This weekend I hiked Dinosaur Ridge, which is located in Seoraksan (Seorak Mountain). Dinosaur Ridge is translated in Korean as 공룡능선 and it is named as such since the ridge with its peaks resembles the back of a dinosaur.

Dinosaur Ridge had been on my list of hiking courses to tackle ever since I heard of it. It is infamous among Koreans for being one of the most difficult hiking courses in Korea. One has to go up and down various peaks, many of which are quite steep. Also, there is no shade, so on a hot day, the sun could be scorching. Finally, there are no water sources once you start on the trail, and once you enter the trail, there is no easy way out except for a couple hours hike in either direction.

These days, dinosaur ridge is not as difficult as it once was since there are now many handrails and ropes for hikers to use. In the past, the course was much more difficult since without the handrails and ropes, at times, one would be literally doing rock climbing up cliff faces.

A fellow hiker I met a few weeks ago used to be a rescue member at Seorak Mountain back in his 20s. He told me that at that time, cellphones and GPS were not available, so rescue members had to guess where hikers might be stranded. Also, at that time, access to Dinosaur Ridge was restricted - the park service would count exactly how many people entered and exited in order to ensure the safety of hikers.

I went on this hike with a local meetup group. We met late on Friday evening and drove to Seoraksan. We got there around 1 AM in the morning. We rested in the car for about an hour or so, and then we got out around 2 AM and started to get ready for the hike.

We started our hike around 2:30 AM at the main park entrance (Seorakdong Information Center). It was dark outside as you can see from the photo. Looking up we could see the stars outside.

As we continued our hike, we passed through various waterfalls. The sound of the waterfalls was wonderful, and the hike was peaceful. After a couple of hours, it started to get bright outside. We stopped for breakfast outside a shelter. We fueled up for our hike with ramyen, bread, fruit, and hot coffee.

We did the full hike of Dinosaur ridge. From Biseondae Rock, we went up and west. After reaching Huingak Shelter, we entered Dinosaur Ridge. The hike was about 5 km to Madongyeong Samgeoryi, and then another 3.5 km down a very steep course back down to Biseondae.

The view from the top was wonderful. There were some clouds, but overall the air quality was good and the sky was blue.

On the way down, we were also treated to spectacular views of the ocean.

The final leg of Dinosaur Ridge was probably the most difficult. It was very steep, and there were rocks and more rocks to scramble over as the route was straight down.

I had gotten separated a little from my group. The leaders in the front were steaming ahead, and the ones behind were a bit slow. I ended up making the way down by myself for about 2 hours or so. As the course down was different from the way up, I wondered a bit whether I was on the right path, but in the end I finally came back to Biseondae Rock, which is where the route had earlier split.

The final leg of the hike was a nice stroll alongside a valley with small waterfalls, and it was wonderful. I arrived at the main entrance around 5:30 PM, so the hike from start to finish took about 15 hours. The group ahead of me got there about an hour or so earlier, and the group behind about an hour later.

Seoraksan so far, remains by far my favorite mountain - the scenery, the blue sky, the clear air, the waterfalls, and in fall, the autumn foilage, make Seorak Mountain one of the best parks in Korea.