''Gwanaksan'' () is a mountain in southern

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, South Korea. Portions lie in the

Gwanak District Gwanak District () is one of the 25 districts (''gu'') of Seoul, South Korea. It lies on the southern skirt of Seoul, bordering Anyang, Gyeonggi Province. The southern border of Gwanak District, bordering Anyang, consists of the craggy ridg ...

and

Geumcheon District Geumcheon District () is one of the 25 ''gu'' (districts) of Seoul, South Korea. It was created from southern parts of Guro District and tiny sections from Gwangmyeong in 1995. Its district office is located in front of Siheung Station, now Ge ...

of Seoul; other portions lie in the neighboring cities of

Anyang, Gyeonggi Anyang (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. With a population of approximately 600,000, it is the 20th largest city in South Korea. It is a satellite city of Seoul and located approximately s ...

and

Gwacheon Gwacheon (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It lies close to Seoul in the heart of the Seoul National Capital Area, and also lies just east of Anyang, Gyeonggi, Anyang. Seoul Subway Line 4 pa ...

. The name ''gwanak'' means "hat-shaped peak," and refers to its ''gat''-like profile. Thus Gwanaksan literally means "mountain of the hat-shaped peak". Together with Songaksan in

Kaesong Kaesong (, ; ) is a special city in the southern part of North Korea (formerly in North Hwanghae Province), and the capital of Korea during the Taebong kingdom and subsequent Goryeo dynasty. The city is near the Kaesong Industrial Region cl ...

, Gamaksan in

Paju Paju (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Paju was made a city in 1997; it had previously been a county (''gun''). The city area of Paju is ,"Paju (Gyeonggi-do Province)." ''Naver Encyclopedi ...

, Uaksan in

Pocheon Pocheon (; ) is an landlocked, inland Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in northeast Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It covers 2 with a population of 160,176 people, according to the 2008 census. Pocheon lies between Seoul and the mou ...

, and Hwaaksan in

Gapyeong Gapyeong County (), alternatively Kapyong County, is a administrative divisions of South Korea, county in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It was the scene of the Battle of Kapyong, a major battle of the Korean War. Administrative Region and Lan ...

, Gwanaksan was long considered one of the five representative peaks of

Gyeonggi Province Gyeonggi Province (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Seoul, the nation's largest city and capital, is in the heart of the area but has been separately administered as a provincial-level ''special city'' since 1946. Incheon, ...

(''gyeonggi o-ak''). The main campus of

Seoul National University Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a public university, public research university in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the SKY (universities), SKY universities and a part of the Flagship Korean National Universities. The university's main c ...

is located just northwest of the mountain, and the Gwacheon national government complex lies to the east. Also nearby is the

Anyang Resort Area Anyang ( zh, s=安阳, t=安陽; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan, China. Geographical coordinates are 35° 41'~ 36° 21' north latitude and 113° 38'~ 114° 59' east longitude. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the eas ...

, a popular local tourist attraction. On the mountain itself lie numerous

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

temples, including Wongaksa. Most of the mountain slope is protected land. The mountain is very popular with older climbers, since it can easily be reached by Seoul's public transportation. Annual hiking traffic is close to 5 million people. The Seoul side was designated a city park in 1968.

Trails

Seoul National University Entrance (11.3 km, 4 hours) Siheung-dong (11 km, 3 hours, 30 minutes) Anyang amusement park (12 km, 4 hours, 30 minutes)

Trails

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading