Choongbuk Danyang Doraksan Mountain Hike in Korea- Sangseonam Course

1.     Date and Time : Oct 10, 2018 10:00~16:00 (6 hours including one hour break).

2.     Location :. Daegang-myeon and Dangseong-myeon, Dangyang-District, Chungcheongbuk-do Province.

3. Distance and Course : About 16.15km. Course is to start at NPS Sangseonam Parking Lot => Sangseonam Village => Jebong Peak => Doraksan Three Way Junction => Naegunggi Three Way Junction => Doraksan Summit (964m Altitude) => Back to the NPS Sangseonam Parking Lot through the Same Ascending Course. Please refer to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SJ0UNhCaWo&t=2s.

4.     Access :

There is a ways to connect “Seoul Cheongryangri Train Station with subway lines No. 1 where you could take ITX train bound for Danyang taking two hours and two minutes. Please walk to Danyang Station Bus Stop taking 3 minutes for 173m as soon as you arrive at the Danyang Station. You should take local bound for Gosudaegyeo and Moyeoti and get off at Gasan 2ri Bus Stop taking 45 minutes for 8^th Bus Stop. Please walk to NPS Wolaksan Sangseon Office taking 1 minute for 72m. Please refer more details to the “Transportation from Seoul Cheongryangri Train Station to NPS Wolaksan Sangseon Office”. You could simply take reverse course on your way back home. I could estimate total transportation is about 3 hour plus 30 minutes (waiting interval time) for one way which comes total 7 hours for round trip. But you would reduce this transportation time to 5 hours for round trip in case you use private car or rent car which you could save two hours for the transportation. 

5.     Overall Remarks.

Doraksan (Mt.) is located on the border between Daegang-myeon and Danseong-myeon in Danyang-District, Chungcheongbuk- Provice.
Doraksan is at the foot of Wolaksan national park and embraces 3 out of the 8 views of Danyang. The wonderful views are outstanding. Danyang is a rugged mountainous region located in Taebaek and Sobaek mountain ranges on the east.

6.     Detailed Course Information

It was a bit chilly day becoming temperature suddenly dropping down in the morning. I was checking Doraksan Course map after parking the car at NPS Wolaksan Sangseon Parking Lot which is arranged near to the entrance gate of NPS Wolaksan Sangseon Office and selected the best way for me taking into account hardness, distance and something possible view. When I walked paved road for about 15 minutes, I met three way junction at Sangseonam Village, the one through Jebong Peak and the other through Cheunbong Peak. I picked up the former course and moved straight at the junction and found small Sangseonam Hermitage looks cute and calm at the foot of Doraksan Mountain as see at the photo. I passed the Sangseonam and met landmark stating as 3km to Doraksan Summit which I could start to ascend hiking course that morning. As I walked wood log stairs, I found smaller and deep oak tree forest which was becoming steeper sloped time by time. I walked up this road for about half an hour and reached landmark saying as 2.5km to the Summit via slopped big rock road connecting to highly steep wood blog stairs. I struggled to ascend the steeper zigzag wood blog stairs and tougher rocky road for one more half an hour and reached 2.2km to the Summit landmark where I could remotely see Jebong Peak behind the landmark which looks closer. I walked on the colorful ridge road for about more half an hour and found next landmark stating as 2 km to the Summit. I kept walking deeply sloped colorful ridge road for about 40 minutes and reached Jebong Peak where I could see the Three Way Junction stating as 1.4km to the Summit and 1 km to Shinseondae. As Walked on the steep rocky road and sometime mild ridge road for about one hour, I met 1km to the Summit landmark where I could see Doraksan Summit view which was soaring at colorful peak valley around as see at the photo. I should still ascend steep zigzag stair road and uphill for quarter minutes and reached three way junction, the one to 600m to the Summit and the other 300m to Cheunbong Peak. I just followed Summit direction for a quarter minutes and reached three way junction, the one 300m to the Summit and the other 1.4km to Naegunggi Village. I kept going up on the steeper uphill road for a quarter minutes more and finally touched down the Doraksan Summit elevating as 964m altitude. I tried to look around neighboring mountains but could not see openly around due to surrounding trees on top of the summit and started to descend the Summit and reached Shinseondae Observation about 20 minutes from the Summit where I could see elegant and mysterious rocks and beautiful maple trees near to gorge ridge and recorded to camera as see at the photo. I saw one more beautiful Cheunbong Peak on the way down from the Shinseondae and took it to the photo as see. I could now see surrounding mountains and recorded it to the photo. I hardly came down back to NPS Sangseonam Parking Lot via the landmark junction at Sangseonam Hermitage after about 2 hours effort for descending from the Summit.