Shimhaksan Mountain Barefoot Trail 



Simhaksan Mountain, located in the southern part of Gyoha District (Sannam-dong, Dongpae-dong, and Seopae-dong) in Paju City, Gyeonggi-do, is relatively low at 194 meters above sea level. It was considered one of the five most challenging mountains in Gyeonggi Province during the Joseon Dynasty. Therefore, it is also called Simaksan Mountain. Due to its relatively gentle ridge and well-maintained perimeter trail, it is popular as a walking course rather than a strenuous hike, and the summit offers a spectacular view of the West Sea sunset.

A. Main Features

Location: It is located in the southern part of the Gyoha area (Sannam-dong, Dongpae-dong, and Seopae-dong) in Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do.

Height: At 194m above sea level, the peak provides a great place to enjoy the sunset over the West Sea.

Hiking trails: There are well-maintained hiking trails and circular paths that take 1 to 2 hours. The trails include gentle uphill and downhill slopes, making it ideal for a family walk.

View from the Peak: At the peak, you can view the Jayuro expressway, the Han River, Gimpo, and the Gwansan Peninsula.

Old place name: The mountain is named Simhaksan (Deep Crane Mountain), stemming from a legend about a white crane that escaped from the palace and was found there during the Joseon Dynasty. It was also called 'Simagsan', which means 'the mountain goes into deep water'.

B. A Good Place to Visit

Yakcheonsa Temple: Yakcheonsa Temple was rebuilt in 1932 on the site of a Gonyeo Dynasty temple. Its name comes from a character for Healthymineral water spring, which symbolizes the character for this spring and refers to the spring water that gushes out in front of the main hall. It serves as one of the starting points for many hiking and walking trails on Simhaksan Mountain.

Gyoha Reservoir: The midpoint of the perimeter road features facilities including a pavilion, restrooms, and sports amenities. The adjacent Gyoha Reservoir, a metropolitan water supply facility for Paju City, is a major stop along the Simhaksan Mountain Trail.

Simhaksan Observatory: This offers scenic views of the Imjin River estuaries, Ilsan City, Paju City, and Ganghwa Island.

C. Simhaksan Barefoot Trail Summary

C-1) Date and Duration:October 29, 2025. The round trip took approximately two and a half hours.

C-2) Course Length:The course ran from the Paju Baesuji Public Parking Lot to Yakcheonsa Temple and then to Simhaksan Peak (194m above sea level). The entire round-trip distance was approximately 9.5 km (13,000 steps).

C-3) Location of Parking Lot:383, Dongpae-dong, Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea.

C-4) Course Explanation:

I parked the car at the Paju Baesuji Public Parking Lot (Water Distribution Center), which took about an hour to reach from the West Seoul Area and was free of charge.

As shown in the attached photo, I crossed the street and immediately turned right, where I saw a trail sign for Simhaksan Mountain and a grey rock road. I began the hike by ascending a few stairs at this point. This mountain offers two main courses: the Simhaksan Mountain Trail and the Simhaksan Mountain Loop Trail. I chose the former this time and plan to take the latter next time.

There are a few trail options to reach the peak, but I chose the popular course via Yakcheonsa Temple. From Yakcheonsa Temple, the trail road was somewhat steep for about 20 minutes before easing into the ridge road. I turned right at the junction between the Yakcheonsa Road and the Simhaksan Ridge Road (as seen in the attached photo) and headed toward the peak.

After trailing for about 20 minutes from the junction, I reached the Simhaksan Peak. A pavilion stands at the top, from which I could look down upon the Imjin River and Gaepung District in North Korea. Please note that this river serves as a border line between South Korea and North Korea. You could see this great landscape in the attached photo. I returned to the starting parking lot using the same course I took to reach the peak.

 The Misa Han River Sand Road

It is a barefoot walking trail with a length of about 4.9km along the Han River in Hanam-City. It is characterized by being well managed so that you can walk barefoot while viewing the beautiful scenery of the Han River. viewing the beautiful scenery of the Han River. You could get some more information at the photos attached herein.  

1) Length and duration:

It is about 4.9 km long and start to run from #246 Sinjang-dong to #642 Misa-dong in Hanam City. 

Barefoot Walking: regularly replenishes and manages sand to provide an optimal condition on the path for barefoot walking.Supplementary facilities: You can use it conveniently by installing water and foot washing facilities and shoe racks at the beginning and end of the road. We also have dirt dust-hair dogs.

Ocher Road and Mongdol Road: The Ocher Road and Mongdoljiap Road, which are linked to the sand road, are additionally created to provide various barefoot walking experiences.

Safety and Romantic: CCTV and music broadcast speakers were installed in August 2024, allowing people to enjoy both safety and romance at the same time.

Hydrangea-gil: In March 2025, the Hydrangea-gil will be created to provide more beautiful scenery.

2) Parking information

* Xinjiang - dong parking lot: #234-6 Xinjiang - dong (approximately 70 Car Parking), Hanam City.

* Mangwol-dong Parking Lot: #328-1 Mangwol-dong (approximately 60 Car Parking), Haman City.

3) How to get there

It is located near Misari Rowing Stadium, and there is a way to go up the sand path from the Rowing Stadium.

* You can also access it by public transportation or by bicycle.

4) Summary of Sand Walking Course Experience

 You should cross over the asphalt road as soon as you parked the car as you see at the Parking Lot Photo attached and turn left facing to the Deokpoong Bridge as see at the next photo. You could see three different course road at next photo, Urethane Green Road at left for Walking. This raod branches to two different road again, the one leading to sand walking road on top of Hangang River Bank soon after passing the cement stairs and the other Green Urethane for normal walking road. You should choose the Green Road and passing the cement stairs and could soon see toilet and sand walking course starting point at next photo as soon. There are shoes rack and water and foot showering facilites at this starting point as see at the next photo attached. You should take off the socks and shoes at this point and start to walk on the sand raod soon after keep the shoes at the shoes rack there. When you walk about 10 minutes from the starting point, you could meet first break place in right well hamonizing with surrounding fantastic scenery. You could nearby see first road sign stating as 4.4 km to the Tree Orphanage, finish point. You could meet two-way junction when you  wlaking on the sand road less tan 10 minutes, the one red clay barefoot walking course at left and the other sand barefoot walking course as the same as before. You could get unusually good experience barefoot walking on the red clay which is known as good for recovering tired body and boost blood purification. Anyhow you could walk on this road less than 10 minutes and meet finish point of this red clay working. You could now to join to the sand walking course as see at the photo hereto. You could see clearly two diffferent road down below from the sand road as see at the attached photo, the one green for normal walking course and the two other brown for bike road. When you walk on this raod about 15 minutes, you could see another nice beak palce at left as see at the photo herein. You could exceptionally wonderful scenery of small island situating at the so beautiful Paldan Dam as see at the photo attached hereto. You could more realistically appreciating so gogeouse scenery at video attached herein. When you walk about 10 minutes more, you could reach another road sign at left stating as 2.7km to the Tree Orphanage, finish point which is about middle of this sand walking course. You could see so nice pictureqe view of Misa Great Bridge where finish point is there. When you contineously walk the same road about 15 minutes more, you could see toilet down below at the Tree Orphanage. You could probavely find so stangely beautiful photo spreading over the Tree Orphanage which you could well appreciate at the photo attached. When you walk about 10 minutes more, you could now reach the finish point just below the Misa Great Bridge where you could find shose rack and water and foot shower facilites as same as at the starting point. It is quite simple to return the starting point since you could return to that point through the exactly same road as you come to the finish point. You could now freely manage retrning time like convinient break including lunch break like snak on the way back. You could reserve total time for roundway roughly 3 hours which is possibly changed depand on individual break.