Biseulsan or Biseul Mountain is part of the same mountain range as Apsan — the mountain park right by our house. Known for its beautiful field of wild azaleas set against the backdrop Biseulsan’s peak, it is a strenuous and very popular hike. Anticipating large weekend crowds we met up with one of our Korean friends, Mrs. C, at 7am, loaded up our things, and headed to the mountains.
The most direct way to get to Biseulsan from our house is to hike through the mountains on foot — from the top of Mt. Sanseong, its another 15km or so to Mt. Biseul. You can also drive around the mountain to get there. Which is obviously what we did.
We arrived at the entrance to Biseulsan National Recreation Forest around 8am, parked, and searched in vain for a place that sold gimbap. No luck. Nothing was even really open that early except for a convenience store that sold mostly chips and cookies. Mrs. C, who didn’t bring anything for lunch, picked up a few Korean style hard boiled eggs and some orange juice. None of us had been to this mountain and we were a bit confused as to where to begin our hike. Mrs. C asked the guard at the gate how to get to the azalea field. “Just go straight…then keep going up.”
Our other option was to take a shuttle bus to the top. For the briefest of moments our laziness kicked in and we contemplated doing just that. After looking at a map of the zig zag bus roads combined with the fact that the bus didn’t leave for another hour, we decoded it would be better to hike the entire way. I mean, that’s why we came right? To hike? Sometimes we are not so sure.
From the parking lot we walked up the road, past a Buddhist temple and across a bridge.
See that mountain in the back? That’s where we were headed…
