Palgongsan (팔공산)

Palgongsan Provincial Park (팔공산도립공원) is a perfect urban escape. Despite the park’s convenient proximity to the modern metropolis of Daegu, elaborate temples, secret Buddhas and precariously perched hermitages make it feel a world apart.

An image of the scenery along the ridge of Palgongsan Provincial Park. There are soft, white clouds that look low and close enough to touch. The mountain slopes are creased and folded, all covered with foliage in shades of green. The top of the ridge features rocks peeking up out of the greenery, and a couple of telecommunications towers. — Pretty Palgongsan Provincial Park!

We visited Palgongsan on a bright, warm day just on the margin between summer and fall. There was so much to see that we actually stopped off to visit a temple prior to the peak – unusual for us! Our objective was to see a huge Buddha statue standing before a panorama of the park.

An image of a tall stone pagoda in the foreground, with a tall, standing stone Buddha in the background. The stone sculptures sit below a brilliantly blue sky and the curve of the Palgongsan ridge, surrounded by deep green foliage.

This cultural/scenic mission accomplished, we ran our way up onto the ridge. In no time, we were standing on the summit! The summit of Palgongsan consists of a bald, rocky outcrop with two nice summit steles and a telecom station. It has tremendous views out over the forested valleys and ridges below. Perhaps due to our late start and the proximity to the city, we were not alone on top. Plenty of friendly Korean hikers shared our summit.

An image of the author, hand on a metal railing, ascending a steep rock surface. She is looking up at the camera and grinning. Behind her is another hiker, looking out over the dense green forest on the mountain slope. — Upward bound!

A close-up image of the stone stele marking Birobong peak. The stone is painted with the name of the peak and the elevation (1193m). Behind the stele, three radio towers rise high up into the sky. — Birobong!

An image of the author and her husband with the other summit stele! As usual, husband has his place in the foreground, while the author crouches low beside the smaller, black summit stele. The stele is fixed in the open, rocky area of the peak, and behind it is a sign pointing the way along the ridge to the east and west. — Summit selfie!

Having gotten to the tippy top so fast, we yearned for more. Luckily, Palgongsan could provide us with the long adventure we wanted. We chose an easterly course, and set off down the to explore more peaks and see what we could see!

An image of the many buildings and towers of the telecommunications complex atop Palgongsan. Nine tall towers are visible here, piercing the blue sky from the highest point of the green ridge running through the center of the image. — The working part of the peak from afar

An image of a gently sloping, green peak rising up in the center of the image. There is blue sky above, soft white clouds below, and green forest covering the mountain slopes. In the center of the image, a grey stone statue is just visible in a break in the foliage. — A medicine Buddha figure graces the foot of a shapely summit

An image of the author, balanced on one foot with her arms wide. She is small in the frame, dwarfed by the gentle slopes of a green hill behind her, and an expanse of shorn grass covering the helipad at her feet. — How I love a helgijang (helipad)!

A close-up image of the summit stele of Satgatbong. The summit stele is black, and reflects the image of some trees opposite it. Beyond the stele, the roots of a tree snake through the soil below a view of the ridge in the distance. The author and her husband had not seen this peak on the map, so they were surprised to find it! — Satgatbong – a surprise summit!

An image of the author standing on top of a boulder, her back to the camera, looking out at a surprising scene! Deep emerald mountain slopes run down to a flat area with the bright green, neatly trimmed grass of a golf course! — A rocky lookout…above a country club?!

One of my favorite sights, far down the ridge, was a hermitage. Actually, I could hear it long before I could see it. A service of some kind was underway, and melodic chanting drifted above the forest and echoed off rocky ridges to reach my ears. Enchanted, I asked to stop. We sat on a massive boulder and listened, finally sighting the hermitage rising up out of the forest high on a mountain slope.

An image of a tiny, distant cluster of traditional temple buildings set high on a hillside. The shapely points and valleys of the ridge run through the center of the frame, with the hermitage in the middle. Below the ridge is a rainbow of greens and browns. Above the ridge, other distant ranges appear as dark grey shapes over a hazy valley and above a bright but cloudy sky. — The loveliest little hermitage

A kilometer of trail more, and we reached the temple that I’d been so delighted by! A large stone medicine Buddha was the focus of attention for many pilgrims here. Kent and I stood by silently and watched as they lit candles and bowed deeply to this Buddha. We also took our time exploring the hilltop complex of buildings and shrines.

An image of a large, seated stone Buddha figure. This Buddha faces east, and has an oddly shaped hat atop his long, drooping ears. The color and shape of this statue blend perfectly with the natural rock formations surrounding it. There is a bank of candles below and to the left of the Buddha. — The Gatbawi stone Buddha

Completing the loop meant descending down to the temple complex at the foot of the mountain, where we spent a little more time before bidding Palgongsan goodbye.

An image of Gwangdeoksa temple, taken from an upper terrace. The image is centered around a two-storey temple building brightly painted in the customary emerald, burgundy and dark yellow. There is a stone lantern and stone tiger statue at the top of a set of steps leading down towards this building. The black slate roofs of other temple buildings are visible on lower terraces below the central building. — Gwangdeoksa temple

Know and Go! Palgongsan

Transportation

Palgongsan Provincial Park is easy access, thanks to it’s close proximity to Daegu. And Daegu, as the fourth largest city and a major transportation hub, is also easy to access by road, rail and even air!

Once in Daegu, you can easily take one of several city buses to the provincial park. A taxi isn’t your best bet here, as it would be expensive 40 minute drive from the city center. Buses are cheap and frequent, so that’s what I’d recommend. If you, like us, tend to prefer your hiking solo and at sunrise, there are options for sleeping over at the park (discussed below).

Apparently this is one of the few Korean parks in possession of a cable car! But not being a cable car aficionado myself, I can’t tell you anything about it other than that it is reputed to exist.

Hike & Run

This park has a vast array of trails. There are multiple options for climbing up to the summit on subsidiary ridges and river valleys. From the summit, the main ridge stretches far to the east and west. Whether you’re looking for great views, multiple summits or hidden historical Buddhist treasures, there’s a lot to enjoy in this park!

An map of the Palgongsan Provincial Park trail network. It is mounted on a large wooden signboard between two figures carved in the traditional Korean style. You can see the mountain slopes and ridges, with trails in red and roads in yellow. — Palgongsan Provincial Park trail map

Stay & Eat

Kent and I had one of our only motel misadventures staying overnight at the base of this mountain. So I’d like to recommend not using a Mu-in-tel (unmanned, drive-in motel) unless you know what you’re doing. We dumbly selected our room and locked ourselves in for the night before we’d gathered supplies from the nearby mart. So despite our proximity to all kinds of restaurant and mart options, we couldn’t figure out how to operate our room, so we ate the snacks we’d planned on enjoying the following day and went to bed a little hungry. And that’s without mentioning the trouble we had using the bathroom fixtures…but I digress.

There is a large, bustling tourist village directly below Palgongsan. There’s all the usual mountain vegetable fare, plus a host of other options. There are also plenty of (smarter!) places to stay.

Other Notes

We made a 14.3 kilometer loop for our adventure in Palgongsan Provincial Park in September 2016. It was our 15th provincial park excursion of our mountain mission year.

The summit of Palgongsan is Birobong, which stands at 1193m. Palgongsan has a place on both of the 100 famous mountain lists in Korea: find the Black Yak listing here and the Korea Forest Service listing here.

ike a couple of other provincial parks, this peak is topped by some antennae and other telecommunications equipment. But that certainly doesn’t mean it’s all work and no play up on top! The peak also features a large, open, rocky area – great for both picnics and pictures! Other Palgongsan attractions include ancient Buddhist artifacts and an undulating ridge with great views along its length.

Here’s a little bit more reading for you about the interesting history of Palgongsan Provincial Park!

Mountains, mountains, mountains! Here are some other provincial parks and famous sum m its if you want some more!