Overview
The rock is a single mass of granite four kilometres around, and the local story has it walking to a gathering of mountains, arriving late and settling here — which is as good an account of a stray massif as geology’s. The last section is a staircase bolted to the face, exposed but railed, and it is the part people underestimate. Below it stands Heundeulbawi, a boulder that rocks when pushed and does not fall.
Highlights
Start before eight: the steps are one-way in width, and by mid-morning in autumn you queue on them. Take water and a windproof layer — the top is exposed and colder than the valley. The path to Heundeulbawi and Gyejoam hermitage is an hour and is worth doing even if you turn back there.