On Walkabout On: South Korea’s Highway 56

South Korea has many great mountain drives for people who love the high peaks of this country to experience.  One of the remotest of those can be found just outside of Soraksan National Park.  If you have a day to spare while visiting the park then I highly recommend you take a drive up the little traveled Highway 56 in Gangwon province:

This country highway spirals up and down than many high peaks of Gangwon province and features a great distant view of Daecheon Peak, the highest of peak of Soraksan National Park:

Along the road you will get a chance to see plenty of wildlife, trees, mountain scenery, and country villages. The villages along this road are so remote that I felt like I was going back into time watching this farmer plow his field manually with oxen:

This trip is not only a great day trip from Soraksan National Park but is also a great way to travel from Soraksan to Odaesan National Park if this park is also on your itinerary. A back entrance to Odaesan can be reached by turning off at the Odaesan park entrance on highway 446.

Along the way to Mt. Odaesan the rising highway provides incredible views of Korea’s Taebak Mountains:

The high peaks of Mt. Odaesan loom in the distance:

If you have no plans of visiting Odaesan National Park then just stay on the highway which will eventually allow you to connect to Interstate 50 via highway 31 which will take you back to Seoul.

To get to this highway from Soraksan National Park just travel south on Highway 7 from Sokcho to the city of Yangyang. At Yangyang travel west on Highway 44 for about 10 miles before turning at the intersection on to Highway 56 heading South. It is a great ride that shouldn’t be missed for those already visiting the area.