MAIN PEAK OF JIRI - SAN CHEONWANG - BONG Our accomodation – 400 m - Jungsan - ri busstop – 1 . 3 km – Jungsan - ri ( vistors center / mountainentrance ) – 5 . 4 km – Cheonwang - bong – 1 . 7 km - Jangteonmok shelter – 5 . 3 km – Jungsan - ri ( entrance ) - 1 . 7 km – our accomodation / circuit trail total distance by 15 . 8 km , 7 - 9 hrs . The most popular starting point for Cheonwang - bong is the trailhead at Jungsan - ri in the south - east , from where its only 5 . 4 km to the summit and hikers have the option of a true circuit trail walking the ridge to Jangteomok shelter and down the Jungsan - ri gorge back to the starting point . Jungsan - ri is a small but village about 50 minutes drive out of Jinju city and has a lot of restaurants and minbak accommodation . The main village where the bus stops looks like the end of the road , but is in fact still over 1 . 3 km from the trailhead – the road continues left through Jungsan - ri and skirt above the village before heading to the national park office ( visitors and hiking information center ) and trail entrance , Where there are another one restaurant one small convenient store and large carpark . Those coming in on the bus will have to walk up the hill from Jungsan - ri proper , which will add close to another 30 minutes onto the hike . ( paved road ) From the upper park entrance the trail begins as a paved road past national park office and information center . Follow this road , crossing a bridge ( name is Beopgegyo ) over the kalbawi gorge , from where you can a good view of Cheonwang - bong ( above ) . Soon after the bridge the trail leave the road , heading northwest into the forest following the right hand bank of the stream as you climb The first section of the trail is a good easy warmup for the tough ascent to come , you ’ ll enjoy moderate climbing along the riverside before reaching Kalbawi ( knife rock ) and the Cheonwang - bong circuit junction shortly thereafter . The junction is where the trails coming down from the high ridge above Jungsan - ri meet . The track to the left follows the Kalbawi gorge up to it ’ s source at Jangteomok shelter . Our summit trail to the right moves away north - west from the gorge , and climbs very steepy for the 2 kilometers or so to the Rotary shelter . it ’ s a tough climb on heavy rock , but there are some very good view point over the east and south - east along the way . Rotary shelter is located in the only moderately level section of the trail , where are trail coming from the east ( extension of the road the summit trail left earlier ) meets the main summit trail . It has picnic tables outside and a toilet block . The shelter sleeps around 40 , but if you want to stay book only online first ! This place gets extremely packed most weekend . “ Rotary shelter – 2 km , 2 hr – Cheonwang - bong ” only a hundred meters or so on from Rotary shelter is Beopgye - sa temple , one of Korean ’ s highest Buddhist temples , the grand gate is on the trail , and it ’ s worth heading in for a look around before heading up the hill , it has fantastic sweeping views and beautiful fresh water . Beopgye - sa has been around since 1544 , from it ’ s high vantage point it face south eastern part of Jiri - san , emanating the force it take from the Baekdu - daegan ridge to its neighbour across the sea . Legend tells , that if Beopgye - sa prospered , it would defend Japan , so unsurprisingly it has been destroyed a couple of times by invading Japanese parties . on display outside Beopgye - sa ’ s administration building is a heavy pure iron rod . This was removed from the ridge above the temple in the past decade , and there is a pervading belief amongst Korean ’ s that rods such as this were drilled into the mountain of Korea by Japanese imperialists in the early 20 th century , to stop the flow of energy along the peninsula - whether this is true is up for debate , but it ’ s an interesting thing to see . The relatively flat ledge around and Beopgye - sa ends soon after leaving the temple , and serious business of getting to the peak begins . It ’ s steep , and fairly unrelenting , but the canopy is low up here and there are frequent and awesome views of to the east . Although only 2 km from the shelter , and get ’ s extremely steep toward over the last 500 meters which has traditionally been a scramble over the rock , but in the last couple of years staircases have been introduced to make the going a little bit easier and to cut down on surface erosion . View along the Baeku - daegan ridge from the summit , the first section of which circuit hikers follow to Jangteomok shelter . The trail arrives on the eastern side of the summit and it ' s a scramble up a rocky pile to the left to the peak . You ’ ll see a sign to Daewon - sa ( 10 . 3 km ) , dropping of the peak on your right when arriving . If you want to complete the Jungsan - ri circuit you ’ ll want to walk past the peak and follow the Baekdu - daegan trail south - west . Cheonwang - bong – 1 . 7 km , 50 minutes - 1 hr – Jangteomok shelterThe trail to Jangteomok heads southwest along the line of the Baekdu - daegan , and if time allows I can highly recommend the 1 . 7 km walk to the gorge trail than heading back the same way . It ’ s a short walk but don ’ t be fooled it can easily take more then 1 hr to the shelter especially on a busy day , as some sections are single file and slow going - most notably through the Tongcheon - mun natural gate some 500 meters from Cheonwang - bong and the climb to Jeseok - bong ( 1806 m ) shortly after . This walk though is a beauty , you ’ re on the highest section of ridge in the land , with awesome views over the high peaks and even to the ocean . There are stands of twisted Jumok ( tree ) , the native highland hardwood Yew Tree , and very often you ’ re above the clouds , Allow time and add this small section to your walk from Jungsan - ri . Jangteomok shelter ( right ) sleeps about 150 people , but on a good day scores more turn up looking to stay – BOOK onLINE - if you want a floor space and don ’ t fancy standing around in the kitchen / toilets or the open air all night . The shelter is on a four way junction with the Baekdu - daegan trail running up to Cheonwang - bong and southwest along the range . The trail to the west heads down to Baekmu - dong entrance and campsite ( 5 . 8 km ) . The return trail to Jungsan - ri heads off to the east , right in front of the main door to the shelter it is down this trail a short distance where the fresh water source is located , so you ’ ll likely see people popping down there to fill up bottles . Jangteomok – 5 . 3 km , 2 hr - 2 hr 30 minutes – Jungsan - ri park entranceThe spring below the shelter is the headwater of the gorge which the return trail follows down to the junction near Kal - bawi and on to Jungsan - ri unlike the Beopgye - sa trail , the gorge route disappears in to the forest quite early and you ’ re under canopy for the vast majority of the time except for on occasion when the gorge is crossed at wide rocky area . This is a good trail , but occasionally a little tricky over the rocks which make up the gorge , particularly in winter when there is a lot of ice cover , and in the summer rains , features of the trail are the Yuam and Beopcheon waterfalls , Yuam pokpo is about 1 , 5 km down from Jangteomok , and Beopcheon pokpo roughly 700 meter before the Kal - bawi junction . cheers I prepare in order to your successful Jirisan hiking , ROTARI SHELTER convenientstore / toilet and kitchenPEAK OF CHEONWANG - BONGJangteomok shelter in kitchen ( also convenient store / toilet ) Yuam pokpo 지리 산통 나무 산장 펜션 JUNGSAN - RI BEST ACCOMODATION ( chirilog . net ) Telephone number : 010 - 9292 - 1072 055 - 973 - 0666 Traveling and TransportBy car - either from the north or the south the easiest way is to take Expressway 35 running NW - SE from DaeJeon down to TongYeong stay left , continuing to follow the 20 which ends at Jungsan - ri - the carpark / post office area looks like the end of the road , but if you drive the village it continues on almost another 1 . 3 km to the trailhead , where there are more one restaurant / one convenient store , national park ( visitors / hiking information ) into center , and just beyond this the camp ground . BusesThe schedule opposite shows bus times leaving from JinJu intercity Terminal for Jungsan - ri and vice - versa . From BuSanBuses leave for Jungsan - ri from sasang Terminal in BuSan at 6 : 10 , 8 : 20 , 16 : 05 , 18 : 05 buses from Jungsan - ri to BuSan leave at 6 : 10 , 6 : 50 , 11 : 00 , 12 : 50 , 17 : 50 , 19 : 40 From SeoulNambu Bus Terminal , Buses leave for JinJu Terminal , about 60 % of which aiso stop at WonJi Terminal in SanCheong - gun , in the east of the peak , Buses leave NamBu every 30 minutes or so from 06 : 20 AM to 9 PM , with late buses ( night bus ) 22 : 10 , 23 : 00 , and midnight , buses also run from WonJi ( SanCheong - Gun ) to Jungsan - ri at 06 : 40 , 07 : 25 , 08 : 25 , 09 : 25 , and every hour from 10 : 20 , to 20 : 20 , with a late bus at 21 : 25 Jungsan - ri to WonJi : 06 : 15 , 06 : 55 , 07 : 35 , 08 : 15 , and every hour from 09 : 05 , to 17 : 05 , with a late bus at 19 : 40 . Below : Road Map of Eastern Jiri - san ( Jungsan - ri ) entranceBottom : Trail Map of Eastern Jiri - san , Jungsan - ri on the reft