Roger Shepherd - Baekdu Daegan Hiking Koreas Mountain Spine

BAEKDU DAEGAN HIKING KOREAS MOUNTAIN SPINE

By Roger Shepherd

Copyright2017 Roger Shepherd

No part of this ebook may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of Roger Shepherd

Published by HIKEKOREA

ISBN: 979-11- 962069-0-1

Printed by Samsung Moonhwa Printing Co., Ltd.

The author and publisher assume no liability for any accidents sustained by readers who engage in the activities in this book.

Contents

Authors Note

It was by chance that I stumbled on the Baekdu Daegan in South Korea when it was introduced to me on a map by a friend of mine. I was in Korea on a holiday with a plan to explore its national parks, but when I saw that red line squiggling its way up the center of the peninsula, and I asked what it was, Andrew told me, people trekked it. I was instantly fixed. Thats what Ill do, I said.

So, in June 2006, I set off on a walk, carrying little language skills with a set of large Korean wall maps. On the maps, the Baekdu Daegan mountain names had been transcribed into pronounceable English. It was on that walk, that I met other Koreans hiking the Great Ridge, and some spoke enough English to tell me, that the Baekdu Daegan was more than just a ridge that Koreans walked, it was also a pilgrimage that made them more Korean. This made me think more about where I was walking, and whether I should be recording this journey. By then, I was nearing the halfway mark, when I was met with a deluge of monsoon rains that wouldnt quit. So, I got off the ridge and, on my way down I decided that I wouldnt return to the Baekdu Daegan. Instead, I made a vow to return the next year, complete it, and also write a guidebook about it.

The Baekdu Daegan had by then, not only provided great scenery on an unexplored part of Korea, that was still relatively unknown to outsiders, but it had also allowed me to meet many local people, on or near the trail, that added a human touch to the hilly journey. I wanted to write about it.

In September 2007, I set off with Andrew. We walked from Jiri - san for seventy days to the end of the Baekdu Daegan in South Korea, some 687.3km later, near the DMZ border with North Korea.

We spent the next two years of our free time writing the guidebook, which was published in August 2010. By then I had contracted a bug for Koreas endless mountain scape, and its thousands and thousands of kilometres of trailed ridges and valleys. In 2009, I came back to Korea again and went on a six-month wander, exploring South Koreas subsidiary ridges, when I came to the decision to leave a perfectly healthy career in New Zealand for a new challenge in Korea.

I started a company called HIKEKOREA, that would specialize in mountain guiding for foreign visitors. I also took up photography and writing with a plan to publish books. By chance, I began an inter-Korean relationship that saw me travel between North and South Korea many times, taking photos and writing tales about the Baekdu Daegan mountains in the North, that I shared with the Koreans on both sides. In a way the wander didnt stop.

Since the first guidebook, many other foreigners have come to Korea, and from what I was told, have had many memorable experiences along the ridge trail. When the publisher decided not to remake a newly updated edition, I went about the task of making and publishing this one myself. To do this I wrote a series of short stories on foreigners experiences on the Baekdu Daegan. The stories were translated into Korean and posted weekly on Daum storyfunding site. Money was subsequently raised from Korean sponsors. This meant that the opportunity of exploring one of the worlds best, yet unknown long-distance hiking trails, stayed alive.

Ive yet to hear disappointment from any hikers of the Baekdu Daegan. Some jeer its physicality, which is correct, but all like to remark on its beauty, the social connection it gave them with the Koreans, and the insight they garnered on themselves.

Please enjoy yourselves out there, leave no rubbish, and be sure to take your time, as there will be many unforgettable distractions for you along the way. Leave a good impression.

Roger Shepherd.

GETTING READY

What is the Baekdu Daegan?

T he Baekdu Daegan or White-head Great-ridge is a 1400km mountain-system that forms the backbone of the Korean Peninsula. It fittingly starts on the peninsulas highest feature, Mt. Baekdu-san (2744m) a dormant volcano with a gigantic crater-lake that sits on the current border between China and North Korea, forming to its east the natural river-frontier of the Tumen River all the way to the East Sea, and to its west the other water-frontier of the Yalu (Amrok) River, which empties into the Yellow Sea. From the mythological hide-outs of Baekdu-san a ridge line runs south down the east coast of North Korea mutating into the Taebaek (Grand White) Mountain Range, piercing the barb-wired frontier of the DMZ, entering South Korea, and then veering west towards central South Korea, subsequently becoming the Sobaek (Smaller White) Mountain Range, where it then turns south and ends at its recognised point on South Koreas highest mainland peak of Cheonwang-bong (1915m) in Jiri-san National Park.

This ridge line is genuine in that it never crosses water, and is, therefore, the disperser of all water all along the peninsula. Assisting the Baekdu Daegan with water management are fourteen subsidiary ridges known as jeong-maeks that channel all of Koreas major rivers into its flanking three seas. The Baekdu Daegans geographical territory, therefore, includes most of Koreas highest peaks, many of which have been regarded as places of cultural significance since ancient times. The sacred virtues of the mountains of Korea have been accepted by the people of Korea for at least 5000 years, and then historically recorded by early Korean scholars and Buddhists more than a thousand years ago. The topography of this nation is recognised as a living entity consisting of mountains and water that sustain life, making the Koreans one with the geomantic energies of their landscape.

The Baekdu Daegan in its essence is a geographical feature. The idea of hiking it probably developed in the 80s period as a result of South Koreas development in personal wealth, recreational freedom, cultural globalisation, and a genetically-ingrained nature for mountain-roaming. Over the next three decades, subsequent academic and empirical research has seen the Baekdu Daegan slowly become dotted with memorabilia and monuments that mark a newly-blazed trail that reflects an ancient course that covers the history of Korea.

The Baekdu Daegan as a Hiking Trail in South Korea

The Baekdu Daegan is not an official hiking trail. No one in South Korea has successfully taken ownership of it in that sense, and unfortunately, it is not managed or promoted as a national trail by the Korean government, which is perhaps one reason why the Baekdu Daegan remains an obscure and rarely visited trek for non-Koreans. Although the Korea Forest Service are the official custodians of the Baekdu Daegan zone, local governments, and the Korea National Parks Service also have their own say on sections of the Baekdu Daegan, that can leave it better managed in some places, and not so in others.

What it is, is a pure mountain ridge that organically became a pilgrimage trail for Koreans to develop personal national identity. To be more Korean. When they see a foreign face on it, they will want to know why, and whether you understand what the Baekdu Daegan represents to them. Im sure you will discover that for yourselves, but hopefully, this book can help you become aware of its special place in the hearts and minds of the Korean people. At this stage in time, the Baekdu Daegan can only be hiked in South Korea. In South Korea, it reportedly extends for 687.3km from Hyangno-bong in the DMZ to Cheonwang-bong (1915m) in the central south. Figures differ according to each hiker. The elevation gain and loss figure is about 40,000m each way. Pretty big, so be ready for that. In some sections of the eight national parks it passes through, the trail is closed collectively for as many as 80 to 100kms of the entire 687km distance. The ridge line of the Baekdu Daegan is tough and by no means an easy task. It continuously undulates steeply up and down over features ranging from 200m to 1915m absl, all of it evenly distributed. However, these attainable heights make the Baekdu Daegan accessible for anyone with the determination and will to complete it, either in short sections each weekend or vacation, or as a grand two-month trek.