The 100 Mountain Challenge is truly a monstrous undertaking. But that’s not just because it requires you to hike 100 mountains. As I wrote in my 2022 review of the 100 Mountain Challenge “It’s easy to assume it’s just a hiking challenge, but I found it to be a logistical nightmare disguised as a sporting event”. I went into this challenge largely blind of what was ahead of me. Before I wrote my 2021 guide to the challenge there wasn’t a ton of in-depth information in English available. I was largely on my own attempting what seemed impossible. This is the article I wish I had read back when I was starting the challenge.

If you don’t know that much about the 100 Mountain Challenge, before diving into this article I would recommend you check out my comprehensive guide on the Blackyak 100 Mountain Challenge and my honest review of the challenge.

If you want to support my blog or get yourself some cool Korean national park swag, please consider checking out my Etsy shop! I make Korean camping and hiking souvenirs!

1. Pick your final mountain now

Your ideal final mountain might be one that is easy to get to, super beautiful or meeting some other criteria. For me I selected a mountain that was both meaningful to me as well as super easy to get to. Bukhansan’s Dobongsan was the first proper hike I did in South Korea, so I saved it to be my last in the challenge. Another benefit to that selection was that it was easy for my friends to get to as well as for my mother to join in. Having important people with me that day was very meaningful and my mountain selection played a big part in helping me make that happen.

2. Take advantage of hiking groups

If you were to go by public transportation all the time it would in fact be much more expensive than going with hiking groups or in personal cars. You can save on expenisve KTX tickets, overnights in areas without cheap accommodations as well as a lot of little expenses that come with slower more time consuming weekend trips. Save money and time.

Groups offer you three more benefits besides saving your wallet from this expensive hobby. 1. While Korea is a very safe place to hike compared to other locations, hiking in groups protects you from injuries becoming more serious out on the trails. (2) Feel more confident taking on long distance trails away from home. if you want to try a long course but are inexperienced in them, these groups give you people to hike with and resources if things go wrong. (3) FOOD! Getting fed by the old men hiking or just having other people to go to restaurants with can really improve your experience.

3. Beware transportation and relying on hiking groups gets harder as you go

When you first start the challenge, that weekend you can hike any of 100 mountains. But as you continue on, the available pool of mountains you need has diminished. By the time you have 70 or 80 under your belt, the chances your hiking group will be going to one of the mountains you still need is really small. There’s also a decent likelihood you have already gone to all the mountains that are easy to get to by public transportation. So my advice, start getting the ones you have no idea how you will get to, done first. I know that might not make a ton of sense, but I’m sure you will have times where you can control where a group goes or where your friend with a car is willing to drive. These are the moments to pick the public transportation absent mountains. Knowing these mountains is also key, leading us to the next point.

4. Learn the names of the mountains early

There are a lot of names (100 to be precise), and beginning to learn their names and locations early into the challenge makes trip planning much easier to tackle. It’s sort of like a class you are taking, you have to put in the time. Additionally, it helps with taking advantage of hiking group opportunities when they arise because you know which mountains are on the challenge and which ones are not. There are a lot of mountains that are often traveled to that are not on the 100 mountain list (제비봉 is a famous example), knowing this is valuable in making decisions. This is not a super easy task, but it gets easier as it goes.

5. Prioritize trips that take you to two mountains in one day (1일2산)

Not all the mountains are worth savoring every moment of. As I mentioned in my review of the 100 Mountain Challenge there was a significant number of the mountains that I viewed as ‘quota’ mountains. These mountains felt to me to be only selected in order to balance the challenge geographically. Additionally, some of them are quite easy and near to each other, so it would be foolish to not take advantage of the distance you had to travel to get there.

Furthermore, it’s in your best interest to identify which mountains are often hiked together, such as; 태백산 & 함백산, 인연산 & 명지산, 팔봉산 & 삼악산. There are a number more of them – but only by doing #4 (learn the names of the mountains early) can you utilize this knowledge. Now, try not to hike these mountains individually by mistake. In my opinion it’s better to wait for opportunities to do them together to save you time, money and effort. But what mountains were those that I just listed? It bring us to to #6

6. Write about mountains with their Korean Hangeul names

There are many reasons for this, including; Korean language resources online about the courses and conditions are far superior than those in English, while hiking you will often times encounter mountains with Korean only signs and that its easier to communicate with other people (both Korean and foreigners) about the mountains without having to consider the different romanizations of Korean words.

7. Hike with others but don’t hike mountains you have already crossed off the list

You have a 100 of them to do, so there’s no reason to be wasting time like that (unless is like Seorsaksan haha). No but seriously, if you continue to just hike the popular ones your progress will slow, making it harder to keep the motivation and momentum to keep going.

I say all that but here are some photos from the 5 times I hiked Jirisan during my 100 Mountain Challenge.

8. Buy and wear the patches

Hiking 100 mountains is a long process. The patches break the challenge into smaller goals, which give you a greater sense of reward as you go, as well as helping you stay motivated. It also allows for fun interactions with people surprised to see you doing the challenge and encouraging you.

9. Use Instagram ‘recent’ Images to check trail conditions

There’s nothing worse that getting told there isn’t snow on the mountain, not coming prepared and feeling like you are going to slip and fall. The recent photos give you the best feeling for what is actually occurring. No more taking someones word on it.

10. Consider doing the Baekdudaegan courses for some of the mountains

If you decide to do the Baekdudaegan after finishing the 100 Mountain Challenge, as I am currently doing, it will save you a lot of repeat hiking. Also, often times these courses are extremely beautiful, better than the straight there and back courses. For example, the Deokgyusan (덕유산) Baekdudaegan section was breathtaking while the regular course options are just okay.

I hope these tips help you in your own quest to complete the 100 Mountain Challenge.

If you have any questions please write them in the comments, I’ll be happy to answer them to the best of my ability.

Happy Trekking!