The Ulsanbawi hiking course is one of Seoraksan National Park’s most famous and popular trails, but in recent years the eastern view of this rock formation, visible from Seongindae (성인대), has taken the internet by storm! Seongindae, while technically not in Seoraksan National Park, is an exceptional hiking course that should be on your Seoraksan National Park must see list!
Seongindae is an easy hike of 5.2 or 6km (2.4km or 3.2km of hiking and 1.8km of road walking). It’s estimated that it takes 2-2.5 hours to complete the longer loop course. The peak area, where you will be able to easily spend 1-2+ hour, has three separate flat granite slabs. Each offering different views of the park, the northern most section of the Baekdudaegan Ridge, downtown Sokcho and the beach.
I’m a big advocate of staying in Sokcho when hiking in Seoraksan National Park and even though this is a very easy and short hike, this is not an exception. This is due to the harsh glare which is very intense after 10am. It impacts both your in person experience and the quality of your photos. When I hiked here, I arrived at the start of the trail by 10:10 am. Although I was able to make it to the peak by 10:40am, all of my DSLR photos are completely washed out. While my phone uses software to correct some of this glare, it’s far from perfect. I would suggest getting here at/before 8am in order to improve your experience.
Jump to Lodging, to get some recommendations on nice places to stay in Sokcho.
Jump to Ulsanbawi, to discover where to see the best view of Ulsanbawi. It’s not where you think!
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!
Transportation and Logistics
This hike is not conveniently located in reference to the main entrance of the national park, and will require either a car or a taxi ride. But it isn’t far! For reference, from Seoraksan main entrance or downtown Sokcho, a taxi ride is about 15,000 won and 30ish minutes.
The starting point is the Hwaamsa Temple/ 금간산 황암사. The temple is a nice spot to explore as well, and I write about the temple at the end of this article. If you are coming by car, the parking lot is located 1 km before the temple and there is a 3,000 won parking fee. Taxis may be able to bring you to the temple itself, but sometimes the road is closed, and you have to make the 1km road walk.
Address: Hwaamsa Temple (금간산 황암사) 강원 고성군 토성면 화암사길 100 https://naver.me/G5J8pi5C
Public Transportation: There aren’t any buses that come here, so you need to either drive or arrange a taxi ride.
Hiking to Seongindae Peak
From the parking area it’s 1 km of road walking to the start of the hike, and another 140 meters up the road brings you to temple. The parking lot is much larger than one might expect, so no worries about it filling up. It also has a bathroom – but make sure to bring your own toilet paper!
There are two course options – (1) the there and back hike (2.4km) or (2) the loop hike (3.2km).
Regardless of what course you select you will start at the same point. This point is impossible to miss as there’s a shop with bright pink umbrellas as well as a lot of signage marking the way.
The trail conditions are quite good and with numerous spots in which you can to look up to see Masanbong Peak from the Beakdudaegan ridge to the north. One thing that I really enjoyed about this hike is that it’s almost completely made up of non-densely spaced pine trees. It’ss vaguely reminiscent of hikes I’ve done in Arizona, especially on this clear sunny day.
It’s only 1.2km to the peak from the starting point, and it even has a bonus view point located after just 100 meters from the start of the trail. This optional detour is a large granite slab/rock named “수바위/Subawi”, where you can climb up to give you an overhead view of the temple and your first glimpse of the Ulsanbawi rock formation.
Reaching to Peak of Seongindae (성인대)
Arriving at the top of the trail, there is a small rock you can climb around before turning off the main trail to start exploring the peak area. The view from here is quite beautiful and can capture your attention, but the next area is even nicer and wide open!
Seongindae is one of the only popular mountains in South Korea that doesn’t have a peak stone. Rather it’s a series of flatish rock slabs. It’s larger than you might suspect, and having come here without reading about the course, I was so impressed by the first area I had assumed it was the whole peak. Luckily I saw others in front of me move on to the second area and I followed them.
Having already known it was a famous spot for photos on Instagram, I was very pleasantly surprised by how much this hike has to offer. It’s more than just a photo shoot and move on style of destination, but a place you can spread out and properly enjoy. The main downside being that lot of people know this and it can get LOUD due to the big Korean hiking groups, ultimately killing the tranquil nature of the views. Most big city based hiking groups arrive between 10-11am so an earlier start to your day means you can avoid them!
It’s important to note that the majority of this peak area is completely sun exposed. Due to this harsh sun, most people hid between the small pine trees while eating lunch. But if you arrive earlier in the morning, then the sun becomes less of an issue.
For the best lunch/relaxing in the tree spots, I might recommend the area between the second and third peak areas. The trees here offer shade while also letting you enjoy a view of Ulsanbawi.
First Flat Peak Area
The first area, which is where the above video was taken, offers views of the Baekdudaegan ridge’s Masanbong peak, the ocean and most impressively, the Ulsanbawi rock formation!
Second Flat Peak Area
Continuing on, you pass by a helipad with views of the ocean and arrive at another flat slab with views of Ulsanbawi.
I do recommend dropping your bag somewhere along here (it’s Korea you won’t get your stuff stolen, but watch out for the crows!), because the trees in this area can be in high demand – especially between the second and third flat areas. This way after you have had your fill of photo taking, you will have reserved yourself a great shaded spot to relax in and enjoy this view!
Third/Final Flat Peak Area
The third area is marked by the end of the gradient rocks and a very clear view of Ulsanbawi. The course between the second and third flat areas is a little narrow, but not overly / dangerously so. But I would still move with some caution.
This area is completely sun exposed, but offers the best, unobstructed views of the ocean and Ulsanbawi. There is an optional adventurous photo spot, which can be seen in the first image below. This is spot can be reached through a short downward detour which starts on the side of the rock facing the ocean. It’s dangerous, so I don’t recommend it. But it does offer a cool photo.
If you arrive too late in the morning/mid-day, this area gets very busy. This final area is fairly small compared to the larger 1st and 2nd areas, so even with a couple people here, it can be a hassle to get a ‘clean’ photo without people getting in the way.
Backtracking to the start of the peak area, you have the option of either turning down the course you took up the mountain, or adding 800 meter to your hike and making it a loop course.
I opted and recommend the loop for two reasons:
- There are much fewer people who take this course. I left the peak around 11:30am and by that time a couple of big hiking groups had reached the top and were being very noisy. *This is less of an issue if you go on a weekday, for these groups tend to only operate on the weekends* Taking the loop course allowed me to avoid additional groups, and I was able to enjoy the additional forests and views of Masanbong Peak on my descent.
- It saves you from backtracking to see the Temple. If you go straight down the same course you will have to walk up the road anyways to go see the temple, while the loop trail ends at the temple. So taking the there and back course really only saves you 600 meters of movement not 800 meters.
The Hwaamsa Temple
My rating for this temple is that it’s a must see if you are coming to hike Seongindae Peak, but I don’t think it’s worth driving out of your way to just see this temple.
You might ask if I give this rating because I’m a temple hater – to which I would say that I’m not the biggest fan of temples after having seen dozens of them in South Korea but there are temples like Naksansa Temple/낙산사 (which is also located in Sokcho) that I would give a “worth a trip just to see this temple” rating.
This temple is fairly standard but has a nice teahouse and an ‘immersed in nature’ feeling.
The teahouse also sells the Seoraksan Maple Bread for 15,000 won. This is similar to the Wonju peach bread (which is bread that is shaped/colored to look like a peach and is sold in the spring mostly in Wonju). It’s my first time ever seeing the Seoraksan Maple Bread. I bought it and gave it out to some friends. It’s a maple flavored snack – but as a former Vermont resident I can say it’s more of a rice snack than truly a maple snack. They are good but definitely a gimmick purchase – that said, I would buy it again to give out as a gift.
What makes the temple notworthy is the small walk uphill to a shrine that doubles as a great look out point toward Sokcho and the beach. I would make sure to do this short but steep climb if you are here!
Lodging: Staying in Sokcho
To do this trip right, I would recommend staying in Sokcho for 1 or 2 nights. This allows you to comfortably arrange the trip and adds a nice beach element to this mountain adventure! But most importantly it lets you get to the peak before that awful sun glare sets in!
I’ve previously stayed with Blue Door Hostel, a cheap hostel by the beach, and enjoyed my experience there. But if you are looking for something a little more comfortable I would recommend the beachside Ramada.
If you are pairing this trip with another Seoraksan National Park adventure, such as hiking to Ulsanbawi or riding the Seoraksan Cable Car, I would suggest staying in a location with easy access to the park, either at the Kensington Hotel (only a 5 minutes walk to the main entrance of the park) or the less expensive Smile Resort. Both of these options let you walk to and from the park. While a taxi ride would still be needed to hike Seongindae Peak, your other day in the park will be taxi free!
Where’s the Best View of Seoraksan’s Ulsanbawi?
While the most unique and fun way of seeing Ulsanbawi is from this hike, the most impressive view I’ve seen of Ulsanbawi is from the cable car top area! This is in part because the view of Ulsanbawi from Seongindae Peak is the eastern facing section which is more forested than the western section – which is visible from the cable car peak area. It’s also due to the direction of the sun, unlike the Seongindae side, this side of the rock formation is not as effected by the sun glare in the morning!
Check out my guide for the Seoraksan cable car to discover where to see this view (its not in an obvious spot, most people miss it!)
Happy Trekking!
-Aurora
