Korean Job Discussion Forums

joe_doufu · Joined: 09 May 2005 Location: Elsewhere

Is there any wilderness in Korea? On my vacation next week, I want to go hiking or canoeing 2 or 3 days into the woods or mountains somewhere, deep enough to shake off all the casual vacationers and their kids. Are there such places? Is there a Korean "A.T." or some vast and largely ignored national park, where manly men can live in tents, wrestle sun bears, and cook things on sticks over a campfire?

dulouz · Joined: 04 Feb 2003 Location: Uranus

I used to live in Wonju and thats near Chiaksan Nat'l Park. There's a trail that goes along the top of the range and it takes 8 hours to go from one end to the other. You aren't supposed to camp there but you can, the rangers aren't going to come looking for you. Walk leasurely for 5 hours and camp where it looks good. You can hide the camp fire smoke by waiting till the sun goes down and then finish the hike the next day. Buses run to/from Wonju at both ends of the trail.

ed4444 · Joined: 12 Oct 2004

Most of the Korean make a beeline for Jiri-san and Seorak-san. If you avoid these places you have a good chance of some peace. I found a nice place in the countryside about 1 hour east of Pohang but the name eludes me now. Hard to find a place to pitch a tent in these places though. Too many slopes.

astroboyfan · Joined: 19 Apr 2005

Some of the islands off Inchon can be quite relaxing.

JacktheCat · Joined: 08 May 2004

joe_doufu · Joined: 09 May 2005 Location: Elsewhere

i've been looking in the LP guide at the national parks, but it seems that none besides Jirisan offer a hike that takes longer than a day. Maybe I should do a tour around the country and visit several parks.

How about boating / kayaking / canoeing? LP mentions a couple whitewater rafting companies that will organize guided trips on various rivers for 30,000 an hour, but are there any places one can just rent a kayak and go off into the wild for a few days?

JacktheCat · Joined: 08 May 2004

Despite Korean protests to the contrary, this is a very small country. It's actually possible to hike from one coast to the other in only few days.

Any multiple day hikes are going involve a lot of looping back and\or park hopping.

JacktheCat · Joined: 08 May 2004

VanIslander · Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 7:27 am Post subject:

You can easily get lost in Jiri National Park for days and see no one. And there are indeed bears.

I've seriously considered re-locating to Jinju in part because that nice little city on the river is close to Jiri and Namhae island.

I was gonna do some serious camping this summer but have been busy with other things. I'll do a couple of hikes before the fall if my ankle holds up and in the winter I'm psyched to get some real awesome solitude on Jiri:

Isn't it gorgeous in wintertime!

jlb · Joined: 18 Sep 2003

I found a fair bit of solitude out hiking. If you persevere past the "touristy trails" you can generally escape most people. Plus in winter, there's really not many people around at all.

Have you thought about going to Jeju? I road a bike around the island and had plenty of solitude, sometimes deserted forest and beaches.

waterbaby · Joined: 01 Feb 2003 Location: Baking Gord a Cheescake pie

I've found that going on just a day trip organised by the USO to the DMZ can be a welcome escape from Korea for a day - no Koreans, and mostly only military folk who tend to hold the door open to you and I've never gotten over what I felt when I people rose in the seat on the bus behind and said to me "after you, ma'am" as I got off a bus ... bliss Very Happy

I'd certainly do it next time I'm suffering from a bout of culture shock here.

chi-chi · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

joe_doufu · Joined: 09 May 2005 Location: Elsewhere

Dan The Chainsawman · Joined: 05 May 2005

If it weren't for the land mines, the barb wire, and machine guns hiking in the DMZ would be a bit of fun.

joe_doufu · Joined: 09 May 2005 Location: Elsewhere