Climbing Gyebangsan Mountain: A Refreshing Hike in Gangwon-do
Gyebangsan Mountain (1577m) spans Hongcheon-gun and Pyeongchang-gun in Gangwon-do province. It is the fifth highest mountain in South Korea, following Hallasan, Jirisan, Seoraksan, and Deogyusan. Although it's a high mountain, the hiking starts from Unduryeong (1089m), the highest point on a national highway in Korea. This allows you to reach the summit without too much difficulty by walking 4.1km, with some ascents and descents. The mountain's name, Gyebangsan, is derived from the combination of the characters 'Gye' (桂, referring to the Cassia tree) and 'Bang' (芳, meaning fragrance), suggesting a mountain filled with fragrant cassia trees. It is also part of Odaesan National Park. - August 12, 2025
It's difficult to reach by public transport, so using a car is recommended. From home, we took the Seoul-Yangyang Expressway to the Donghongcheon IC, then used the national highway towards Nae-myeon in Hongcheon-gun to get to Unduryeong. On the way back, we used the Yeongdong Expressway from Soksa IC in Pyeongchang-gun. The Unduryeong summit rest area parking lot is small, and it can be difficult to park in the morning due to tour buses carrying hikers. A good alternative is to go after 11 AM, when some of the hikers have left.
At the Unduryeong summit store, we bought potato rice cakes and buckwheat pancakes, as well as Unduryeong *Ganoderma lucidum* soybean paste, made by the women's association. After parking, we started our hike. A container of soybean paste costs 15,000 won and can also be purchased via delivery.
Across the road, a deck of stairs marks the starting point of the hiking trail. Without steep inclines, it takes about one and a half to two hours to reach the summit, covering 4.1 km. The path is easy to walk, and while there aren't many exceptional views, the forest path allows you to enjoy a hike filled with phytoncides. The total hiking time is about 4-5 hours.
We arrived at the observation deck, had a simple meal with the potato rice cakes and buckwheat pancakes we bought at the store, and then headed towards the summit. It took about 30 minutes to get from the observation deck to the Unduryeong summit. The surrounding dead trees and wildflower colonies were worth seeing.
Because it was late in the afternoon, there were no other hikers at the summit, so we were able to take photos with the summit marker and relax before returning to the starting point.
This was my first visit to Gyebangsan in 20 years. The Korean summit marker had been replaced with a Chinese character summit marker. The picture below is from Gyebangsan in the autumn of 2007.
On a clear day, you can see Geumgangsan Mountain and Seoraksan Mountain to the north, as well as Odaesan Mountain and other famous mountains in Gangwon-do. However, the cloudy weather prevented us from seeing them clearly.
Coming down from Unduryeong towards Soksa, there is the Lee Seung-bok Anti-Communist Youth Memorial Hall, dedicated to a young boy who was killed by armed guerrillas in 1959. Since it was past the admission time, we took a few pictures at the entrance and moved to Buil Restaurant in Jinbu-myeon for dinner. On the way back, we used the Yeongdong Expressway from Jinbu IC and arrived home after a 3-hour drive. Although it was a day hike on a hot August day, it was rewarding to have taken a picture at the summit of a 1,500m high mountain.
Buil Restaurant in Jinbu-myeon is a restaurant I visited a few years ago while touring Woljeongsa Temple in Odaesan Mountain. It's famous for its wild vegetable bibimbap. A set of wild vegetable side dishes costs 13,000 won per person, and we also ordered grilled Hwangtae (dried pollack) for an additional 10,000 won.
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