In the summer of 2022, having just completed the Blackyak 100 Mountain Challenge and written my review, I decided to take on the Blackyak Baekdudaegan Ridge Trail Challenge, the Korean way. Now, 2 years later and I have officially finished.
Before diving in, I believe it’s important for me to define the phrase ‘the Korean way”. Although the Baekdudaegan Ridge Trail is a continuous trail that runs for 700+ kilometers, it’s not utilized by the locals as a thru-hiking trail. This is in part because the concept of thru-hiking doesn’t really exist in Korea, like it does in the US or Europe. There are a number of foreigners and some Koreans who have thru-hiked the Baekdudaegan and written blogs or books about their experience, but this is a near-exclusive foreigner approach to hiking this trail. The Koreans instead take on a section based approach.
If you are interested in learning more about thru-hiking the Baekdudagean, I would recommend you check out Roger Sheperd’s book “BAEKDU DAEGAN: Hiking Korea’s Mountain Spine” available on kindle or his older edition’s paperback version.
On August 18th, 2024, I became the 1,772nd person to officially completed the Baekdudaegan trail with Blackyak. Of those other 1,771 hikers, most hiked it in the ‘Korean way’—hiking 10-30 km sections on weekends with a hiking tour bus company or club that arranges transportation.
Over the course of 40-ish non-consecutive weekends, I hiked all the sections of the Baekdudaegan Ridge Trail with the hiking tour company, 좋은사람들 – which translates to ‘good people’. It took me about 2 years to complete all these trips. However, my official finishing time is closer to 3 years because I had randomly acquired a credit in the fall of 2021 while hiking the Jirisan Ridgeline trail. I got credit for the challenge with the Blackyak Alpine Club (BAC) app, which requires you to do GPS check in and submit photos of you at 100 set points along the trail, which is then verified by a 3rd party – I detailed this process in my guide to the Blackyak 100 mountain challenge. The BAC app is what makes it ‘official’ and what makes it a challenge as opposed from just a hiking the trail.
My review will focus on my thoughts on the trail itself and my experiences hiking with the Korean bus companies to complete the challenge. It’s not a step by step guide on how to hike the trail, but rather one person’s opinion on an experience that so few foreigners have been able to have – specifically the Korean section approach.
Hiking the Baekdudaegan Ridge Trail
The Baekdudaegan Ridge Trail Challenge is the ugly step sister of the more glamourous 100 Mountain Challenge. It attracts almost no attention and seemingly only men in their 50s and 60s are hiking it. For context, as of August 2024, almost 16,000 people have completed the 100 Mountain Challenge, while fewer than 2,000 have finished the Baekdudaegan. These numbers also highlight why the 100 Mountain Challenge is much more popular in the social media space. Part of this disparity is due to the trail itself. A third of the trail’s total length is extremely boring (from a view standpoint) and twice as difficult than an average 100 Mountain Challenge hike, with less facilities and trail conditions that would leave me with scratches nearly every time. It was easily some of the hardest hiking I’ve done in the 6 years I’ve lived and hiked in South Korea.
With all that said, I loved this challenge so much more than the 100 Mountain Challenge.
(1) The Baekdudaegan Trail brought me back to the best the 100 Mountain Challenge has to offer
The Baekdudaegan Ridge trail runs through 8 of the best national parks in South Korea (from north to south), including; Seoraksan, Odaesan, Taebaeksan, Sobaeksan, Woraksan, Soknisan, Deokyusan, and Jirisan. By hiking the Baekdudaegan trail I got to see sections of some of my favorite national parks that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to see, the full Sobaeksan National Park Ridge Trail and the Deokyusan Full Ridge Trail come to mind. I also got to re-hike courses that I had previously done and loved, such as Jirisan’s Full Ridge and Seoraksan’s Dinosaur Ridge Trail.
Although there were any number of sections that were very difficult with very little pay off in terms of views, there were enough ‘good’ sections to make it worth it.
(2) Hiking alone but with a community
If you take on this challenge in 10-30km sections instead of a thru-hike, its impossible to do so by car or by public transportation – there is no debate here. Leaving only privately run and operated buses as the method of arranging transportation.
Having completed about 20-30 of my 100 Mountain Challenge hikes with 좋은사람들, I was comfortable relying on them for logistics. This company creates hiking ‘groups’ that hike a sequential section of the trail every other week, with the group set to complete the whole course in about 2 years. The groups operate on different days of the week which depart every other week, with most groups focused on Saturday and Sunday. While the groups frequently see the same people signing up for their trips month after month, you can pick and choose which trips you want to do. I didn’t have the schedule consistency to routinely stick with one group, so I instead bounced between 4-5 hiking groups. As a result, I got to meet a lot of different people and always had friendly faces waiting to hike with me and share food.
There are two big differences between the bus hiking cultures for the 100 Mountain Challenge and the Baekdudaegan Ridge Trail Challenge.
- The hiking group arrangement makes it so that you are more likely to encounter the same people repeatedly, so even going solo you don’t feel as alone.
- With the Baekdudaegan, you are in the middle of no-where half the time, so there are no restaurants to eat at or its in some old lady’s living room which I guess is a restaurant. So often people end up preparing food and eating together at the end of the hike next to the bus. It tends to be that you are given 6-11 hours to complete a hike, and if you finish early, it leaves you time to get changed, relax and eat and drink. It can turn into quite a production – multiple bottles of soju, makgollie, beer, ramen, and snacks etc. Each hiking group does it a bit differently, but the ‘extra’ nature of the set up remains the same. Having seen but never participated in a Baekdudagean hiking club which have their own personal bus, they take it to the next extreme with massive food and drink selections (with the two+ liter soju bottles). It’s quite a scene. [Hiking club = a club with a couple dozen members with their own website vs Hiking company’s group = a company that arranges buses to different places, you can sign up for a spot on the bus and the ‘group’ designates a certain order/ schedule to the trips].
(3) It’s actually in nature
South Korea is a small, highly populated country with an abundance of hiking trails. This means there are no shortage of trails – however the best trails are very overpopulated and overly groomed.
In the United States, if you wanted to go to a 10/10 beautiful trail, it truly depends on where in the US you are, on whether it will be incredibly busy and very groomed. Sure, if you are in one of the major national parks (Yellowstone, Glacier, Rocky Mountain, Yosemite etc), it’s not surprising that there will be crowds on medium difficulty trails. However, you go to say Wyoming’s Wind River Mountain Range, Montana’s Bitterroot Valley, or Idaho’s Salmon National Forest – you get just as incredible views without the same overcrowded conditions [a general statement]. It also helps that the parks are so big, that visitors are more spread out. That is the fundamental difference between hiking in the US and Korea. South Korea and its parks are too small for the best stuff not to be over-saturated with demand, which results in high tourist densities in ALL of Korea’s most beautiful locations**. It’s not enough to ruin the experience – sunrise on Seoraksan is awe-inspiring no matter how many people are there – but I’ve never been alone long enough on the trail at one of these parks for me to feel the ‘one with nature’ feeling I got hiking back home.
**As an aside, this issue is only going to get worse, as Korea continues with plans to build more cable cars – such as the one to the peak of Seoraksan coming in 2025/2026.
The Baekdudagan and Korea’s island mountains are notable exceptions. The non-national park sections of the Baekdudaegan are on average not as beautiful as the national park sections, but they are more isolated.
Then we get into wildlife sightings.
The forests of South Korea are pretty silent – it’s an extremely rare day on the trail that I see anything bigger than a squirrel. I have hiked nearly 250 peaks in South Korea and I could likely count the number of times I have seen deer on my fingers and toes. Half of those times have come while hiking along the Baekdudaegan. While Korea has sought to reforest and improve its natural areas, wildlife remains fairly absent from Korean forests. Of what’s on the peninsula, some of the best species diversity is found along the Beakdudaegan. Everything from wildflowers to animals, it’s best along the Baekdudaegan. For those who have spent significant time in Korea, its relative greater abundance is a welcome change.
(4) The Unique Experiences that come from Hiking the Baekdudaegan, the Korean Way
I decided to hike the Baekdudagen Trail in sections for two major reasons:
(A) As a resident of Korea who relied on Korea University sponsoring my visa, I could not easily take off work for the amount of time it would take to thru-hike 700+ km.
(B) I personally find the logistics to be impractical: no natural water crossings, national park fire closures, camping restrictions in national parks, intense rain in the summer and the disconnection of the trail at 황장산 and a couple other spots – made the thought of thru-hiking the course unappealing.
While I’ll can’t relate to the thru-hiker experience, the section approach has its own unique aspects and experiences.
Highlights of section-hiking the Baekdudaegan:
1. The post-hike bus experience: Eating and drinking with others on the ground next to the bus, relaxing in local streams, and eating in local mountain restaurants.
2. Being hauled in the back of a local farmer’s pick-up at 3am for 7km for the two hikes that start at 고치령 (near Sobeaksan National Park).
3. The cable car up Deokgyusan mountain to get to the ridge, to reach (지봉) – Having to do this trip twice (second time without a cable car ride) because my bus leader realizes 30 minutes from the mountain that the trail is closed due to heavy snow fall from the previous day.
3. Missing my bus at Sadang Station at 6:40am twice because I arrived too late….waking up every weekend at 5am can be a challenge.
4. The random places I got to go – Ex. a restaurant in a cave and a sheep farm.
An interesting consequence of hiking this course with the bus companies is that I think about this challenge in terms the mountain passes with road crossings and not the peaks. While the credits come from mostly (70%) from peaks along the trail, trips were defined based on their start-end positions where the bus can park and wait.
(5) Cut down on my Weekend Craziness: The Long vs Short Courses
Some sections of the trail had options for either a short or long version. Of the about 40 trips it took to complete the Baekdudaegan, I did 15 of them as the long version with the pre-midnight departures, and 25 with the 6:40am departures.
The short versions typically departed at 6:40 – 7am from Seoul and were 10-15km long. Normally on these days, I was waking up 5am and getting home at about 9-10pm. These short courses would have a 3-5 hour one way bus ride, then hiking from point ‘A’ to ‘B’ with 1 to 2 check in points for the challenge. The interesting consequence of this is that it completely cut down on my going out on the weekends. You try having a fun weekend social life with a 5am wake up call.
Some sections allowed for a longer route, where you could hike from point ‘A’ to ‘C,’ bypassing ‘B,’ and gain 3 to 4 GPS check-ins for the challenge. These longer routes typically spanned 22-27 km with significant elevation gain (1,500-2,200 meters). However, these trips departed from Seoul at 11:50 p.m., included a rest stop at around 1-1:30 a.m. for the bathroom, leaving you with at most an hour of sleep before starting the hike at 2:40-3:30 a.m. You’d hike 2-3 hours in the dark with a headlamp, catch a glimpse of the sunrise (though often just a pretty orange and pink sky), finish by lunchtime, and return home by 4-7 p.m.
On these early mornings, you’d start the hike feeling terrible from lack of sleep, but 4-5 hours in, you’d stop noticing your exhaustion. While some have asked if hiking in the dark is tough, it actually makes covering long distances easier. The darkness narrows your focus to your lamp’s beam, helping you tune out distractions. Honestly, it’s a game changer for summer hikes—finishing by 11 a.m. instead of 4 p.m. lets you avoid the scorching midday heat.
For me, these distances meant that I would be finishing 3-4 hours quicker than the time they gave you to complete it. In a bus of 30 people, I typically finished in the top 3, more often in the top 2. Which meant there was a lot of sitting around and waiting [i.e. eating and drinking with the old guys -> that became my new ‘going out on the weekends’ way of life, old Korean dudes in their 50’s insisting I drink beer and soju with them on the side of the road for hours].
Side Note: Hiking the Final Peak
While I completed 90 of my credits with the bus companies, I completed about 10 with friends. Including my final credit at 석교산 (Seokgyusan). I want to say that my final peak was my favorite in part because of the amazing support of my friends. I went through a legit post-hike sugar coma, from not one but two cake they got me! On an extra side note, cookie cakes should be illegal for being too tasty!
Not everyone was a hiker on this day- with only Kevin joining me on the trail. But I really appreciated my girl friends for making the long journey to be there for me at the start and finish with the biggest smiles and a car with AC! (Hiking in August is death hot!)
(6) It helped me decide to go back home
After 6 years of living and hiking in South Korea, I’ve decided I’m moving to the Idaho area. Hiking the Baekdudaegan helped me to find peace with the fact that I am closing the Korean chapter of my life. I actually completed the challenge just 11 days before getting on the plane and flying away. I know I have hiked the best of what Korea has to offer, multiple times over.
It also helped me to recognize that having spent the majority of my 20s in Korea, that the best hiking of my life will come in my 30s and beyond. There are beautiful views in South Korea, but I dream of the North American Wilderness, of my memories of my time there and the future experiences I hope to have.
In fact, the day that this article is published is the day I’m boarding my flight back to the US.
I’m not quitting the blog, I’ve got a ton of Korean hiking knowledge left to share.
Happy Trekking!
-Aurora
