Jeoksangsan hike info

The name Jeoksangsan means red skirt, and in autumn the cliffs ringing its waist do look like one. The peak is 1,030.6 m, yet the top is oddly flat: a wide basin opens at about 800 m, walled by sheer rock. That made a natural fortress, and a mountain wall was built here in the Goryeo era. The Joseon court later put an archive for the royal annals inside it.

Today a reservoir, Jeoksang Lake, fills the middle of the basin as the upper pond of the Muju pumped-storage plant. Fortress ruins, the temple Anguksa, the archive site and the lake all sit on one mountain top. From the Hyangnobong ridge you look down on the Deogyusan range and the Muju plain. Colour peaks from late October to early November, and the rock walls near the west gate and Jangdo rock turn reddest.

There are two ways up. Walk from Seochang to Anguksa and the summit, or drive the mountain road close to the lake and take short walks. On foot, the basin entrance is two to three hours away.

From Seoul (BUS)

From Daejeon, Jeonju and elsewhere (BUS)

To the trailhead (LOC)