On Walkabout At: The New Mexico Museum of Space History

Posted on January 26, 2012 by

I often drive through Alamogordo in order to go to areas near Ruidoso or in the Sacramento Mountains.  Whenever I drive through Alamogordo I would always see the large shiny building up on the hill which is where the New Mexico Museum of Space History is located:


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The museum is easily spotted from anywhere in Alamogordo with plenty of signs directing tourists towards the large shiny building nestled on the slopes of the Sacramento Mountains:

My wife and I eventually decided to take a day and spend it checking out this museum.  The museum is run by the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs and was established to educate visitors about the history, science, and technology of space. The museum stresses the significant role that the state of New Mexico has played in the development of the U.S. Space Program through collecting, preserving, and interpreting significant artifacts relevant to the history of space.  The first thing my wife and I decided to check out was the The John P. Stapp Air & Space Park located in front of the museum.

Here is a view looking down on the park from inside the space museum:

The park has a number of interesting space program and military related items on display:

Not everything on display is from the US space program though, this Starchaser rocket is actually used by the United Kingdom to put satellites into orbit:

Here is a Nike Ajax anti-aircraft missile that was once deployed around the US to protect the country from strategic bomber attack from the now defunct USSR:

Here is one of the F1 rocket engines that was used on the Saturn V rocket:

This was the most powerful single chamber, liquid fuel rocket engine ever flown.  Five of these engines were on the bottom of the Saturn V rocket that was used by the Apollo program to put Americans on the Moon.  Something I really found of interest in the space park is that the body of the first chimpanzee the US flew into space is buried underneath the flag pole:

The chimp was named HAM after the Holloman Aerospace Medical Center that prepared the chimpanzee for his historic flight that took place on January 31, 1959.

Something else we enjoyed besides checking out the various items on display was also taking in the expansive views of Alamogordo from the park:

Just below the air & space park is southern New Mexico’s only IMAX theater:

The IMAX format is on a wraparound dome screen that viewers sit in reclining chairs to watch.  The IMAX theater is actually a bit rundown, but my family enjoyed watching the two films that were showing when we visited the museum.  A current listing of which IMAX movies are playing as well as ticket prices can be found at this link.

From the IMAX we then headed over to tour the Museum of Space History.  On our way inside the space museum we stopped and checked out this capsule used by the Mercury program that first put Americans into orbit:

What I found most interesting about the capsule was how little room there is inside.  The astronauts that flew into orbit inside this little capsule definitely had to have no fear of claustrophobia:

From here we went to the ticket window and paid to enter the museum.  Admission is $6 for adults and $4 for kids aged 4-12 years old.  We found the museum to be quite expansive with a number of displays detailing all the milestones in space history:

They also have a Moon rock on display:

I found the Moon rock on display at Alamogordo to be very different looking from the other Moon rock I saw on display at the NASA Deep Space Communications Complex outside of Canberra.  The museum also had the container used to transport Moon rocks from the lunar surface on display as well:

Another interesting rock on display at the museum is this large meteorite found in Argentina:

This meteorite is composed of mostly iron and natives that lived in the area had long used iron from the meteorites that landed in this area for tools.  Something else of interest inside the museum is the International Space Hall of Fame.  This hall of fame was  was established in 1976 to recognize the imagination, efforts, and achievements of those who have endeavored to advance man’s knowledge of the universe, and his ability to explore space.  The International Space Hall of Fame includes not only astronauts but scientists, writers, and other people who made contributions to space research from throughout the world such as the famous American pilot, Chuck Yeager:

Everyone inducted in the hall of fame has a framed picture hanging on the wall like you see above.  Most of the people inducted are from the United States and Russia since these two countries have the longest running space programs in the world.  A complete list of everyone inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame can be found at this link.

Overall we spent an entire day checking out everything to see at the New Mexico Museum of Space History to include watching two IMAX movies.  For most people who probably only have a passing interest in space history the museum plus watching an IMAX movie would take up half a day to visit.  Either way I think most people will enjoy visiting the museum especially if combined with a visit to the nearby White Sands Missile Range.  Both locations really show the contributions that southern New Mexico have made and continue to make towards the success of the US space program.

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On Walkabout At: The El Paso Zoo

Posted on January 22, 2012 by

My little toddler daughter loves going to the zoo so my wife and I on a recent weekend went ahead and visited the El Paso Zoo.  The first time we went to the we didn’t really have high expectations considering some of the great zoos in Australia and Southeast Asia we have visited before.  Though we didn’t expect much we were pleasantly surprised by what a nice little zoo the city of El Paso has.  What really impressed us about the zoo was how friendly the staff was.  Their were many volunteer and regular staff members all around the park providing information about the various animals.  The zoo also has a little train that my daughter had a fun time riding around in as well:

The train takes visitors around the first enclosure at the zoo that houses various African animals:

This area of the zoo was actually quite large and had animals like zebras and giraffes:

In the above picture the Franklin Mountains that run through the center of El Paso can be seen in the background.   The enclosure also had some gazelles:

Fortunately for these gazelles they don’t have to worry about getting eaten by any lions since they all had their own pen that they were housed in where they were all fast asleep:

Of course no Africa exhibit would be complete without some meerkats:

From the Africa exhibit we next went and walkover to a few of the other sections of the park where we were impressed by the amount of room many of the animals had to run around within their enclosures:

However, when we visited the park many of the animals like this javelina, which was in the section of the zoo for American wildlife, was much interested in running around:

So we then walked over to the aquarium where a show was going on that featured this very large sea lion:

If you go to the El Paso Zoo make sure to check out the aquarium because the show with the sea lion is quite good.  Visitors can also walk down to the bottom of the tank and watch the sea lion swim around in the tank:

After watching the sea lion for a while we then walked back over to the Animals of the Americas exhibit and saw the remaining animals there.  One of the animals in the exhibit, the coyote I see quite often in the desert right behind my house:

From there we then went over to see the Animals of Asia exhibit.  In this section there were a few elephants from Southeast Asia:

There were also some Mongolian ponies:

Here is a colorful bird that was in this section of the park as well:

The last thing we checked out on the Animals of Asia section of the park was this orangutan that was quite active and playing around in his pen:

All in all we spent most of the day at the park and ate lunch there as well.  The lunch food at the cafeteria there wasn’t very good but fortunately the rest of the zoo is.  The El Paso Zoo is 35 acres in size and provides a not only a place to view exotic animals but is also one of few green spaces in the city.  So whether you want to take your family to see the various animals at the zoo or just looking for a place to go for a nice walk somewhere that has some greenery the El Paso Zoo is worth checking out.  The zoo is open daily at 9:30 a.m. with the ticket booth closing at 4:00 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays from June 6 to September 6 the ticket booth closes at 5:00 p.m. More information about hours and prices can be found at this link.

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On Walkabout At: Miramont Castle In Manitou Springs

Posted on January 20, 2012 by

One of my favorite cities in Colorado is Manitou Springs located at the base of Pikes Peak just outside of the major city in the region, Colorado Springs:


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One of the more popular attractions in Manitou Springs for people to visit is the historic Miramont Castle:

When my family walked into the door on the first floor there was a very nice lady who welcomed us.  She took our admission money and then proceeded to give us a brief history of the building.  The history of this castle began back in 1895 when Miramont was first constructed by Father Jean Baptiste Francolon as a home for himself and his mother.  Francoln was a Frenchman who had moved to New Mexico to preach.  He constructed the castle using his own personal funds since he was the member of a very wealthy family in France.  He chose to move to Manitou Springs in 1892 a bid to improve his ill health since the city’s springs had become famous for curing illnesses.  The castle he constructed was 4 stories high, consisted of 46 rooms, that filled 14,000 square feet of space. Indoor plumbing, steam heating, and electricity which were all rare at the time were included with the building of the castle.

Here is a picture of Francoln that was hanging up in the castle:

Francolon and his mom lived in the castle until 1900 when they decided to move back to France.  They never returned to Colorado and in 1904 the Sisters of Mercy bought the abandoned property and used it as a sanitarium for for tuberculosis patients until the 1920′s.  Francolon would die in 1922 while he was living in New York City.  Beginning in 1946 the building he left behind in Colorado was then sold to various individuals where it was eventually turned into an apartment building.  The apartments were used to house war veterans from World War II and was called “Castle Apartments”.  Castle over the decades eventually fell into disrepair and faced being demolished by the city until the Manitou Springs Historical Society raised enough money to buy the structure in 1976.  The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 as many thousands of hours of volunteer work was put in my the Historical Society to restore the building to the beautiful condition it is now in today.

After finishing up the brief history lesson the nice lady then gave us directions to follow for the self guided tour of the castle.  The first part of the self tour is the firefighter museum that has been established on the first floor which was originally a basement area of the castle.  The firefighter museum had a number of displays and items from the city’s firefighting history:

What firefighter museum would be complete without Smokey Bear?:

Regular readers of On Walkabout may remember my prior posting when I visited the Capitan Mountains where the legend of Smokey Bear began.  Something else of interest in the firefighter museum was the replica doll houses someone made of downtown Manitou Springs.  The doll houses were elaborately decorated and quite impressive who ever constructed them:

From the firefighter museum we back tracked to where the ticket counter was which was also where the stairs that takes visitors to the 2nd floor is located.  When my family and I visited Miramont Castle it was shortly after Christmas Day thus the castle was still lavishly decorated for the holidays to of course include a large Christmas tree in the reception hall:

Something of interest in the reception hall was a large stone fireplace that was believed to be the largest fireplace constructed in the country back in 1895:

Here is the dining room that is located adjacent to the reception hall:

Adjacent to the dining room was of course the kitchen where the French servants that Francolon hired cooked meals for the family at:

Something we found of great interest as we walked through the castle was the many historical photographs of Miramont Castle and Manitou Springs that were hanging on the walls.  Here is a picture of Miramont Castle after it was constructed:

Here is a picture of the castle in the 1920′s after it became a sanitarium:

Finally here is a picture of the building in the 1960′s when it was Castle Apartments:

There were many other pictures to see but I found this picture of Ute Pass in the 1880′s which Highway 24 now ascends up into the high country quite interesting:

Going up into the high country back then was definitely a more difficult experience compared to today.  The final part of the 2nd floor we looked at was this small chapel that was created after the Sisters of Mercy bought the building to be used as a sanitarium:

It really was a pleasant little chapel where small weddings are sometimes booked to be held at.  It would be tough to find a nicer location than this for a small wedding.  There is a small room located on the right side of the chapel which was once where a bathroom was located.  Inside this little room is only piece of original furniture from when the castle was first constructed:

Underneath the staircase to the 2nd floor in this old bathroom is a sealed room where the wallpaper from the original building can be seen.  This small area had to be sealed due to a poisonous arsenic compound that was used in the wallpaper:

The room also had this beautiful stained glass window that depicts various important parts of the Pikes Peak region:

The small room located on the left side of the chapel was the smoking room that had this pretty cool suit of armor in it:

From the 2nd floor we then followed this beautiful grand staircase up to the 3rd floor:

The stairway leads to this fabulous seven sided glass window room known as the Conservatory:

This room that was once used as a greenhouse offers some nice view of Manitou Springs and the surrounding mountains:

Inside the Conservatory was this old poster advertising the spring water that long ago made Manitou famous:

There was actually once a bottling plant in Manitou that used to sell the Manitou Springs water across the nation.  The bottling plant closed down long ago, so anyone wanting to try out this famous water will need to drive to Manitou with their own bottle and fill it from the various springs themselves.

The next room we walked into was a guest room filled with military memorabilia which is not surprising considering the strong military ties that Colorado Springs has with one Army base, two Air Force bases, and the Air Force Academy all located here:

Some of the memorabilia included items from former enemies such as the Nazis:

As well as these samurai swords wielded by members of the Imperial Japanese military.  The sword on the top was interestingly enough wielded by a Korean member of the Japanese military since Korea was militarily occupied by the Japanese prior to World War II:

Here is an example of one of the bedrooms in the castle:

The next room we checked out was this sewing room:

Here is an example of what a bathroom would have looked like all those years ago:

Here is another large bedroom on the third floor:

Also on the third floor there is what is known as the Great Hall which was used to host parties.  The historical society that owns the castle continues to hold various functions here in this Great Hall during the year as well:

The Great Hall besides holding parties was also used to house Francolons extensive art collection that he brought back to France with him.  Here is another beautiful bedroom located on the third floor where I really liked the multiple windows that provided great views from the room:

We next headed up the last flight of stairs to the 4th floor attic area which is where the servants that worked in the castle lived.  Up here space was much smaller than other areas in the castle with low clearance for the doors and petite rooms:

The rooms where no where near as big as the ones on the third floor but really not all that bad as long as the servant didn’t have to share the room with anyone else:

The final thing located on the 4th floor is a gift shop that has various Colorado themed items and books for sale that may be of interest to some visitors.  After checking out the gift shop we exited the 4th floor door that leads outside the castle to a roadway on the hillside above the castle.  From here we walked down a flight of stairs that runs on the side of the castle back to the parking lot.  All in all it was an interesting visit and well worth the 1.5 hours we spent checking out the castle.  The beautiful restoration of the castle really gave my wife and I a feel of what the Victorian era lifestyle was like in Manitou Springs over a hundred years ago.  We were both really amazed that someone would spend so much money to make such an elaborate and beautiful home and then live in it for such a short time.  Fortunately the Manitou Springs Historical Society has done a great job maintaining the building and now everyone else can spend a short time experiencing what it was like to be a rich aristocrat back in the late 1800′s at Miramont Castle.

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On Walkabout On: Wando, South Korea

Posted on January 18, 2012 by

Korea has a multitude of fine islands that are worth checking out. Some are extremely popular and easy to acces such as Cheju Island and others like Ulleongdo Island that are difficult to access and extremely remote. However, some of Korea’s islands remain very easy to access and are not overwhelmed with tourists; one of these islands is beautiful Wando:

Picture from Wando Island
Click here for an excellent interactive tour map of the island.

The island is easily accessed by a long bridge from the Korean mainland province of Cheollanam-do. The road to the island is quite narrow, filled with curves, and extremely scenic, but a new four lane highway is being built to the island that is sure to increase the amount of traffic the island receives in the near future. Wando is not really well known in the Korean tourist scene, well at least not yet, thus much of the traditional rural Korean island life is still visible on the island today.

The island of Wando is formed around the slopes of Sanghwang Peak that rises out of the ocean to a height of 644 meters:

Picture from Wando Island

The peak may not be that high compared to other mountains in Korea but it is still impressive to look at from sea level. With little flat land on the island what land is flat is cultivated for farming with most food coming from the islands surrounding sea.

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On Walkabout At: Beopjusa Temple, South Korea

Posted on January 13, 2012 by

South Korea is filled with many beautiful and historical temples that litter the slopes of the many mountains that cover the nation. One of the most historical and most highly visited temples in Korea is Beopjusa Temple located in Korea’s central province of Chungcheongbuk-do:


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Here is a map of what the temple compound looks like:

This 1,500 year old temple is located on the slopes of the stunning Songnisan mountain which provides the incredible scenery that surrounds the temple:

Though the temple was first constructed in 553AD it was destroyed during the Hideyoshi invasion of Korea in 1592 and rebuilt again 30 years later. The oldest buildings at Beopchusa date from this time with some buildings dating only from the 1960?s due to expansion of the temple.  The temple is a short 3 kilometer walk from the Songnisan tourist village where the trail is surrounded with beautiful scenery:

Once at the temple, I was immediately impressed with the giant Golden Buddha that towers over the surrounding buildings:

This Buddha was first constructed with cement back in the 1960?s and then replaced in 1988 with a bronze Buddha that weighed 150 tons and reached to a height of 33 meters. In 2000 the Buddha was refurbished and its gold colored coating was added. This Buddha is allegedly the tallest standing Buddha in all of Asia.  As beautiful as the giant Golden Buddha is, the most impressive site at the building in my opinion is the beautiful Palsang-jeon pagoda in the center of the temple complex:

The Palsang-jeon pagoda is five stories tall and is the only original wooden pagoda left in the country. The pagoda was rebuilt in 1624 after the Hideyoshi invasion and remains in its original form to this day. It is believed that this pagoda may have influenced the construction of famous pagodas in Japan such as the Horyuji pagoda in Nara.  The pagoda is built around a lone pillar that rises up the center of the building and has an a Buddhist altar along side of it that surrounds the pillar with 1,000 miniature Buddhas and fine paintings:

The pagoda is really a beautiful building and and an under-appreciated natural treasure for Korea. The temple also has many other old relics such as this gorgeous stone lantern first carved in 720AD:

If you look at the bottom of the pedestal it has two lions holding the lantern which is a extremely rare feature in Korean artwork. The temple has many other old relics such as a giant rice bowl, a lotus cistern, and calligraphy from the Korean King Seonjo (1567-1608) enshrined in one of the buildings.

The temple is filled with many buildings that visitors can wander around and check out:

The monks are extremely friendly at the temple and have no issues with visitors wandering around the buildings and taking pictures:

Besides wandering around the temple I took a short side path to see the below ancient Buddha carved in a solid rock face:

There was also some old Chinese calligraphy on the rock wall as well:

This Buddha was carved in 1007 and is unusual from other carved Buddhas in Korea because the Buddha has both feet flat on the ground where usually Buddha images have the feet of the Buddha folded underneath him.

Overall I found Beopjusa Temple to be one of my favorite temples because of the beautiful buildings, the giant gold Buddha, and the beautiful surrounding scenery:

To easiest way to reach Beopchusa temple from Seoul is to take a direct bus there from the Nambu bus terminal. Tickets cost about 13,000 won. Alternately you take a bus or train to Cheongju and then take a bus from there to the park as well. The fee to get into the temple is cheap, at about 3000 won. Of course the best time to visit is the autumn as the leaves are changing. A spectacular experience to say the least.

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On Walkabout In: Samcheok, South Korea

Posted on January 11, 2012 by

One of the most enjoyable things my wife and I do when we are in Korea is that we like to spend weekends in small Korean towns. One of the towns that we spent a weekend in during one of our trips to Korea was the small port city of Samcheok on the East Coast of Gangwon province. As this Google Earth image shows Samcheok is a small town built around hills and its fishing port:

samcheok

On the various hillsides in the city the old Korean style homes can still be seen:

Picture from Samcheok, South Korea

These old homes are becoming a rarity in Korea as many of them are being demolished and replaced by apartments, but such development for the time being seems to have bypassed Samcheok.

My wife and I got a hotel room on the outskirts of town that had a great view over the Sea of Japan:

Picture from Samcheok, South Korea

We had the most expensive room in the hotel and it only cost us 45,000 won which we were pretty happy about. After getting settled into the hotel we then walked to downtown area near the port in search of sashimi. Along the way we saw plenty of shops selling fish and other items caught out at sea:

Picture from Samcheok, South Korea

However, we didn’t want any fish bought at a store; we wanted something fresh from the sea and that is why we continued to walk over to the port. The center of life in Samcheok is definitely its port where many of the towns residents earn their living in the fishing industry:

Picture from Samcheok, South Korea

The weekend we were in Samcheok the rain hardly ever stopped, so it made taking pictures very difficult. Here is how the port area looks like on a clear day:

At the market place seen above my wife and I began our search for some fresh sashimi:

Picture from Samcheok, South Korea

The people who work at the marketplace are mostly the wives of the fishermen that bring in the fresh catch of fish every morning for their wives to sell during the day. They sell the fish out of plastic bins to mostly restaurant owners and the few tourists that make it to this off the beaten path city:

Picture from Samcheok, South Korea

My wife and I had plenty of fish to choose from but here are the two fish we decided to purchase:

Picture from Samcheok, South Korea

Picture from Samcheok, South Korea

The fisherman had just brought his catch of fish in when we bought these two. While the fisherman’s wife chopped up the fish for us, my wife and I spoke to the fisherman who was by far the youngest fishermen at the wharf. He told us he was 30 years old and only started fishing this year because he got married and was working his father in laws boat. Much like Korea’s agricultural sector the age of Korea’s fishermen seems like it could be an issue of concern in the future if young people like the fisherman we spoke with choose to not work in the industry.

Anyway the fisherman’s wife did a great job preparing our fish and for the rest of our weekend in Samcheok we were eating fresh sashimi with every meal and it was quite good:

Picture from Samcheok, South Korea

A visit to Samcheok is definitely not for everyone because it is a very slow moving provincial city, but for those looking to see what a time capsule of what much of Korea was like 20 years ago, Samcheok is definitely the place. However, my wife and I were more interested in the fish which any fans of fresh sashimi can appreciate during a trip to Samcheok.

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On Walkabout On: Songnisan Mountain, South Korea – Part 2

Posted on January 8, 2012 by

Prior Posting: Songnisan National Park – Part 1

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From the summit of Manjangdae peak in Songnisan National Park, I proceeded south on the ridgeline towards the connecting trail that would lead me down a valley that runs parallel to the one I ascended the mountain on and back to the village:

Looking back along the ridge line I could see storm clouds brewing over the summit of Manjangdae peak:

The ever increasing storm clouds was my hint that I needed to get moving and get off this exposed ridgeline. However, it was tough to quickly leave a place with so many spectacular views of the rugged crags of the mountain range:

I reached the junction for the trailing heading down the mountain. Before I started to descend the mountain I made sure to take one last look of the spectacular view looking down the valley I was about to descend towards the tourist village.  The sides of the mountain were extremely beautiful with their vibrant autumn colors:

Soon I was back in the treeline and surrounded by these colors:

On a really scenic portion of this trail there are multiple bridges that I crossed that were cloaked by the mountain’s fall colors:

Needless to say, but the hike down was much easier than hike up and after a couple of hours I was back on the main trail heading towards the tourist village. Looking back I took one last look at the beautiful mountains I had just climbed:

Once I was back in the village it was recommended to me to take my shoes off and walk on these stones to relieve my aching feet. I was a bit skeptical at first but I decided to give it a shot:

Walking on these rocks was literally very funny. I couldn’t help but laugh because when I was walking on the stones they were tickling my feet. However, when I reached the end of the rock path, my once aching feet actually felt quite good.

Overall I covered 15 kilometers up and down the mountain in about a eight hour day. I could have done it quicker, but I took many side trips and hung out for quite a while on the top of the mountain enjoying the views. However, by the time I made it down the mountain I actually felt like I hadn’t spent enough time up there and I can’t wait until the next time I have a chance to visit the mountain again.  The easiest way to reach Songnisan National park from Seoul is to take a direct bus there from the Nambu bus terminal. Tickets cost about 13,000 won. Alternately you take a bus or train to Cheongju and then take a bus from there to the park as well. The fee to get into the park is cheap, at about 3000 won. Of course the best time to visit is the autumn as the leaves are changing; it was a spectacular experience to say the least.

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On Walkabout On: Songnisan Mountain, South Korea

Posted on January 6, 2012 by

Basic Trail Information

  • Name: Songnisan Mountain (elev.1,033 m / 3,389 ft)
  • Where: Boeun-gun , South Korea
  • Distance: 15 km (9.3 miles)
  • Difficulty: moderate-difficult (700+ meter climb)
  • Time: 3 hours round-trip
  • More Info: Visit Korea website

Google Terrain Map of the Trail:

Narrative

Fall is my favorite season in South Korea due to the cooling of the temperatures from the hot summer months and the changing of the colors on the trees across the country.   There are a variety of places to go and see Korea’s spectacular autumn leaves, however I think people would be hard pressed to find a place more spectacular to see the fall colors then at Songnisan National Park.  Songnisan is located near the center of South Korea in the rural province of Chungcheongbuk-do:


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This province is known in Korea as being a bit of a backwater due to its rugged mountains and rural lifestyle:

Korea may have historically produced little precious metal gold, but obviously the land around Songnisan produces what is the real gold of Korea:

On the way to the park you can’t help but not stopping to see this impressive looking tree:

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On Walkabout At: Songgwangsa Temple, South Korea

Posted on January 4, 2012 by

I have been to many Buddhist temples in Korea, but one I had been meaning to visit for quite sometime was Songgwangsa Temple located in the Jeollanam-do province on the southern portion of the peninsula:


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I have been wanting to visit the temple because it is one of the most photographed temples in Korea.  I would have to say that Haeinsa Temple is probably the only temple photographed more than Songgwangsa.  Considering how popular the temple is for photographers it is actually located in quite an isolated area.  Along the way to the temple there is an impressively large river bed that can be seen:

Picture from Songgwangsa Temple

During the monsoon season I bet this river is quite a sight to see when it is flooding.  Something else that can be seen on the way to Songgwangsa is Juarm Lake::

Picture from Songgwangsa Temple

From Juarm Lake there is a turn off to the temple.  The parking area has all the typical Korean shops that sell trinkets and simple food items to visitors before they head off on the walk to the temple:

Picture from Songgwangsa Temple

The walk to the temple is about half a mile through the heavily forested and rugged mountains of Jogyesan Provincial Park:

Picture from Songgwangsa Temple

Here is a map of the park:

Picture from Songgwangsa Temple

The trees that cover the mountains around the temple are not very large so it may be regrowth from the Korean War era for all I know.  Never the less the scenery is still quite beautiful:

Picture from Songgwangsa Temple

It is an easy walk to Songgwangsa which I found to be one of the larger temple complexes I have visited in Korea once I got there:

Picture from Songgwangsa Temple

Here is the first gate that I passed through on the path to Songgwangsa:

Picture from Songgwangsa Temple

Eventually the trail comes to the entrance to the temple.  The picture below of the pavilion and the bridge across the creek is probably the photograph most commonly taken by photographers that visit this temple:

Picture from Songgwangsa Temple

The day I visited the temple it was very overcast with poor light conditions so I didn’t see anyone with serious camera equipment trying to take any pictures of the temple.  From the creek I walked across the covered bridge and into the temple. Here is the view from the bridge looking back at the pavilion:

Picture from Songgwangsa Temple

Over the years this temple has been destroyed and rebuilt many times with the most recent occurrence happening during the Korean War when the entire temple was burnt to the ground.  However, the temple has since been nicely reconstructed and features a number of beautiful buildings and gates:

Picture from Songgwangsa Temple

Here is some calligraphy I saw carved on a stone outcropping which I have no idea how old it is or what it says, but it is one of the few things at the temple that not even fire can destroy:

Picture from Songgwangsa Temple

According to information provided by the temple, Songgwangsa would founded 1200 years ago during the late Shilla period as Kilsang-sa Temple.  During the Koryo period in 1197 the temple was expanded as a major center of the Chogye traditon of Korean Buddhism.  At this time the temple was renamed Suson-sa Temple.  It was a few centuries later before the temple was renamed once again to its current name, Songgwang-sa Temple which means “Spreading Pines Temple”.  Of the three Buddhist jewels: the Buddha, his teachings, and his disciples; Songgwang-sa represents the third because of its great tradition of training Buddhist masters.  The monastery has produced a total of 16 national masters and many other great monks for the Chogye order.  In 1969 the temple was designated the primary training ground for the Jogye order.

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On Walkabout On: Cheonmasan Mountain, South Korea

Posted on January 1, 2012 by

Basic Trail Information

  • Name: Cheonmasan Mountain (elev. 812 m / 2,664 ft)
  • Where: Namyangju, South Korea
  • Distance: 3.5 miles
  • Difficulty: moderate (700 meter climb)
  • Time: 3 hours round-trip
  • More Info: Visit Korea website

Google Terrain Map of the Trail:

Narrative

Whenever I am in South Korea I always try to avoid hiking up the more well known mountains on weekends because of the I often heavy crowds that can clog the trails.  So that is why I often look to hike lesser known mountains on weekends to avoid these crowds.  One of the lesser known mountains that I was told was a really good hike that was only a short drive from Seoul was Cheonmasan Mountain in Namyangju, Gyeongi-do province.  This mountain is located 32 kilometers to the East of Seoul, which makes it less then an hour drive to reach by vehicle and slightly longer if taking a train:


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The east of Seoul is many large round mountains and Cheonmasan is one of the biggest ones topping out at a maximum altitude of 812 meters (2,664 feet).  In the below tourism map, Cheonmasan mountain is located towards the center of the greater Namyangju area:

There are many routes up the mountain from the various neighborhoods of greater Namyangju that surround Cheonmasan.  I hiked up the mountain using a trail from the neighborhood of Maseok where the Star Hill Ski Resort is located.  Below is the route I took up and back down the mountain:

Cheonmasan actually has a little bit of history to it since the name of the mountain was given to it by the Korean King Taejo who founded the Joseon dynasty in 1392.  The name Cheonmasan means a mountain that is high enough to touch the sky.  I figure King Taejo probably didn’t get away from his palace in Seoul much because there is much higher mountains in Korea then this, but for the area east of Seoul it is the highest peak in that area.  It is also popularly believed that the mountain resembles a Buddhist monk sitting and giving a calm impression.   In the below picture you can see what Cheonmasan looks like during the day time and it sure did not resemble any Buddhist monk to me:

The trail I took from Maseok followed the ridgeline on the left side of the mountain pictured above up to the summit and then I followed the ridgeline pictured to the right down it back to Maseok.   When I left to go on my hike it was early in the morning and the sun was just coming up as I stepped out of the Maseok Train Station.  The below picture shows the neighborhood of Maseok and the hill in the back ground is where the Star Hill Resort is located which nearby was the trail that led up to the top of the ridgeline that I would follow up to the summit of Cheonmasan:

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