My trip inspiration these days stem from gripping images I come across in Instagram (mainly) and Google search results. So #busanmountains #hikingbusan and other keywords generated some exciting visuals about the #yeongnamalps which look like these

Much persuaded, I convinced my travel aunties that this should be a must-do when we were in Busan. Then came the “how to get there” part – Google results were sparse and vague – so in the end, we decided to just heck it and go.

The awesome thing about travelling in Korea with a bunch of aunties is that taxi is relatively cheap. When in doubt, hail a cab and split the cost, especially if there are 4 or more of you! That being said though, it is best if you have Kakao T or you find taxis whizzing past you despite your frenetic arm-waving attempts to hail one on the road.

So, if anyone wants to take a hike to gawk at the silver grass fields of Ganwoljae in autumn, our route from Busan was:-

• KTX from Busan to Ulsan station – 30 minutes
• Taxi from Ulsan station to Yongnam Alps Welcome Centre – 20 minutes
• Hike from Welcome Centre to Ganwoljae – 2.5 hours
• Hike from Ganwoljae to Ganwolsan and back – 2 hours
• return from Ganwoljae to somewhere near Visitor Centre – 1.5 hours

Some details:-

1. get on the KTX to Ulsan (30min and no need to pre-book tickets). At Ulsan station, you may approach the travel desk there for friendly advice on how to get on the bus to the Yeongnam Alps Complex Welcome Centre to start your hike. With little deliberation, we joined the taxi queue outside the station as it just made better sense, timing and cost wise. Worked out to about 10,000 won for 4 of us.

2. From the Welcome Centre, which comprises a couple of large complexes, including Bungaeman Centre (if you watched the Kdrama “Moving”, you’d be amazed as I was, that Bungaeman is really a legit superhero in Korea!) and rock-climbing walls.

The earnest guide in the centre instructed us most earnestly to keep right and right after passing the climbing wall to take the easier trail up. I swear that’s what we did but from the get go at the start of the trail, it did not seem easy at all. After 20 minutes of huffing and puffing, we stopped an athletic-looking young couple and asked them if they knew where the easier trail up was. The dreaded reply from the young man, face shiny from sweat and/or sun-block, was that there was no easy path >_<

So we resigned ourselves to the challenging trudge ahead and decided to just enjoy what the trail presented.

From the seemingly endless steps and dirt paths, we eventually emerged to a proper road after an hour or so. This was however the start of the loopy turns that awaited us. We only figured out what the 11-1 signage on the road meant when after a loop, we came to 11-2. What lay ahead were 9 more loops to the top!

As you can see, some of us Aunties do not believe in being rule-abiding. Cutting up these loose, rocky slopes made perfect sense rather then following the curves of the roads.

3. Another hour and a half or so later, we finally reached Ganwoljae *\(^o^)/* Yes, it was exactly like what the internet photos showed. Vast fields of silver grass as far as the eye can see. We went on 24 October 2023 which was a Tuesday and the rest area there was teeming with hikers, picnicking with their gimbaps, cup range on and boiled eggs!

From here, there is the option of hiking up Ganwolsan (1,069m) behind the rest area or Sinbulsan (1,209m) on the other side. Some smart advice online said that Ganwolsan would be easier since it was lower and it would only take 30minutes to summit. We obviously were not of the same fitness level as whoever wrote that advice as it took us about an hour to summit. This meant another hour to get back down to Ganwoljae rest area!!

Also, the boardwalk to the top was only to the mid-way. Thereafter, the path was strewn with rocks and at some parts, we needed to hug some large boulders to get over them.

Then came the way back >_< By the time we got back to the rest area, it was around 4.15pm. Hurrying down, we decided the loopy road would be the better option than the rocky path down as it would get dark early. Sure enough, by 6pm, it was pretty dark. We were thankful that there was a group of 3 ahjummas striding on ahead of us and we were also overtaken by 2 young men. Unfortunately when we eventually got to the bottom, it was nowhere near the Yeongnam Alps Welcome Centre! Instead we ended up at a seemingly deserted village after crossing some river!

4. This is where we count our blessings and thank our lucky stars. We spotted the 2 young men who overtook us and immediately accosted approached them. Turned out they had called a cab (since it was the middle of nowhere) and they suggested us aunties go with each of them in a cab to Ulsan station since I couldn’t get my Kakao T to work as my mobile coverage was patchy in the mountains.

So as I believe, always be thankful for the kindness of strangers and if the opportunity arises, always be a kind stranger yourself. We were saved by the 2 young men (Samsung executives apparently) from more trudging in the dark and got to Ulsan station safely!

So if you ask me how to get back to the Welcome Centre, I honestly don’t know! But I do know that if you were to do this hike, start earlier and come back down earlier too. Would we do this again? Probably, to go up Sinbulsan next time perhaps.

Hope this post will be of some use to anyone looking to get to Ganwoljae and Ganwolsan! Peace!