Nogosan: An Easy Loop Hike Near Seoul With Big Views
Daily · Published 12/30/2022 ·
Let me introduce you to Nogosan, a mountain that’s incredibly easy to get to from Seoul.
It’s a loop trail — you start and finish at the same point — and takes around two hours. Even at a leisurely pace, you’ll be back at the parking lot where you started within two and a half hours.
The difficulty is gentle enough that complete beginners can enjoy it without any pressure,
but it also offers stunning views — it feels like you’re looking right at Bukhansan, up close. The scenery is genuinely spectacular.
When I pick a mountain, there are a few things I look at. The first is how to get there.
Either good public transit or a decent parking lot — otherwise the coming and going becomes a hassle.
By public transit, get off at Gupabal Station on Seoul Subway Line 3, hop on a bus headed for Bukhansan, and get off at the Heungguksa Temple entrance.
From there, you just walk.
For parking, search for Heungguksa Temple in Goyang. Temples vary depending on their situation, but Heungguksa doesn’t charge for parking.
They won’t even say a word if you leave your car overnight to go backpacking.
Start from the Heungguksa parking lot and follow the trail on up.
On the way down, just reverse it… but whenever you hit a fork, the rule of thumb is left > left > left > left.
If you pick right instead of left, you’ll end up somewhere completely wrong — Geumbawi Reservoir, Samha-ri, that sort of thing — so be careful.
The elevation climbs steadily. So, like the graph above, take it easy and manage your heart rate as you go, or just catch your breath every five or ten minutes. Do that and the climb stays comfortable.
It may be a local neighborhood mountain, but plenty of people come to backpack here, and it gets a fair number of hikers.
It varies with the temperature, but your estimated water loss is around 900ml, so figure your actual intake at about half that.
In other words, heading up with a single 500ml bottle is no problem at all on this hike.
There’s nowhere to get water on the mountain, so bring it ahead of time — or fill up with spring water at Heungguksa on your way up.
This is a helipad with the summit marker tucked off in one corner.
The actual summit has a military base, so access is restricted.
A lot of people backpack in that spot. Everything else is great — I just wish folks would do something about the trash. ^^;;
Sorry for the ugly photo out of nowhere. ^^;;
This is a mountain you can climb light, with just a crossbody bag.
It’s fine in the dead of summer and the dead of winter alike. There’s hardly any rock — it’s mostly an earthen mountain, made up of soil.
It’s perfect for a light day trip just outside Seoul.
Some people even do two or three laps as a workout.
That was Nogosan — easy to park at and easy to get to.
I’m attaching the Nogosan GPX.
If you need it, download it, load it onto your device, and head up; on the way down, just use your device’s backtrack feature to find your way home.
Attachment
Nogosan.gpx
Thanks for reading.
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