A few weeks ago, I went hiking with a friend to Maisan Provincial Park. Provincial Parks in Korea are the equivalent to the U.S. State Parks. Maisan is located in a small town called Jinan whose closest major city is Jeonju. Since it’s a bit more remote, we had to take two buses to get there which meant we had to get an early start to our day.
We left Gwangju at 6:50 and arrived in Jeonju around 8. From there we took another bus to Jinan which took about 40 minutes. The bus ride to Jinan was very beautiful and gave a great first impression of what was going to be a good day!
After arriving in Jinan, we caught a 10 minute taxi to the trailhead where we started our hiking adventure. Immediately, we saw the two distinct rocks/mountains that Maisan is named after. “Maisan” means “horse’s ear” and it was very aptly named. I’ve never seen mountains that just jut out of nowhere like that making this park very unique.
Our hike began with an easy ascent up a paved, shaded walking path. My friend had planned the route so we’d skip walking up the stairs and instead walk down them on our way back. I was very very grateful for her smart planning :) It didn’t take long to reach the middle of the “ears” and come upon a fork in the road. After reading a sign here, we learned that the “ears” were gendered. One was the Female Peak (687.4m/2,255 ft) and the other the Male Peak (681.1m/2,234 ft.) You were only able to hike up to the top of the Male Peak since the Female Peak had a cave halfway up it which we later explored.
The hike to the top of the Male Peak consisted of many stairs and climbing up rocks while gripping onto railings. We had a great view of Jinan as well as the other peak the higher we climbed. The top of the mountain was slightly disappointing because the view was blocked off by the surrounding trees, but it was still a nice place to take a break and eat some food.
From there, we hiked back down to the middle section of the peaks and went straight in order to see Tapsa Temple, one of the main reasons we’d come to Maisan. We paid the 3,000 won ($2.42) entrance fee and then ventured into the temple. It was otherworldly; I’ve never seen a temple like this in Korea! The main feature of Tapsa Temple is the 80 stone pagodas that are built around the temple. These were built over a period of 30 years by Yi Gap-ryong who lived from 1860-1957. It was amazing to see how the pagodas had remained over time.
After exploring the temple, we made a quick detour to check out the cave and then headed back down the mountain. On the way down, we discovered a free Scissor Museum so obviously, we had to see what it was all about. It was honestly much more interesting than I thought it would be.
We then enjoyed some bibimbap and some delicious doughnuts before heading back to Gwangju.
Overall, our day in Maisan was a pretty relaxing one. The hike wasn’t too strenuous, but it was still very rewarding and it was just a beautiful day to spend outside! I’m very glad I was able to visit such a peaceful place.
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