Godangbong 801.5meters above the ocean

Sunday, we hiked to the peak of this mountain- Geunjeongsan. Though I didn't blog about it, a couple of weekends ago we went to Beomeosa temple. It's a very large temple and a very busy tourist attraction. It's on the Geunjeongsan mountain, but we didn't hike up the mountain last time. There are a lot of hiking trails behind Beomeosa, but we really wanted to go to the peak - Godangbong.

Why? There were lots of reasons, it's the highest peak around, it's all rocky and cool looking, it overlooks a large fortress, and it has a golden spring - Geumseam.

Geumseam is a naturally formed cavity on top of a granite boulder standing off a cliff. According to the legend a golden fish came down from the world of Brahma on a 5 colored cloud and took residence in the golden fountain. The fountain is said never to run dry and the color of the water is always gold. The name of the mountain and the Beomeo temple [Beomeosa] originated from that legend. - Wikipedia

Shannon checking to see if it's really gold. Conclusion- not really, just dirty. Maybe on a less cloudy day it reflects gold or something.

But I'm getting a little ahead of myself. First, we walked about 3 very steep km until we saw this: 

It was .3km to the top at this point. This wasn't just hiking, we had signed up for a little bit of rock climbing while we were at it. You can barely see it in this picture, but there are platforms and steps up there. But not to get up to the rock. We have no idea how they built the platforms on the top of the rock without building an easier method of getting up the rock. By getting up the rock, I mean there were points where ropes were attached to the rocks to help you climb.

It was rough, especially for me as I have never claimed to be in shape, but it was totally worth it.

For this gorgeous view. That's the huge fortress wall front and center and Haeundae beach and the Gwangan bridge at the upper right. It was a little hazy that day, dang China Yellow Dust.

For anyone here in Korea, looking to do this hike. Go to the Beomeosa temple, continue to walk up hill (follow the other people), then you'll see signs, stay on the main path and follow the signs to Godangbong, the peak. Once you're at the peak, you can actually go a whole bunch of different ways. Make sure you keep track of the way back to Beomeosa, or you could end up hiking to the fortress or somewhere else instead. There are picture signs pointing the way to the Gold fountain, Geumseam. If you're slow like me, but faster then a lot of the Koreans (they like to take breaks and picnic and stuff, I'm jealous, I can't bring myself to stop for more then a couple minutes at a time), it will take you about 1.5 hours to reach the peak. Bring some water and plan on working hard, this is not easy walk!