Korea Winter Trekking in a Nutshell: Outside Seoul

“Oh, South Korea should be beautiful this time of year, with all that snow.”

“Well, must be wonderful in South Korea this time of the year. All that underwear!” So sums up our frigid, snowy South Korean winter, though I might have paraphrased a bit… (Extra props to those who can identify this set of wintry quotable quotes!)

We hiked so much over the winter that we’re not trying to post separately about each hike. Instead, this post will be a “photo album” representative of our favorite chilly treks outside of Seoul, with brief information about where to find each trail for those who may find themselves hiking in future South Korean winters. Part one of this post featured winter hikes in the greater Seoul area.

Soyosan Ridge Loop

Soyosan is in Dongducheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, about 65km (40 miles) northeast of Seoul city center. The easiest way to access it by public transportation is to take the line 1 subway to Soyosan Station.

You will then get an excellent warm-up on the nearly 1-mile walk from the station along a lovely stream to the trailhead. (When we walked along it, the whole stream was frozen.)

The full Soyosan experience is to hike the 7.4 km (4.6-mile) loop trail, taking you to the 1,926-foot (587m) summit and then along the ridgeline. This is a challenging hike and not for beginners! I hiked Soyosan twice, in varying levels of ice and snow. The first attempt was so icy we needed crampons even to have a chance of hiking, and we ended up not finishing the loop because the ground was too treacherous. The second hike, which the chemist and I did together, was the big one: we completed the whole loop trail and all 6 peaks (the blue line on the trail map above).

The loop trail really begins at Jajaeam Temple (자재암) and Wonhyo Falls (원효폭포). There were smaller frozen falls along the way, but the tall, icy Wonhyo Falls were especially impressive.

The rest of the hike was a triple-header of challenges: length (when you add the long walk to and from the start of the loop trail), steepness (oh so many stairs), and sharp rocks to climb. There were ropes and railings to assist hikers in multiple steep spots, though not always.

Having said that – and the challenges were real! – I will remember this trail fondly as one of the most peaceful and beautiful hikes of the winter. Unlike many parks we’ve visited, this one has multiple viewpoints where no cities are visible, just quiet valleys and miles of trees and mountains stretching into the distance.

Yebongsan, Yullibong, Yebinsan, and Seungwonbong Course

Yebongsan is near Namyangju, Gyeonggi-do, about 35km (20 miles) east of Seoul. The easiest way to access it by public transportation is to take the Gyeogui-Jungang train to Paldang Station.

Once again, it’s about a 1-mile walk from Paldang Station to the Yebongsan trailhead. On the map below, we followed the light pink (#1) trail from the station to Yebongsan Peak (683m, 2240ft) and then the red (#3) trail to summit Yullibong (585m), Yebinsan (590m), and Seungwonbong (478m). This gave us an 8km (5-mile) point-to-point hike, plus the walk back along the road to Paldang Station to finish the loop.

Although we should remember the pain of climbing all those steep peaks, the main memory we carry is the magic of hiking in the snow, which began to fall just as we started walking from Paldang Station toward the trailhead.

When we were able to see through the clouds, the steep trails afforded us panoramic views of the Han River below.

Hiking in the snow felt peaceful and magical, which we could enjoy because our crampons kept us from sliding back down each slope!

It snowed on us until about lunchtime, and then it cleared off, allowing us to enjoy some cold sunshine and blue skies.

And not to worry – getting up and down those slopes was as challenging as ever! Plenty of stairs, plenty of rocks, and plenty of steep climbs up and down to reach each of those peaks. We didn’t have to worry much about feeling too cold, despite the snow!

Seonjaryeong Ridge Windmill Hike (Pyeongchang)

For our “snowiest hike” winner (although it didn’t actually snow while we were hiking), we returned to Pyeongchang, home of the 2018 Winter Olympics. With fellow hikers, we opted to enter a Winter Trekking Contest run by Korea Tourism via Instagram. To do so, we chose a winter hiking course recommended by Korea Tourism and then posted photos of our hike to enter a prize drawing. Plus we all got free hiking socks, ponchos, and water bottles. I’m always good with free stuff, plus it was a truly fun hike!

You might remember that Pyeongchang is about 150km (90 miles) east of Seoul. You can travel there via transit on an Intercity Bus, or you can take the KTX (fast train) for a very easy trip. From a bus or train station, it’s easy to get a taxi to most trailheads.

We chose to hike the Seonjaryeong Ridge, a 12km (7.5-mile) loop course that traverses a wind farm and a sheep ranch. We saw lots of windmills, though sadly no sheep. Though long, this course was not technically difficult. There were no steep slopes or scrambles. We were still happy to use our crampons to stop any slipping in the packed snow, but no climbing was involved.

After the strenuous climbs we’d been doing all winter, this trek was a literal walk in the park! We even got lucky with the weather, and although there was deep snow on the ground, the air was only chilly instead of frigid.

After the wind farm and the peak, the trail got really peaceful, passing through evergreen forests, birch groves, and a clear, bubbling stream.

Korea Tourism knew what they were doing when they picked their recommended winter treks. This one was a beauty, and so much fun to hike!

Thanks for looking back at winter trekking fun with us! For more photos of these winter hikes outside Seoul, visit our Flickr albums for Soyosan, Yebongsan, and the Windmill Hike along Seonjaryeong Ridge.