Soraksan Park and Sokcho

/Soraksan Park and Sokcho are located in the north eastern part of Korea close to the demarcation line. The mountains in Soraksan Park are some of the tallest in Korea which makes it an extremely popular tourist location (Koreans are crazy about hiking). Sokcho is the closest urban centre to Soraksan and is a good hub for visiting the park and other sites in the Gwangwon-do province. Sokcho is a coastal city and is very well know for its marine cuisine. It also has some very nice beaches as you'll see in the pictures below. From Sokcho you can catch a local bus to Soraksan Park. We spent two nights in Sokcho. Soraksan Park offers many beautiful hiking trails which take you to shrine, temples, waterfalls, hotsprings, and lookouts hidden within the dense forest. We only had one full day to spend in Soraksan so we were only able to see a small part of park. We chose to climb the most famous and difficult mountains in the Park: Ulsanbawi.

Our hotel in Sokcho. Actually we stayed in the guest house behind the main building because we were a larger group.

Claire and me planning the hike up Ulsanbawi.

A massive (30ft tall) metal statue of Mr. Buddha.

The beginning of the trail.

The mountain scenes in Soraksan reminded me very much of the Rockies.


A temple hidden away along the trail.

A shine.
Whats left of the old wall surrounding the temple.


The entrence to a temple built into the side of the mountain. Up on the left is a big rock called the "pushing stone". If you push hard enough, and with enough people, the boulder will wobble a bit.

Part of the temple.

Chinese characters on the rock walls were every around the temple.

The doorway to the temple in a cave.

In the distance is Ulsanbawi, our final destination. The vertical rockwall which makes up taht last portion of the mountain measures approximately 300m.

A view from the trail up Ulsanbawi.

More scenery.


The base of Ulsanbawi. Note the crazy rockclimbers... oh how I wish I had my shoes.

The craziest part of Ulsanbawi was the sketchy staircase built into the rockwall.

Oooo Aaaaah .... Sepian. I finally figured out how to change the filters with my cam.

B&W with a click of a button.

More stairs.

The trees at the base of the rockwall were really beautiful.

A view from the top.


The giant Buddha at night.


After a long day hiking in Soraksan we need to unwind. BEFORE.

AFTER.

Sokcho beach.

Brydie on Sokcho beach.

From left to right: Chris, Jess, Brydie, Claire and Keith.