Songnisan National Park
One of the eight scenic wonders of Korea is Songnisan National Park. The park is located in the Chungcheongbuk-do province in the center of South Korea. The park is extremely beautiful with many attractions to see. The park is especially beautiful during the fall season.
The park also has some interesting history. Near the entrance to the park there is a tree named the Minister Pine which is a 600 year old pine tree that was given the rank of Imperial Minister by King Sejo in 1464. The King’s path while traveling to Songnisan was blocked by the tree’s branches and he commanded the tree to move it’s branches out of the way which it did. King was so happy with the tree’s obedience he granted him the rank of an Imperial Minister. The tree today is really showing its age and the snow storm from this past March really damaged the tree with the nearly 2 feet of snow that fell in the area. King Sejo also named the famous Munjeongdae peak of Songnisan (1033 meters) which means something similiar to a scholarly mountain because he and his officials read and composed poetry from it’s summit. King Sejo was carried up the mountain in a palequin chair. How his servants were able to carry him up such steep trails to the summit of Munjeongdae is beyond me. But kudos to them. Other sites where King Sejo visited are located throughout the park. King Sejo had an interesting time during his reign as the King of Korea. I plan to write more about him in the future. Stay tuned.
The mountain also has a major cultural attraction with the Bopchusa Temple located in a beautiful valley on the mountain’s slopes. The temple is really an interesting and picturesque place to explore. I enjoyed this temple more than even Haeinsa. It’s most famous site is the gigantic golden Buddha located on its grounds. I plan to write a seperate posting on this great temple. Stay tuned.
The trails on the mountain are really well maintained and labeled relatively well in English. There are a number of sites to stop and rest at along the route that serve food. There is actually a resturaunt just below the summit of Munjeongdae that you can eat at. It has a number of Sky Life dishes and ajumma was watching her dramas while I was up there. I recommend walking the trail from the Songnisan village to the summit of Munjeongdae. If you have time take a side trail from the first rest hut on the unpaved portion of the trail to the summit of a nearby peak that offers a spectacular view of the entire valley. The trail is not marked so you will need to ask the extremely nice lady in the hut to point you towards the trail which she showed to me. I asked the woman how long she has lived on the mountain working in the hut and she said she has lived on the mountain for 35 years. Pretty amazing being able to live up on the mountain for that long. Her son lives up there with her and he walks water up to her everyday since they have no water line. She has power from a generator and her Sky Life dish is located on the nearby peak. She maintains the side trail to access her dish. Even an ajumma on the side of a mountain needs to see her dramas.
Leave early to reach Munjeongdae. I started hiking at 5AM and reached the top of the mountain at a leisurely pace in 5 hours including a side trip up another peak. The trail was over 6km long. I reached Munjeongdae before the mobs of people came. I was on the peak at 10AM with maybe 5 other people. By the time I finished lunch at the hut on the summit there must of been about 50 people up there. What I found really amazing from the view was that I could not see a city or a high rise apartment in any direction except for the Songnisan Village at the parks entrance. I was just surround as far as the eye could see by mountains.
The Songnisan village as many hotels and restaurants to choose from. The hotels are pretty standard hotels for Korea. Nothing fancy. If you want a really nice place to stay you need to go to the Lake Hills Resort. The hotel will set you back about 130,000 won a night though. The restaurants are primarily all Korean restaurants. You will find no fast food joints here.
Something I found interesting in the village was the red stones the hikers would walk on barefoot to massage their feet. According to the signs the stones had healing properties along with massaging abilities. I tried it out and it tickled more than anything else. I was laughing like crazy while the locals just looked at me like I was crazy. I don’t know how they were not laughing while walking on these stones. However, the stones really did make my feet feel good after walking over 15km that day.
To reach the park just travel to the city of Cheongju just off of highway 1 and a number of roads from the city head East to the park. A really scenic route to take is to travel to Chungju and from Chungju travel over a mountain pass on highway 3 to the city of Mungyeong. From Mungyeong continue to travel south on highway 3 to Sangju. From Sangju take 25 and then 37 to the park. The route is extremely beautiful and I highly recommend it. Make sure you bring your camera because you will be amazed by the abundance of great scenery.
