for the rest of the trail. It was pretty incredible in the fall, and I can only imagine what it will look like in the spring!
3. Eorimok: (Autumn) We did this hike at the peak of fall colors, and wow were they amazing! As all Halla trails begin, this started in a forest. This trail was a bit metaphorical actually, because the hardest and steepest parts are among the trees. Once the trees break, the sun shines down, the view presents itself again, and the hardest part is over!
2. Yeongsil: (Autumn) Similar to our Seongpanak experience, Yeongsil connected with Eorimok, so we hiked down Halla yet again- which turned out to be amazing! Yeongsil is directly on the backside of the summit, so we were able to see our side of the island from up there. As we kept walking, a huge cliff/canyon opened up, which we were able to enjoy for the rest of the trail. It was pretty incredible in the fall, and I can only imagine what it will look like in the spring!
And our number one trail that tops ALL OF THEM:
1. GWANEUMSA!!! (Summer) It starts off in the woods, continues on into taller woods, expands with a city view, goes along a cliff-side, opens up into THE VALLEY, and then winds around to another great city view before heading up to the crater at the summit! This was our first Halla trail, and we were rewarded with a sapphire view of the crater below. Loved it!
What a blessing it is to live in a place where we can hike! It’s refreshment for our souls, which sounds cheesy but is completely true, especially since we feel quite plugged in to technology and school during the week. We are working hard and learning a lot, and we are always so amazed at just how much we are refreshed each weekend through our island adventures.
Our Christmas break was also very refreshing and wonderful. We had a California Christmas for the first time in 4 years (traveling via Shanghai), and spent lots of time playing games, making use of our "selfie stick," getting our fill of LOTR, sharing good family time, and yep, couldn’t resist doing some hiking in one of my favorite places in the world ;)
Stay tuned for our winter summit!