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Gyeongbuk

Daeyasan

9.8 km loopStrenuous

Daeyasan is one of the few mountains in this guide where the official route comes back to where it started. Nine point eight kilometres out of the Yongchu valley, over a 930-metre summit and down the Piagol to the car. No second car, no taxi, no working out the bus from a village you have never heard of. That alone makes it worth knowing about.

Safety

No booking is needed — Songnisan has two reservation-controlled sections and this is not one of them. There is no park entrance fee and no temple on the route. Mungyeong includes the mountain in a restricted-entry area covering nearly eleven million square metres, but lists this circuit as an open trail within it, and states that the national park office is the body that opens and closes trails here.

입산통제 고시 제2025-173호 · 대야산 안내 — 문경시

The park describes the 400 m section from the summit toward the Piagol as difficult on account of the gradient and states the difficulty of the route as very high. There are many steps along it, and the park tells you to be especially careful of accidents on them in winter, recommending crampons and poles for the icing sections. There is no mention of rock scrambling or exposure in its text.

속리산국립공원 탐방코스 — 대야산

Do not read the park’s live status flag as the whole picture. It records no restriction on this course, yet Mungyeong maintains a restricted-entry designation over the mountain and the park runs its own seasonal closures. Both of those exist outside the field you would check first. Look at the current notices, not the flag.

입산통제 고시 제2025-173호 · 대야산 안내 — 문경시

Timed access on the Wolyeongdae to Daeyasan line is 05:00 to 14:00 in winter and 04:00 to 15:00 in summer. The circuit takes the better part of six hours, so the winter cut-off decides your start time for you.

입산시간지정제 — 속리산국립공원

Neighbouring Dundeoksan is closed under the same Mungyeong notice that lists this circuit as open. If you are combining peaks from a map rather than from the notice, check which side of the line each one falls.

입산통제 고시 제2025-173호 · 대야산 안내 — 문경시

Routes

1 routes · 1 reach the summit
Yongchu Valley Circuit over the SummitPrimary
Reaches summit
Strenuous
Round trip
9.8 km
Time
5 h 50 m

Yongchu valley car park to Wolyeongdae and Miljae, over the summit and down the Piagol back to Wolyeongdae: 9.8 km in 5 hours 50 minutes. The park labels it a circuit in its own text, which is rarer than it sounds.

A time discrepancy to know about. The course header says 5 hours 50 and the section breakdown in the same document adds to 4 hours 50 — an hour apart, while the distances agree at 9.8 km either way. Nothing states which is authoritative. Plan on 5 hours 50, the longer of the two and the one that matches the park’s course data.

The park singles out the 400 m from the summit down toward the Piagol as difficult because of the gradient, says the difficulty is very high, notes there are many steps and tells you to take particular care on them in winter, and lists crampons and poles for the icing sections.

Getting there

Daeyasan stands above the Yongchu valley in Mungyeong, on the Gyeongbuk side of Songnisan National Park. There is one official course and it is a genuine circuit: out from the valley car park by Wolyeongdae and Miljae, over the summit, and back down the Piagol. Mungyeong publishes car parks here but no rates; the national park runs no car park of its own anywhere in Songnisan, having leased them out.

Yongchu Valley Car Park
Mungyeong names a Yongchu car park and two further Daeyasan car parks, and the park’s own driving directions end at a Daeyasan car park. No rate is published by anyone, and the national park operates no car park in Songnisan at all — its facilities are leased out. Expect to pay something and carry cash.
Source: 속리산국립공원 탐방코스 — 대야산

Course overview

Route overview · reference only
Primary route
Yongchu Valley Circuit over the Summit
9.8 km5 h 50 m
Routes on this mountain
  • Yongchu Valley Circuit over the SummitPrimary

Course overview · reference only — a schematic of the routes, not an actual navigation route or GPS track.

A circuit, and the park says so

The route runs from the Yongchu valley car park to Wolyeongdae and the Miljae pass, over the top, and back down the Piagol to Wolyeongdae. The park calls it a circuit in its own text — most Korean course listings leave you to deduce the shape from the place names.

Nine point eight kilometres, five hours fifty. The section figures come to 4.4, 1.0 and 4.4 km, which is exactly 9.8.

The times do not behave as well. Those same sections add to 4 hours 50, an hour less than the header. Nothing in either document says which is right. Plan on 5 hours 50 — it sits in the park’s course data beside the distance, and underestimating a six-hour day is the more expensive error.

The hard part is the last 400 metres of the climb

The park names it: the 400 m stretch from the summit toward the Piagol is difficult on account of the gradient, and it rates the route’s difficulty as very high.

It also says there are many steps, that winter accidents on them are a particular concern, and that the icing sections want crampons and poles. What it does not say anywhere is anything about rock, scrambling or exposure — this is a steep stepped mountain rather than a rocky one.

Nine point eight kilometres at under 1.7 km an hour puts it at our hardest grade, and the park’s own wording agrees.

Two authorities, one mountain

This is the thing that makes Daeyasan confusing on paper, and Mungyeong explains it better than we could. Its own notice states that Daeyasan falls within the national park, and therefore that Songnisan National Park manages the opening and closing of trails on it.

So the city owns the land designation and the park runs the paths. Both publish. Mungyeong places the mountain inside a restricted-entry area of almost eleven million square metres while listing this circuit as an open trail, and gives the circuit as 4.8 km in its own numbering where the park gives 9.8. The route names are effectively the same; the measuring is not.

For planning, use the park figures: the park manages the trail, and its distance and time come from the same record. The city publishes a different figure, so do not be thrown if you meet it elsewhere.

Do not trust the status flag

The park’s status flag for this course records no restriction. If you checked only that field you would conclude the mountain is unrestricted, and you would be wrong twice over: Mungyeong maintains a restricted-entry designation across it, and the park runs seasonal trail closures that the field does not reflect.

We mention this because it is a trap we walked into elsewhere and had to correct. The flag is not the notice.

When it closes, as far as anyone will say

The park’s spring closure runs 3 March to 30 April and its autumn one 15 November to 15 December. Both section lists are published as map images, so whether this circuit is named on either is not readable from the notices.

Mungyeong’s own fire period runs 1 November 2025 to 15 May 2026, and within that its notice lists the circuit as open. The park office separately confirmed in 2026 that Wolyeongdae to Miljae to Daeyasan to Piagol to Wolyeongdae is the designated route.

The safe reading: it is a designated open route, and the seasonal position is not fully published in a form anyone can check. Look at both bodies’ current notices before a spring or late-autumn trip.

One more thing from the same notice: neighbouring Dundeoksan is closed. If you are stitching peaks together from a map rather than from the notice, that is the sort of detail that ends a day early.

Three heights from one city

Mungyeong publishes 930.7 m, 931 m and 930 m for Daeyasan in different places. The national park publishes no height for it at all.

For height, use 930.7 m: it appears twice and it is the most precise. The other two look like roundings of it rather than competing measurements, though no official source says so.

Parking, and the gap where a price should be

Mungyeong names a Yongchu car park and two further Daeyasan car parks, and the park’s driving directions end at one of them. Nobody publishes a rate.

The national park itself operates no car park anywhere in Songnisan — its own facility page records them as leased out. So whatever you pay at the valley, you are not paying the park. No rate is published for it.

The clock

The Wolyeongdae to Daeyasan control point runs 05:00 to 14:00 from November to March and 04:00 to 15:00 from April to October.

A six-hour circuit against a two o’clock winter cut-off leaves the decision made for you. Be there at opening.

Who it suits

Anyone who wants a full day that ends at their own car. It is steep, stepped and long enough to matter, without the rock and exposure that several other mountains in this guide put in front of you.

Check both notices, start early, and take poles for the descent.

FAQ

Is it really a loop?

Yes, and the park says so in its own text — one of the few routes in this guide labelled a circuit rather than left for the reader to work out. Out by Wolyeongdae and Miljae, over the summit, back down the Piagol to where you parked. 9.8 km, about six hours, no transport to arrange at the far end.

Six hours or five?

The course header says 5 hours 50 and the section breakdown in the same document adds to 4 hours 50. The distances match at 9.8 km, so it is the time that disagrees with itself. Plan on 5 hours 50 — it comes from the park’s course data alongside the distance, and planning short on a six-hour day is the worse mistake.

What is the hard part?

The 400 m below the summit on the Piagol side. The park calls that stretch difficult because of the gradient and rates the route’s difficulty as very high. There are a lot of steps, and it warns specifically about them in winter, recommending crampons and poles for icy sections. It does not describe rock scrambling anywhere.

Who actually manages this mountain?

Both Mungyeong and the national park, and the city says so plainly: Daeyasan is inside the national park, so Songnisan National Park opens and closes the trails. Mungyeong still designates the mountain as restricted-entry land and publishes its own notice. That is why you may find two sets of dates and two different distances for the same circuit.

When is it closed?

Harder to answer than it should be. The park’s spring closure runs 3 March to 30 April and the autumn one 15 November to 15 December, but both section lists are published as images, so whether this circuit is on them is not readable. Mungyeong’s own fire period is 1 November to 15 May and it lists the circuit as open. Check both bodies before a spring or late-autumn trip.

How high is the summit?

930.7 m, which is the figure Mungyeong gives most often and most precisely. The same city also publishes 931 m and 930 m elsewhere, and the national park gives no height for this peak at all. Three numbers from one authority is unusual; we take the one with the decimal.

Sources & last reviewed · 3 sources

Last reviewed 2026-09-21