Approximate time taken: 5 hours including stops.

6 November 2024

Mount Hallasan is the highest mountain in South Korea, though there are higher mountains in the People's Republic of Korea. It stands at 1947 metres or 6388 feet, so almost 2000ft higher than Ben Nevis. You need to go onto the Hallasan National Park website to reserve a place within a certain time of the day. There are two routes to the summit, the Seongpanak route and the Gwaneumsa route. There are other trails but they do not quite go to the summit and there are very strict rules about not deviating from the marked routes. I was booked on the Seongpanak route for the the 08:01 to 10:00 slot. You have to reach the Jindallaebat Shelter by 11:30 or the gates are locked! You have to start your descent by 13:30 (14:40 during the summer months). The forecast was favourable. My alarm was set for 06:10 which is when I would normally get up for work. Other than the food and drink in the fridge, everything was packed ready for a 07:00 taxi to the start of the trail which takes about 55 minutes by taxi.

At 04:42 some messages arrived via "Kakao Talk" to say that the route beyond the final shelter was closed due to "worsening weather". Looking out of my bedroom window, I could see the trees swaying and it was raining. So, I cancelled my reservation and rescheduled for the 05:00 to 08:00 slot on the Friday. There were no places available for the later time slot.

​It is important to cancel the reservation. If you fail to turn up without cancelling, you are banned from further reservations for two months!

I went back to sleep and woke up with the 06:10 alarm, that I have set for work. I took my time and started the day at a leisurely pace, but the weather was improving outside so after considering my options, I decided to go and do Olle 7-1. This was partly strategic as you can receive a 100km certificate and the route ends at the main tourist office which issues the certificate.

I am a little familiar with the starting point as it is near to the Jeju World Cup Stadium in Seogwipo. It hosted three 2002 FIFA World Cup matches:

I went to see Jeju United play. They were absolutely terrible and they lost. It is fun to go and support your local team, but following such a dismal performance, I decided not to buy a team shirt, even though it is Jeju tangerine orange and in my opinion looks really nice.

On that occasion, I was using a 300mm lens on a an APS-C camera (yes, it is my photo above), so I thought I would go back with a standard zoom to take some wider shots, though, of course, the stadium was locked. I was able to take photographs through the bars of the gates. Notice how fine the weather was! Almost perfect for Hallasan but I had already cancelled so I headed back to the "pony" to stamp my Olle Passport at the start of Olle 7-1 (Seogwipo bus terminal - Jeju Olle Tourist Centre).

The route heads up through a small park, up though streets that reminded me of the TV series Streets of San Francisco. They seemed to go straight up the hill. Beyond that was agricultural land consisting mainly of tangerine orchards. I had seen a group of around eight arriving as my taxi dropped me off. Despite my photographic diversion to the stadium, I soon caught them up. They were talking to a lady at the gateway to one of the orchards. There was a bucket of tangerines on the ground and it seemed that they were put there for passing walkers. I asked if I could have one and one of the group of walkers seemed to carefully select the best one for me!

​I continued uphill, peeling my perfect looking tangerine.

After continuing along country lanes, the route heads up steps to the top of an oleum - a parasitic cone originating from when Hallasan was an active volcano. As the light was poor in the forest and the fact that I wanted to stop down for a better depth of field, I got my tripod out of my backpack for a couple of shots. Then I continued to the top of the oreum known as Gogeun-san, where there is an Olle pony where the "half-way" stamp is housed.

This was a fine viewpoint looking across to Hallasan. There was cloud on and off and there was a bit of a breeze, but it seemed like a fine day for Hallasan. I felt a bit frustrated, thinking I should be up there right now! I hope for such fine weather on Friday.

The binoculars did not require a coin so I took a closer look at Hallasan. While I was enjoying the route, There was no doubt about where I waned to be! There is a little loop around the sumo area of the Oreum and its small crater, before descending down through forest to more rural lanes. At one point I passed what seemed like a partly blocked off pathway down to a building. I have no idea what it is but I could not resist entering to take a look.

The next place of interest was Bonglimsa Buddhist Temple.

Opposite the temple is another Olle "pony", one of the ones with an information board. I was about to walk across the largest maar crater in Asia. A maar crater is a broad, shallow volcanic crater that is formed when groundwater comes into contact with magma, causing a violent explosion. They are low lying and often contains a shallow lake. This one does not but there is spring water that has made it suitable for growing rice when other parts of the island lacks so much water. Often the fields are covered in black plastic to reduce the water loss through evaporation, with the plants growing through holes. I do not know if there is a connection between the paddy fields and the Buddhist temple.

Approaching Seogwipo, things became more urbanised. Stone walls are common place here and there are often succulents growing. I think this is Graptopetalum paraguayense ​which is native to Mexico.

The route continues through Geolmae Ecological Park. I was carrying a travel tripod and a 6-stop ND Filter. I have had the filter for a long time now. This was the first time of actually using it. I bought it mainly for waterfalls though I also want to experiment with moving clouds on windy days. I set up the camera first before screwing in the filter. I did not consider the fact that the hood uses the filter thread, so it did not screw in and the filter dropped into the river. It was not damaged though I found it difficult to wipe it dry without creating smears. Really, 6-stops is more than I needed as I was experimenting in the f/8 to f/11 range. This resulted in shutter speeds ranging from 1.6 to 8 seconds. I stopped down as I wanted the bridge in the background to remain reasonably sharp.

I spent a lot of time here but eventually continued for the last short section to the Jeju Olle Tourist Centre. I applied for my 100km certificate. Adding up the figures afterwards, may have in fact, been slightly short!