Both routes finish on steel stairs over rock slab. On the Cheongnyangdong side the park counts three flights in the upper 1.1 km, describes the gradient as very high and the section as physically draining, and captions one of its own photographs of it accident-prone section. On the Dwaejigol side the final 700 m is steep and heavily stepped.
The upper 700 m of the Dwaejigol route has, in the park’s phrasing, many habitually icing sections in winter, with slipping and sprains the stated risk. One of its captions for that stretch is habitual icing zone. In spring and during summer rain the same ground turns to mud.
Even the gentle half is rock. On the Dwaejigol approach the earth path ends 500 m in and the rest is rock slab, where the park names sprains and fractures as the hazard rather than falls.
When a heavy rain advisory is issued, this park closes every trail except 1.3 km of the Sorigil path into Haeinsa - both routes on this page included - and it happens often: four times between 18 July and 30 August 2026, with the last reopening at 04:00 on 31 August. Check the park's trail status page on the morning you go, not the week before.
Dwaejigol Trail Support Centre to the shoulder of Obongsan at 1.9 km and an hour, then 0.7 km and thirty minutes to the summit at 1,010 m. The park gives the round trip as about two and a half hours.
★ This is the one course in this park, and one of very few anywhere in the Korean system, where the height climbed can be read straight off the official text. In the park’s own sentence: the summit is 1,010 m, and the starting point - it names Dwaejigol Trail Support Centre in brackets - is about 600 m. That is 410 m between the two ends of this route. It is not a cumulative climb figure, which nobody publishes, so we have recorded it for what it is: the difference between two stated spot heights on one course.
The first 1.9 km is the pleasant part - gentle gradient alongside a stream, earth path for the first 500 m and then bare rock, where the park warns about twisted ankles and broken bones rather than anything more dramatic.
The last 700 m is different: steep, heavily stepped, and in winter the park describes it as having many habitually icy sections, with slipping and sprains the named risk. In spring and after summer rain parts of it turn to mud. The photograph captions on that section read like a warning list - habitual icing zone, steep section before the summit, summit steel stairs.
One note on the park’s own records: its summary field gives the trailhead as the Haein Tourist Hotel, while its course text, its facility captions, its timed-entry table and its bus directions all say Dwaejigol Trail Support Centre. Start at the Dwaejigol Trail Support Centre.
Cheongnyangdong to Namsanjeilbong
Reaches summit
Strenuous
One way
2.3 km
Time
1 h 50 m
2.3 km in 1 hour 50 minutes: the Cheongnyangdong centre to a viewpoint at 1.2 km and fifty minutes, then 1.1 km and an hour to the summit. That works out at well under a kilometre and a half an hour, which tells you what the ground is like.
The park opens its description by saying the path climbs steeply from the entrance and asks for what it calls slow walking, for safety. It repeats the phrase for the first section, where the surface is timber steps and rock slab, and adds that going slowly protects your knees as well.
The second section is mostly bare rock with a very high gradient and, in the park’s words, a great many steel stairways - it counts three flights. One of its own photograph captions for that stretch is simply "accident-prone section". Others name a rock called Gawibawibo, after the game, and Chotdaebawi, the candlestick.
Unlike the Dwaejigol route, no elevation is published for this trailhead, so the 410 m figure on the other card does not transfer to this one.
Getting there
Dwaejigol Trail Support Centre
The park’s directions run to the Haeinsa bus terminal and then on foot to the Dwaejigol centre. Note that the park’s own course summary field names the Haein Tourist Hotel as the start instead; every other record says Dwaejigol.
Bus OK
Cheongnyangdong Trail Support Centre
The southern approach, below Cheongnyangsa temple. No parking charge appears anywhere in the park’s fee tables - the tables have no car park section at all, which is not the same as parking being free.
Course overview
Route overview · reference only
Primary route
Dwaejigol to Namsanjeilbong
2.6 km1 h 30 m
Routes on this mountain
Dwaejigol to NamsanjeilbongPrimary
Cheongnyangdong to Namsanjeilbong
Course overview · reference only — a schematic of the routes, not an actual navigation route or GPS track.
Haeinsa keeps the Tripitaka Koreana - eighty-one thousand woodblocks, carved in the thirteenth century, stored in buildings designed to preserve them without machinery. Namsanjeilbong is the peak on the other side of the valley from it, and almost nobody writing in English mentions that you can climb it.
The one mountain where we can tell you the height gain
Every other page on this site says the same thing in its metrics: no cumulative climb figure is published. The Korean park service does not release them, and we will not calculate them off a map. This mountain is the exception, by accident.
Two qualifications. This is the gap between two spot heights, not a cumulative climb - the real total will be higher, because the path rises and falls. And it applies only to the Dwaejigol route; the Cheongnyangdong trailhead has no published elevation anywhere, so the same arithmetic cannot be done for it.
It is worth flagging what the park means by "without great physical effort" as well. It is comparing this to the 1,430 m summit of Gayasan across the valley. In absolute terms, 2.6 km taking an hour and a half is not a stroll.
Both routes end on steel stairs
The park opens the Cheongnyangdong description by telling you the path climbs steeply from the entrance and asking for slow walking, and it repeats that phrase for the first section - not for the summit push, but for the approach. It also mentions knees, which is a park thinking about the way down.
The Dwaejigol route is the more forgiving of the two for most of its length: gentle gradient beside a stream, earth path for the first 500 m, then rock, with sprains and fractures named as the hazard. It is the last 700 m that earns the grade.
Neither route has any rockfall warning in its text. The neighbouring Gayasan route does - one of its captions marks a rockfall risk zone on the Baegundong side - but that warning belongs to the other mountain.
This is not Gayasan
Gayasan National Park has a summit called Sangwangbong at 1,430 m, with Chilbulbong a couple of hundred metres from it. Namsanjeilbong at 1,010 m is a different peak in the southern part of the park, and the routes up it do not connect to the Gayasan ones in a day.
On the name: the park gives Cheonbulsan, the thousand-buddha mountain, as the alternative. The national heritage register instead places Cheongnyangsa temple on the slopes of Maehwasan, the plum blossom mountain. Two official bodies, two names, and no statement reconciling them - so we use the park’s.
And a caution for anyone reading around this park in the same sitting: Manmulsang is the name of a course here, on the Baegundong side, and also the name of a feature in the Sogeumgang valley of Odaesan, two provinces north. Sangwangbong is the name of the Gayasan summit at 1,430 m and also of a peak on Odaesan at 1,491 m. Korean peak names repeat.
When the rain comes, the park closes
That is a live operational pattern rather than a seasonal rule, which means the useful advice is to check the status page on the morning you travel. Several hours of driving is a long way to come to find a barrier.
What is not published
Whether anything on this mountain closes in the fire season. The park states the 2026 spring fire-risk period as 20 January to 15 May, but its notices for that period carry a fire-safety cartoon and no closure notice - while other parks in the same system published proper announcements in the same window. That absence is not evidence of anything. Ask the office.
Whether Haeinsa charges a cultural property fee. Korea abolished most temple admission charges in 2023, but no official statement covering this temple is published. Carry some cash rather than assume entry is free.
And what parking costs. The Gayasan fee page has no car park section at all - an absence rather than a zero. Nor is there any published elevation for the Cheongnyangdong trailhead, which is why only one of the two cards on this page carries a height gain.
FAQ
Is this the summit of Gayasan?
No. Gayasan’s summit is Sangwangbong at 1,430 m, with Chilbulbong beside it, and both are reached from Haeinsa or Baegundong on the other side of the valley. Namsanjeilbong is a separate 1,010 m peak in the southern part of the same national park, and no route links the two in a day.
Which of the two routes should I take?
Dwaejigol if you want the gentler one - 2.6 km, an hour and a half up, with the first two-thirds on easy gradient beside a stream. Cheongnyangdong if you want the direct line, 2.3 km in 1 hour 50, steep from the entrance and finishing on three flights of steel stairs. The park describes Dwaejigol as reaching the top without great effort, which is relative.
How much height do I actually climb?
On the Dwaejigol route, 410 m - and this is the only place on this site where we can tell you that from official figures. The park states in one sentence that the summit is 1,010 m and the Dwaejigol trailhead about 600 m. For the Cheongnyangdong route there is no published trailhead height, so the same sum cannot be done.
Is it dangerous in winter?
The upper part of the Dwaejigol route is the concern. The park says it has many habitually icing sections and names slipping and sprains as the risk, and captions one of its own photographs of that stretch habitual icing zone. Both routes finish on steel stairs over rock. Crampons are the obvious answer; so is picking a different month.
Do I need to book?
Not for these routes. Gayasan runs a reservation scheme, but it covers the Manmulsang course on the Baegundong side. Neither Namsanjeilbong route is included.
What is the trailhead actually called?
Dwaejigol Trail Support Centre. The park’s structured summary for the route says Haein Tourist Hotel instead, but its course text, its facility photograph captions, its timed-entry table and its bus directions all say Dwaejigol - five records to one. The hotel is a landmark near the bus stop; the park does not explain the discrepancy.