Day 27 | Seoul (Dobongsan)

Friday 8 November, 2024

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We make an early start this morning as we are meeting some park rangers for a guided hike up the Dobongsan mountain. It’s only 1°c when we leave the house so we are layered up for the day. It takes about an hour to get to Dobongsan Station via the subway and we make sure to buy a few things for the hike including some bread.

As we make our way from the station to the Dobong Park Information Centre (our meeting spot) we see a lot of other hikers also heading the same direction. There are many shops along the way if you want to purchase any food, equipment or supplies for the journey.

We meet our tour guides at 10am, along with a few others who are joining. We have two guides and a photographer who will be leading us.

They have prepared a small lunch box for us to take up as we will be having lunch together when we get to Dobong Shelter, our final stop before the group descends.

As we make our way to the start of the trail we stop by a few spots for some history lessons.

The trees are beautiful and the air is so fresh.

We can even see the peak of Baegundae from a distance, which we were lucky enough to climb this time last year.

Our guide says it will take 60-90 minutes to get to the shelter but it doesn’t take us that long.

The group stops for lunch but we decide to continue hiking bit further before taking a break.

Before we leave the group we thank our guides and give them a few small gifts.

We continue onwards and it starts to get steeper the further up we go.

Along the way we start chatting to a couple from Malaysia who are spending their trip travelling around South Korea to climb all the great mountains, including Bukhansan, Seoraksan and Jirisan.

As we approach Madangbawi rock is gets quite steep, requiring the use of handrails.

We decide to make a lunch stop, which has amazing views of the city below.

We find a spot on the rocks to sit as it seems like a regular spot for hikers to have some lunch to take a break. The guides have prepared a cute lunch park for us consisting of gimbap, a croissant and fruit.

As we’re eating a cat sits nearby, hoping to get some food. Belinda gives it some of the ham and crab stick that she’s taken out of the gimbap but as she does so the cat scratches her hand, confirming her dislike for cats.

We finish up lunch and want to continue to Jaunbong (Dobongsan peak) but decide to head back down as we won’t have time.

It’s warm in the sun but as we descend it gets cooler.

We make it back down and catch the subway back to Hapjeong.

We head out a bit later for dinner. The evening is quite pleasant despite being a little cool.

We are meeting our friend Junsik at a vegetarian restaurant called 초호로록 ‘Chohororok’. We came here last year and really enjoyed it so we have decided to come again.

The food is beautifully presented and delicious.

As we walk back towards Hapjeong we get some great views of the city.

We stop at a nearby cafe Gjustina for coffee, tea and dessert.

It’s an interesting looking place, which is a combination of a cafe, bakery, restaurant, bar, brewery and pizzeria.

Junsik is staying over the night and we have plans for a relaxing one tomorrow, which is also our final day in Seoul.

Next post: Day 28 | Seoul (Last Day)