Four sections have been closed since 05:00 on 1 September 2026 for rockfall risk and unopened loop trail, until further notice with no end date: the Guryong valley path, the Geumdae valley path, the Seopjae course and the Ttwarigul course. The first of those is the beginner route to the summit - the park’s own course text recommends it to inexperienced walkers while the notice keeps it shut. Two official park documents in direct contradiction. Plan on Sadaribyeongchang, which the park calls very difficult, or take the shorter Hwanggol approach instead.
Entry past the Seryeom safety post closes at 13:00 from November to March and 14:00 from April to October. Both the park’s timed-entry table and the Guryong course text state the same hours. A 13:00 cut-off is among the earliest in the Korean park system, and on a route where the summit is 3 hours 30 from the trailhead, it is the constraint that ends most failed attempts here.
On the full traverse the park asks for a lamp, insulated clothing, emergency supplies and food, states there are no shelters or facilities of any kind along the way, says the terrain is broken and rocky, and restricts its recommendation to experienced walkers. It specifically warns about being caught out after sunset. Ten hours, twenty-two kilometres, nothing in between.
The park posted photographs of the Hwanggol to Birobong trail on 29 November 2025 showing ice on the upper section, and asked for crampons, poles, insulated gloves and a warm hat. Shaded ground here freezes early and stays frozen.
There is not a single mountain shelter in this park. The facility register lists fifteen buildings and none of them is one, and the traverse description says so in as many words. The last toilet on the Guryong side is at the Daegok native plant garden.
The park’s closure map carries a standing note that trails may be shut at short notice when a weather warning is issued - earthquake, heavy rain, typhoon or heavy snow. The number to ring is 033-740-9900.
Guryong ticket office, the Guryongsa gate, the temple, Yongso, the Daegok safety centre, Seryeom Falls and up to Birobong at 1,288 m: 6 km in 3 hours 30 minutes. Stored figures and course text agree.
★ The important part. Above Seryeom Falls the path splits in two - Sadaribyeongchang along the ridge at 2.7 km, and the valley path at 2.8 km. The park describes Sadaribyeongchang as very difficult, steep and full of stairs, and recommends the valley path for beginners. The valley path has been closed since 1 September 2026 for rockfall, with no reopening date. So the beginner option does not currently exist, and anyone climbing from Guryong is on the hard line whether they chose it or not.
The park’s own description of Sadaribyeongchang: mostly steep gradient laid with stairs, and at the cliff itself a passage along the top of a high face that it frankly calls thrilling. There is steel railing on part of it, added in 2016.
Time your day against Seryeom, not against the summit. Entry past the Seryeom post shuts at 13:00 from November to March and 14:00 from April to October. Reach it after that and you are turned back with the climb undone. The toilet at the native plant garden is the last one.
Hwanggol to Birobong
Reaches summit
Hard
One way
4.1 km
Time
2 h 30 m
4.1 km in 2 hours 30 minutes, and the park calls it the shortest way to the main peak. Three independent places on the site give the same distance.
The first 1.6 km to Ipseoksa is surfaced but steep enough that ordinary cars are kept off it. Then 500 m of Kkalttak Gogae, named because the climb makes you gasp. Another 700 m joins the main ridge, and the last kilometre to the summit is straightforward. Jwineomijae, 900 m short of the top, gives the view over Wonju.
Ipseoksa is worth the pause: a 20 m standing rock on a 30 m cliff, five metres square at the base, with a stone pagoda listed as cultural heritage material and, nearby, a rock-carved seated Buddha dated to 1090.
Parking is the catch. The park says the Hwanggol car park is cramped, coaches cannot get up the narrow road, and groups arriving by coach must get out in Hwanggol village and walk 1.5 km. This is also the only car park on the mountain with a published rate.
The Chiaksan Traverse: Guryong to Seongnam
Reaches summit
Hard
One way
21.8 km
Time
10 h
Guryong to Birobong, then south along the main ridge over Gotjaejae, Hyangnobong at 1,042.9 m and Namdaebong at 1,181.5 m, and down to the Seongnam centre. About 22 km, ten hours or more.
What the park asks you to carry: a lamp, insulated clothing, emergency kit and food, because there are no shelters or facilities of any kind along the way and it wants you off the ridge before dark. Start early.
★ And check the season. The two ridge sections the park closes for fire risk - Hwanggol junction to Gotjaejae, and Hyangnobong to the Yeongwon Fortress junction - both sit in the middle of this traverse. In 2025 those ran 4 March to 30 April and, the autumn before, 15 November to 15 December. During those windows the route is cut in half and cannot be walked end to end.
Bugok to Birobong by Gotjaejae
Reaches summit
Easy
One way
8.9 km
Time
3 h
8.9 km in 3 hours from the Bugok centre over Gotjaejae to the summit, agreed three ways on the park site. The first 4.1 km to the top of Gotjaejae is level and gently graded - the park says anyone can manage it, and a broad stream runs alongside. From there it is 3.5 km of main ridge, rising and falling, before the Hwanggol route joins for the last pull.
The grade here is the mildest on the page and the distance the second longest, which again is the pace calculation talking. Take the park’s planning advice as the better guide: it notes that continuing over the summit and down to Guryong makes 14.6 km and more than seven hours, and recommends descending to Guryong or Hwanggol rather than returning the way you came.
In the fire season this line moves to advance booking rather than closing - Bugok to Gotjaejae is one of two sections the park keeps open through the reservation system.
Bugok to Birobong by Keunmuregol
Reaches summit
Hard
One way
4.5 km
Time
2 h 30 m
4.5 km in 2 hours 30 minutes: the Bugok centre, Keunmuregol, the viewing deck on Cheonsabong and on to the summit. Opened in October 2016 and the least walked line here.
The park describes it as the most gently graded of all the approaches to Birobong, with the best-preserved natural growth on the mountain and a dense stand of central-Korean forest species. There is a broad deck on Cheonsabong looking back at the summit.
Note a contradiction in the record. The park’s own difficulty field marks this route at the top of its three-step scale while the description calls it the gentlest way up. We cannot reconcile the two, so we are reporting both. No public transport reaches the Bugok side.
Seongnam to Namdaebong
Turns around at Namdaebong
Moderate
One way
5.9 km
Time
2 h 30 m
5.9 km in 2 hours 30 minutes from the Seongnam centre past Sangwonsa to Namdaebong at 1,181.5 m, the southern high point.
Sangwonsa sits at 1,050 m, which the park notes as unusually high for a temple. Do not confuse it with the Sangwonsa on Odaesan in Pyeongchang - that is where the national treasure bell is. This one holds a provincially listed stone pagoda with its mandorla, and its main hall is listed as cultural heritage material.
At the foot of this valley is Seongnam-ri Seonghwangnim, a village grove designated a natural monument and preserved as one of the best examples of Korean temperate forest left.
Geumdae to Namdaebong
Turns around at Namdaebong
Moderate
One way
5.4 km
Time
2 h 40 m
5.4 km in 2 hours 40 minutes from the Geumdae sub-office by Yeongwonsa to Namdaebong. The first 2.4 km to the temple is a broad track wide enough for vehicles. The next 2.4 km, from Yeongwonsa to the Namdaebong junction, is the part to plan for: steep, stony, and classified by the park as grade A, meaning the hardest it designates. After the junction it eases again.
Note that the Geumdae valley path, Yeongwonsa to Adeulbawi to the Namdaebong junction, is one of the four sections closed for rockfall since September 2026. The route above is the ridge line, not the valley - but confirm before you go, because the closure has no end date.
Vehicles can go as far as the campsite car park only. When its 56 spaces fill, the park directs drivers to Hambakgol car park 2 km below the sub-office.
Geumdae to Namdaebong by Yeongwon Fortress
Turns around at Namdaebong
Hard
One way
5.6 km
Time
3 h
5.6 km in 3 hours, agreed three ways, taking in Yeongwon Fortress on the way to Namdaebong. The fortress is a designated historic site and the reason to choose this over the direct Geumdae line.
The park rates this course at the top of its three-step scale; on this guide’s scale it sits a step below the hardest. Either way it is the more demanding of the two Geumdae approaches.
The Geumdae campsite below has 46 pitches. Its opening season is given two different ways on the park site - April to November in the facility register, 16 March to 15 November in the course text - so check before you plan a night there. Booking is online only.
Haenggu-dong to Hyangnobong
Turns around at Hyangnobong
Hard
One way
2.5 km
Time
1 h 30 m
2.5 km in 1 hour 30 minutes from the Haenggu centre by Gukhyeongsa and Bomunsa to Hyangnobong at 1,042.9 m. Short, but the park warns against taking it lightly: from Bomunsa the peak is only 1.2 km away, and the first kilometre of that is steep and stony.
This course sits inside the fire-season closure area but stays open by advance booking through the national park reservation system - the park states it at the top of the course page itself.
Bomunsa holds a provincially listed slate pagoda. There is no parking at the trail centre; the park directs you to the Gukhyeongsa car park 300 m below.
Guryong to Seryeom Falls
Turns around at Seryeom Falls
Moderate
Round trip
3.3 km
Time
1 h 30 m
3.3 km there and back in an hour and a half: the Guryong centre, Guryongsa, Daegok campsite and Seryeom Falls. The park describes it as a gently graded walk needing no particular preparation, though it recommends boots because the surface is stony and can be slippery.
This is where the mountain’s pine goes. Guryongsa stands in the thick stand of hwangjangmok, the imperial pine of the Geumgang type, and the old boundary marker prohibiting felling is on the path below the temple.
The Daegok native plant garden is about 20 minutes on foot from Guryongsa towards the falls, and its toilet is the last one before the mountain proper.
Bugok to Gotjaejae
Turns around at Gotjaejae
Easy
One way
4.1 km
Time
1 h
4.1 km in an hour to the top of Gotjaejae. Flat and gently graded the whole way, with a broad stream running alongside, and in the park’s own words within reach of anyone regardless of age.
It is the first leg of the longer Bugok to Birobong route, and it works as a walk in itself if you turn round at the pass. During the fire season it stays open by advance booking rather than closing.
Getting there
Guryong District, Wonju
The main gateway, in Sochomyeon. Three car parks and a year-round campsite with 67 pitches including caravans. The trail centre’s visitor services have been moved into the Chiaksan experience centre next door. Park office 033-740-9900.
Hwanggol Trail Support Centre
2,000 won for a small car, 4,000 midweek or 5,000 at weekends and peak season for anything larger - the only published parking rate in the park. Space is tight and coaches cannot get in; groups are set down in Hwanggol village for a 1.5 km walk. 033-732-2780.
Bugok Trail Support Centre, Hoengseong
The eastern side of the mountain, in Garim-myeon, Hoengseong. No public transport reaches it. Hoengseong sub-office 033-342-7640.
Geumdae Sub-office
South of the mountain in Panbu-myeon, open 09:00 to 18:00 on 033-763-5232. Cars go no further than the campsite car park, 56 spaces; when it is full, use Hambakgol 2 km below.
Seongnam Trail Support Centre
The southern gateway, below the Seonghwangnim grove, with the Sangwongol car park at the trailhead. 033-762-5695.
Haenggu Trail Support Centre
Closest to the city of the six. There is no parking at the centre itself - use the Gukhyeongsa car park 300 m below it. 033-734-5210.
Course overview
Route overview · reference only
Primary route
Guryong to Birobong
6 km3 h 30 m
Routes on this mountain
Guryong to BirobongPrimary
Hwanggol to Birobong
The Chiaksan Traverse: Guryong to Seongnam
Bugok to Birobong by Gotjaejae
Bugok to Birobong by Keunmuregol
Seongnam to Namdaebong
Geumdae to Namdaebong
Geumdae to Namdaebong by Yeongwon Fortress
Haenggu-dong to Hyangnobong
Guryong to Seryeom Falls
Bugok to Gotjaejae
Course overview · reference only — a schematic of the routes, not an actual navigation route or GPS track.
Above Seryeom Falls the trail to the summit of Chiaksan divides. One branch runs up the ridge, and the park calls it very difficult. The other runs up the valley, and the park recommends it to beginners. Since 1 September 2026 the valley branch has been closed by rockfall, with no date for reopening, and both statements are still live on the park website.
Two official documents, one contradiction
The practical effect is that the gentler option no longer exists on that side of the mountain. Anyone starting from Guryong now climbs Sadaribyeongchang, which the park describes as mostly steep gradient laid with stairs, running at one point along the top of a high cliff in a way it calls thrilling. There is steel railing on part of it, fitted in 2016.
If that is not the day you had in mind, Hwanggol is the alternative - 4.1 km to the same summit, and the park’s own shortest route.
The gate at one o’clock
Every Korean national park runs timed entry. Chiaksan’s is the strictest on this site.
Seryeom Falls is an hour and a half from the Guryong trailhead and the summit is another two hours above it. In winter, then, you need to be past the post by one in the afternoon for a climb that will not get you back down before dark unless you started in the morning. The park frames this as a courtesy - check the time and arrive with something in hand - but it is the reason most failed attempts here fail.
The ridge closes every spring and autumn
Both closed sections sit between Birobong and Namdaebong, which is to say in the middle of the traverse. For roughly three months of the year the ridge cannot be walked end to end. Note also that this is a different thing from the national fire-risk period, which for spring 2026 ran from 20 January to 15 May - a designation, not a closure.
No 2026 notice has gone up, so the dates above are the established pattern rather than a commitment. Check the current notice before you go.
Eleven courses and six ways in
Guryong and Hwanggol face Wonju to the west, Bugok and Gotjaejae look east into Hoengseong, Geumdae and Seongnam come up from the south. Three of the eleven courses reach Birobong, three more reach Namdaebong, one reaches Hyangnobong, and the rest stop at a pass or a waterfall.
The southern valleys are the quiet ones and hold most of the history: Sangwonsa at 1,050 m, unusually high for a Korean temple; Yeongwon Fortress, a designated historic site, on the ridge above Geumdae; and at the foot of the Seongnam valley the Seonghwangnim grove, a village shrine wood designated a natural monument and preserved as one of the best remaining pieces of Korean temperate forest.
One warning about Sangwonsa. The park’s course pages illustrate it with the temple bell and the legend of the pheasant that repaid a debt. The bell everyone knows as a national treasure is at a different Sangwonsa, on Odaesan in Pyeongchang. The Chiaksan temple has its own designations - a stone pagoda with mandorla, and its main hall - but not that bell.
The pine, and the marker that protected it
Guryongsa sits in a stand of hwangjangmok, the straight-grained pine reserved for royal use, and on the path below the temple stands the old boundary marker that prohibited felling it. The park calls the marker the symbol of that prohibition. It is a five-minute detour on the easiest walk here, the 3.3 km round trip to Seryeom Falls.
The mountain was called Jeogaksan, the red peak, for its autumn colour. The park records 42 mammal species, 136 birds, 1,863 insects and 986 plants, and takes as its flagship species the Korean endemic bellflower Hanabusaya and the Korean water toad.
Gaps in the record
No cumulative climb and no trailhead elevations, so height gained appears nowhere on this page. Only one of the five car parks has a published rate. Whether Guryongsa charges a cultural property fee is not published officially, so this page puts no figure on it.
Three figures are published more than one way. The traverse is 21.8 km in the course data and in prose, 21.4 in an image caption, 21.2 in a section heading. The Haenggu climb is 2.5 km in prose and 2.8 in a caption. The Geumdae campsite season is April to November in one register and 16 March to 15 November in another. None of those differences changes how a route grades, so treat the distances as approximate.
The most useful thing to know about this park’s data is what it does not tell you. All eleven courses carry an empty restriction flag and are marked open all year, while in fact four sections are closed for rockfall, two more close every fire season, and the Seryeom post turns walkers back at one in the afternoon. None of that appears in the status flag. Read the notices.
FAQ
What is the easiest way to the summit?
Hwanggol, at 4.1 km and 2 hours 30 minutes, which the park itself calls the shortest route to Birobong. It is steep in places - the 500 m of Kkalttak Gogae above Ipseoksa in particular - but it is short and it avoids the closed section. Bugok by Keunmuregol is the other candidate: 4.5 km, and the park describes it as the most gently graded approach, though its own difficulty field disagrees.
How long should I really allow for the traverse?
Ten hours or more, and the park treats that as a minimum rather than a target. It restricts the route to experienced walkers, tells beginners not to attempt it, and asks for a lamp, insulated clothing, emergency supplies and food because there is no shelter of any kind along the way. It also wants you started early enough to be off the ridge before dark. Add to that the gate at the start, which closes at 13:00 in winter, and the spring and autumn closures that cut the ridge in half - a twenty-two kilometre day here needs the right month as much as the right hour.
What time do I have to be at Seryeom Falls by?
13:00 from November to March, 14:00 from April to October. After that the post turns walkers back. Two separate park sources give the same hours, so this one is solid. Since the summit is another two hours above the falls and the descent takes as long again, a late morning start in winter will not work.
Is the Sangwonsa bell here a national treasure?
No, and this is a common mix-up. The famous bell is at the Sangwonsa on Odaesan, in Pyeongchang - a different temple with the same name. The Sangwonsa on Chiaksan, at 1,050 m above the Seongnam valley, holds a provincially listed stone pagoda with its mandorla and a main hall listed as cultural heritage material. Both are worth seeing. Only one has the bell.
Can I walk the full ridge in spring?
Not while the fire-season closures are on. The two sections the park shuts, Hwanggol junction to Gotjaejae and Hyangnobong to the Yeongwon Fortress junction, both sit in the middle of the traverse. In 2025 that ran 4 March to 30 April. Two other lines stay open in the same period through advance booking, but they do not link the ends of the ridge.
Where does the name come from?
The park says it was once called Jeogaksan, the red peak, for its autumn colour. As for the modern name, the park quotes the local saying that it makes your teeth chatter - chi - and leaves you enraged - ak - and then immediately adds that the reputation is not deserved. We have found that phrase in its own course text, used to dismiss it rather than endorse it.