Yesterday I went with a local hiking group to a small mountain in Imsil, which is in North Jeolla Province in South Korea. As South Korea is made of about 70% of mountains, there are so many worthy mountains to visit that don’t make the “top 100” or even “top 200” or so lists of mountains in Korea. One of the benefits of visiting some of the smaller mountains is being able to get away from the crowds that often hit the larger, more popular mountains on the weekends.

The car ride from Jeonju took about about 30 minutes or so, and it was a scenic drive partly up a windy mountain road. We visited Kuksabong, Obongsan, and Okjeongho Lake.

Okjeongho Lake, as partly seen in this picture, was the highlight of the trip. Okjeongho Lake is a man-made lake. The island seen pictured is called “Carp Island.” Although it’s a little difficult to make out in this picture, I’ve been told that when the water level rises, the small island resembles a carp fish.

On the way up to the small peak, Kuksabong, there were a few platforms set up where you could take pictures. Although it’s a bit hard to see in the picture below, very far off in the distance, you can see the two peaks of the famous mountain, Maisan (Mai Mountain). Maisan is famous for having two peaks close to each other that are said to resemble the ears of horses.

Also, we could see Moaksan clearly in the distance (not shown in this picture). Moaksan is a mountain very close to Jeonju, where I have been staying.

The hiking course was short. We went from Kuksabong to Obongsan and back. Round trip took only about 2 hours.

Here’s a view from the top. The snow-covered mountain peaks in the distance are really pretty, and I hope I can get some winter hiking in with some good snow before winter ends.