After a 3-full days at the Jeju Olle walking festival, I was honest feeling very lazy and was tempted to stay in bed when my alarm goes off at 6am. Anyway, I did drag myself up in the end to get ready for the hike, and here's how it turned out to be.
As I have read that there is strict hiking time in Halasan, so to avoid not making it to the peak on time, my aim was to start hiking up the hill as early as possible, and since the park entrance opens by 7am, I therefore decided on to make my way early to reaxh the park by 7.30am, and thank God the bus ride to the park was less than 30mins away from the Jeju main bus terminal, so I do not need to wake up at ridiculous hours, also I was so pleased with the fact that I'm staying so near the bus terminal.
Now to reach the Hallasan peak, there are 2 trail: Seongpanak (9.6km) and Gwaneumsa (8.7km).
My hike of the day was from Seongpanak > Peak - Baengnokdam > Gwaneumsa. Total time spent was approximately 7hrs (7.30am - 2.30pm).
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| the grand entrance of the Seongpanak trail |
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| you will see these signages that tells you your location |
The summit climb has time limitations, from both trail you are required to reach the mid point of the whole trail before 12noon, any time later, you will not be allowed to continue your hike up. Here's the details:
Seongpanak > Sokbat shelter > Jindallaebat attended shelter (you are to reach here before 12noon) > summit
Gwaneumsa trail > Tamna valley shelter > Samgakbong shelter (you are to reach here before 12noon) > summit
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| so, I was timing myself, approximately 10 40am at Jindallaebat |
Seongpanak trail is relatively easy to hike, cos there is hardly any steep slope, only a short stretch before reaching the peak (like the one in below pic). The steep stairs start here and end at the top of the hill ahead.
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| one of the steepest slope you can get from Seongpanak trail, the only challellenge would probably be the chilly wind that can get quite strong and disturbing |
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| here you go, timimg myself again at the peak, made it at approximately 11.50am |
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| some of the turn out that morning, it was a Sunday |
It was actually at the peak only I realise the 2 different route leads to the same summit spot. I came up using the Seongpanak then descend via Gwaneumsa. The hike down was way tougher than ascend, it generally has steeper path, it has many sliperry surfaces, there mixes of stones and wooden path.
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| the Unattended Samgakbong shelter, you must reach here by 12noon if you uses the Gwaneumsa route |
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| some of the path were quite muddy, so it can get quite messy |
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| the neat mountain view |
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| we were tailing each other, eyes all cannot leave the floor |
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| The same type of signages to tell you where you are at the Gwaneumsa trail |
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| At the entrance to the Gwaneumsa park centre |
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The bus stop to catch the public bus to the Jeju bus terminal, before coming here to wait for the bus, I stop by a convenient store across the road to get some hot drink, the lady at the shop told me there is only 1 bus herear. I therefore confidently proceed to sit at the bus stop and wait, it took me more than 30mins, I started alone then many others join me later on.
There is no direct bus to Jeju bus terminal from here, get on the bus and ask the driver to drop you at a bus stop that you can catch a nother bus to town. A map to show the driver where you want to go will help, especially thise with Korean.
Really glad to have drag my lazy body up that morning to do this.
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