With around 5 million visitors each year, it’s no wonder that the national park is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “Most Visited National Park per Unit Area”. Seoul has more than 25 million people in its metro area, (2nd largest city in the world) and from the top of Mt Dobongsan you look over it all, its crazy.
We caught the train to Dobongsan station which is about an hour from Seoul, and on the weekend will be packed full of people in high tech hiking gear. I'm really not exaggerating when I say that the Koreans are obsessed with hiking, every single person was kitted out with the most high tech and latest brand new North Face or Patagonia gear, head to toe, old and young.
The park has a lot of trails but it all seems to be about finding the most remote rock sticking out of the forest so you can sit down and have a picnic. There are also lots of people praying to passers by on the way up. If the fog isn’t too thick you get great views of the city around you, sprawling forever.
by Nicholas Ashby
