Daedunsan hike info

Daedunsan is only 879 m, not a tall mountain, but one look up changes your mind. Pale granite stands like blades, and an iron bridge hangs in the air between two of them. It is nicknamed the Geumgangsan of Honam, and the nickname is earned. Nonsan and Geumsan in Chungnam and Wanju in Jeonbuk share the mountain, so the scenery changes with the side you climb from.

The stars are the Geumgang Cloud Bridge and the Samseon Stairs. You cross a gap some 80 m deep on a steel bridge, then pull yourself up 127 iron steps at a 51-degree slope, hands on the rails. The summit, Maecheondae, has no boulder marker; a ten-metre pioneer tower from 1970 stands there instead. In autumn, red leaves squeeze into every crack of the rock wall.

On a tired day, take the cable car from the Wanju side, five minutes to the foot of the bridge, then walk about 40 minutes to the top. If your legs are fresh, longer trails start from Ansimsa or from Taegosa on the Geumsan side. The summit is windier and cooler than the villages below.

From Seoul (BUS)

From Daejeon, Jeonju and elsewhere (BUS)

To the trailhead (LOC)