Brown leaves on the ground, time to hike in Autumn! Enjoy the playlist I’ve curated, designed to enhance the hiking experience as you read through this blog post
How to get to Cheonggyesan
[Naver Map]
청계산입구: 서울 서초구 청계산로 179
https://naver.me/55RFQPUX
Cheonggyesan Station (Shin Bundang line)
Go to Exit 2 and then walk a bit for around 680m to the entrance of Cheonggyesan trail.
Cheonggyesan Hiking Experience
I was itching to hike during the autumn season, but with my usual hiking buddy miles away, I forced my two friends to join me on what turned out to be an unforgettable journey. Suffice it to say, they may need some convincing before they agree to hit the trails with me again! But hey, it was worth every laugh and stumble along the way. Here’s how it all went down…
We started our hike at the Wonteogol entrance and headed towards Maebong Peak, which was the most famous trail for Cheonggyesan. As we passed through the underpass, we noticed several sports shops and restaurants.
The ascent was quite manageable, perfect for beginners as the trail was well-maintained with minimal rocks to navigate (unlike Bukhansan). Instead, we encountered numerous stairs along the way, making the trek more accessible.
We were fortunate as the sun was shining, accompanied by a refreshing breeze, enhancing the beauty of the trees around us.
Seeing this sign indicates that you’re almost at the peak, with just approximately 300 meters left to go.
Before reaching Maebong Peak, we came across Maebawi Peak, a fantastic spot for photos atop this rock, offering stunning views of the surrounding mountains.
Finally, we reached the peak, took pictures with the stone marker and indulging in some delicious ramyeon to celebrate our achievement.
As you can see, our ascent was smooth sailing without any obstacles. However, craving more adventure and different views, I proposed taking an alternate route for our descent, opting for a different trail than the one we ascended. And that’s where all the fun begins…..
The scenery on our descent surpassed our expectations, it feels like we were in Taylor Swift’s Evermore album. It was truly enchanting, with the added bonus of encountering a small, unfrozen stream.
As we descended, enjoying the peacefulness of the surroundings, we noticed the absence of other hikers. So, we decided to liven up the atmosphere by playing some classic pop tunes from the ’90s and 2000s on our speaker and singing along. But as we continued, we realized something wasn’t right, we have been walking longer than when we hiked up. It wasn’t until TLC’s “Waterfalls” was playing that it hit us – we were lost, we weren’t where we should be. There was no trail ahead, and retracing our steps seemed too much effort.
Frantically checking the maps on my phone, we attempted to reorient ourselves back to the trail. We pushed through dense bushes, snapping twigs beneath our feet in the process. Suddenly, we heard voices and quickly decided to follow them. Relief washed over us as we stumbled upon a group of hikers. Eager not to lose them, my friend urged me to sprint ahead while intermittently halting to wait for them, as you can see here I was pretty far from them. It was a wild chase, but without those hikers, we might have been lost for much longer. Eventually, we lost sight of them, but the map reassured us that we were back on track. Soon enough, we stumbled upon an open road, a welcome sight after our unexpected detour.
In total, our hike lasted almost three hours. Overall, I would rate this hike a solid 4.5 out of 5. It was a great hike, We had a fantastic time filled with laughter, singing, and fun, even tho my friends were mad at me for getting us lost (as you can see here we were off the trail at some point) because of this I would rate this hike 4.5/5, it won’t be as fun if we didn’t get lost 😂
Bonus some film pics I took!
📷: Kodak Ektar H35
🎞: Candido 400
🧪: Yeonnam Film
