Mt. Bukhansan: Hiking to the Highest Peak

Today I hiked up to the top of the highest peak of Mt. Bukhansan.

Mt. Bukhansan is an iconic landmark, which can be seen from numerous parts of the city. The name itself is roughly translated to "The north of the Han," which refers to the Han River. Mt. Bukhansan is a national park and one of the best places to hike, bird-watch, rock climb, or have a picnic. Mt. Bukhansan itself has hundreds of different paths each leading up to various peaks, but this weekend my goal was to go the highest peak! The highest peak is 836.5m which is about 2744 ft! This hike varies from 2-4 hours going up. I went along with the Yonsei hiking club and we had breakfast and lunch (picnic style) and took about 7 hours in total.

People having lunch on a rock

On your way down you can see people sleeping/resting

Rainy Ansan Hike

In the midst of studying for midterms, I planned to go bike riding along the Han river. In the spring hundreds of people go to walk, bike, or have picnics at the Han river. But the weather was dark, windy, and raining pretty hard, so plans got canceled. But instead of canceling the event completely they suggested to go and hike 안산 (Ansan) mountain...in the rain. Ansan mountain is the mountain right next to Yonsei and within walking distance from the dorms. There was apparently an ongoing festival (for the cherry blossoms) and there were lanterns and decorations throughout the main path.

After passing the golden Buddhist statue we began out hike...our wet, cold, muddy hike which would result in me being partially soaked, very cold, and tired. Never have I ever hiked in such conditions. 

After a 30 minute hike we finally got to the peak of Ansan. It was nice, but the view was very limited due to the heavy rain clouds and fog which hindered our view. Not to mention the strong winds prevented us from taking a lot of pictures, by the time we would take out our cameras the wind would blow our umbrellas inside out! But luckily I was able to get a few shots.

Finally at the top

As we began our walk down, we went through a beautiful path that had cherry blossoms everywhere! This weekend is supposedly the last weekend that the cherry blossoms will be in peak, and by the end of this week most of the trees will be stripped of their beautiful flowers and leaves will begin to grow back.

When we got to main cherry blossom spot I was shocked by the beauty of the cherry blossoms. The view was amazing and because of the rain and the wind, petals would fall from the trees creating temporary cherry blossom showers! Overall, the cold, wind, rain, and mud was definitely worth it. I just wish midterms were not around the corner.