hwangmaesan 황매산

1173 meters

5.9 km loop

📍trailhead

A few months ago, Andrew and I hiked Mosanjae, which is part of Hwangmaesan County Park. From the top we could see the wide open fields on Hwangmaesan and decided we needed to come back another day to explore the rest of this mountain. I’m so glad we did!

To get to the main parking lot, you’ll drive through the below pictured toll booth. There’s no need to stop for a ticket or anything as you pass through. You just pay at the booth on your way out. For us, parking was pretty cheap, but it is based on vehicle size.

The parking lot itself is at a high elevation (approximately 830 meters) so there are usually tons of people around since you can wander around the fields with less effort than usual. The lower part of the parking lot is set aside for auto-camping. In the upper area is a cafe, restaurant, and bathrooms.

Hwangmaesan is famous for it’s azalea field in the spring, and silver grass in the fall so this is quite a well known and popular mountain to visit. The majority of folks seem to just wander around the wide open fields, which are beautiful in their own right., but there is more to Hwangmaesan than just the fields. We chose to take “course 3” which would bring us over the peak and along the ridge before heading back down to the parking area.

Setting off for this particular course, enter the trail through the rear of the cafe building.

There are lots of paths heading through the fields. I would recommend staying on the paths on the “left” side of the fields and strolling up the hill heading in the direction of the small concrete building pictured below. It is visible from most parts of the field so you can’t miss it..

After making your way up to the small concrete building, you can start heading towards the peak, which will be quite obvious. Along the way there is a large traditional gate structure to check out. Looking from this direction, Jirisan is visible in the distance.

From here, follow the wooden boardwalk towards the long set of stairs. This is where the “true” hiking portion will begin.

Once you climb to the top of the stairs, continue along the forested trail. Once you reach the top of the ridge, you’ll be at a small intersection with an offshoot path going to the left that will lead you to the top of a rocky peak with a great view of the open field as well as the ridgeline ahead.

Once you are ready, return to the small fork and continue along the trail that had been going to the right and the peak won’t be too much farther. Once at the peak, continue towards Sambong (삼봉). Enter the trail again that is behind the summit stone on the left, but at that junction go right.

Soon you’ll be able to spot the big wooden gazebo and Sambong up ahead on the trail. This is where you’re heading and where eventually the trail will turn right and begin to loop back to the fields.

In the meantime, enjoy the views along the way!

Arriving at Sambong was one of my favorite parts of the trail. We were treated to a surprising view of Hapcheon Lake that was just breathtaking. The coloration of this picture just isn’t doing it justice.

As you continue your hike, there will be a few more rocky outcrops on the way down.

After this point, you start making your way down and back to the parking lots. Be sure to follow the sign pointing to the (Auto Campground) 오토캠핑장. However, at some pointed the signs change to 은행 나무주차장 (Gingko Parking Lot). This is taking you to the same area, but for some reason the signs weren’t consistent.

This next leg of the trail isn’t well maintained so if you brought your own tick spray, now is a good time to reapply.

The trail will lead back to the roadway. Like a lot of the fields, there is more than one way to get to where you are going, but we opted to hang a left at the first fork, then follow the boardwalk through the trees before exiting to the main road below and walking back up to where we started.

Even though Hwangmaesan isn’t too terribly far from Geoje (about a 2 hour drive) we decided to make a full day out of it and brought some chairs, a table and grilled some sausages for lunch afterwards. Near the parking lot there are plenty of wooden picnic platforms so it’s an ideal post-hike lunch spot.

Of course, being Andrew, he brought a new board game (Calico) with him, too! haha! It was a great game for “traveling” that didn’t have anything that could blow away and wasn’t too lengthy or complicated in set up. Unfortunately for me, Andrew was the winner, claiming the “Master Quilter” title. I feel like I’m ready for a rematch though, so we’ll have to pick a new mountain for a game “warm-up” again!