palgongsan mountain | GRRRL TRAVELER

Written by Christine Ka'aloa

Making a Pilgrimage : The Hike to Gatbawi

The saying is, you can take your wishes to Gatbawi Buddha (the Stone Hat Buddha) and pray for them to come true. But that’s if you can reach him! The trail to Gatbawi is a steep 3-hour hike up Palgongsan mountain and there are two ways to go about it 1) you can take the rock steps, an steep 75 degree incline climb or 2) take the mountaineer’s trekking path. Both are pretty intense but the stairway will probably give you the hardest and sweatiest workout, as it just keeps ascending while offering little to no rest points! It’s a rigorous workout, to say the least.

September 26, 2010 6