One crossing, and it is rock most of the way
The park publishes a single course here. Yonghwa hot spring, up to Sanghakbong at 862 m, across to Myobong at 874 m, then down by Bukgachi to Mitasa: 7.3 km in 4 hours 30 minutes. The three section figures — 3.7, 1.0 and 2.6 km — add to exactly that.
It is a crossing rather than a loop, but the two ends are close: from Mitasa the park says it is about 2 km back to Yonghwa hot spring along the village road.
What the distance leaves out is that roughly 2 km of village road back to the start. Budget it.
On the ground the park is blunt: continuous rock ridge with severe ups and downs, many rock sections carrying a high risk of falling, stone steps and decomposed granite to slip on, and rising water in the stream when it rains. Its own photo captions show fixed ropes and a rock arch.
The booking system, and its expiry date
Park notice 2026-24 places this course under reservation control from 1 September to 31 October 2026.
The terms: 310 people a day, gates from 09:00 to 18:00, last entry 13:00 according to the booking page, everyone gathering at the Unheung-ri control point. You can book online or register at a booth on the day, and one person may book for up to ten. Parking at Unheung-ri is explicitly not available. Going in without registering risks a fine of up to 500,000 won under Article 86 of the Natural Parks Act.
Note the dates carefully. This is a two-month scheme for this season, not a permanent fixture, and the notice does not say whether it will be extended or repeated. If you are reading this outside those months, check the current notice rather than trusting this paragraph.
Two distances, both official
The park course record gives 7.3 km and 4 hours 30. The reservation notice and Boeun county both give 7 km and about five hours for the round trip.
For planning, use 7.3 km and 4 hours 30, which come from the same record. The other published figure is not wrong in any obvious way.
For what it is worth, the grade comes out the same on either: 1.6 km an hour on the park figures, 1.4 on the notice figures. Both are slow, and the rock is why.
It does not connect to Munjangdae
Look at a map of Songnisan and Myobong sits at the end of a ridge that runs on through Gwaneumbong to Munjangdae, the park’s famous rock platform. It is a natural-looking continuation and it is closed.
The park states that the Bukgachi to Gwaneumbong to Munjangdae section is a non-designated trail and is under closure. Not seasonal — year round.
Boeun county also closes a separate route on this mountain, Sinjeong-ri over Aegi-eopeun-bawi to Sanghakbong, 4.5 km. That is a different line from the one on this page, and it is worth knowing about if you find it described elsewhere.
Spring closes it too
The park’s 2026 spring notice names this route directly — Yonghwa district to Maebong to Myobong to Bukgachi to Minpandong, 7 km — as a closed section from 3 March to 30 April. That one is in plain text, which is not always the case.
The autumn closure runs from 15 November to 15 December over 13 sections, but the park publishes the section list as a map image and Myobong’s inclusion is not clear from the available text. Check the current closure map before you go.
Above all of that sits the national fire-risk season, 20 January to 15 May, which is a different and longer calendar and not itself a trail closure. Three overlapping systems, and only the plain-text one is certain.
The clock, twice over
Timed access on the Unheung-ri to Myobong to Mitasa line is 05:00 to 13:00 in winter and 04:00 to 14:00 in summer. During the reservation season there is a second cut-off: last entry 13:00 on the booking page.
Against a four-and-a-half-hour crossing neither is generous. Arrive early and you are fine; arrive late and you are not getting on the hill at all.
A note on Beopjusa
Songnisan National Park is known for Beopjusa, and people reasonably assume a temple admission charge applies somewhere in the park. It does not apply here: Beopjusa is on a different side of the park and this route does not pass it. No entrance fee is published for this course and no admission charge for Mitasa at the far end.
How to take it
Check the booking page first — whether you need a booking at all depends on the month you are reading this. If the scheme is running, reserve, and aim to be at Unheung-ri well before the 13:00 cut-off.
Sort the logistics before you drive out: no parking at the start, and about 2 km of village road from the finish back to it. Then treat it as a rock day rather than a 900-metre hill, because the park does.