Dobongsan (도봉산) is a mountain in the more northern part of the
Bukhaksan national park. The highest point is
Jaunbong (자운봉) which peaks at 739.5m.
How to get there
This hiking area is directly accessible via subway: Dobongsan station (line 1). When you exit the station, just follow the street with all the hiking shops. It is about 15 minutes walking to the Dobong information center.
My hike
After leaving the station, make sure to grab some freshly baked Korean (sweet) pancakes and kimbab (tasty rice roll in seaweed) for your hike. For this hike, I chose the easiest way up to Jaunbong, which starts at the Dobong information center and then goes via the Dobong shelter and Madangbawi rock to the top. At the information center there was a friendly ranger which started talking to me and was making sure I had enough water and food with me (which I always do).
On the way to the top, there is a small temple complex (Cheonsuksa), which offers some nice views on the granite peaks laying behind.
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| Jaunbong rising up from behind the Cheonsuksa temple |
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| Iron Buddha's lined up at Cheonsuksa temple |
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| Iron Buddha's lined up at Cheonsuksa temple |
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| Fish to ring the bell |
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The way up is relatively easy, it gets a bit more steep after you pass the
Madangbawi rock.
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| Rocky steps from Madangbawi rock to Jaunbong |
To climb the actual peak, it gets pretty steep, but with there are cables and metal grips to help you.With dry weather and decent shoes it is doable, I would not go up if it is rainy as the granite tends to get really slippy.
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| Scrambling to the top |
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| View from Jaunbong |
To avoid seeing the same things twice, I decided to go back down via Uiam rock. This was a good decision, as it involves walking on a ridge (Dobongjuneung), which is always a nice thing to do, and also some pretty good views on the different peaks of Dobongsan.
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| View on Jaunbong on the way to Uiam rock |
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| Me on the Dobongjuneung Ridge |
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| Uiam Rock |
When arriving back at the information center, a guy walked enthusiastically towards me. It turned out to be the ranger who helped me earlier that day. I did not recognize him as he was not in his uniform, he just finished his shift and was going home. Great to feel how happy he was that foreigners also come hiking on his mountain.
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| My actual hiking route (which I did counter-clockwise) |
