Geomunoreum Lava Tube System - 4 and Hallasan Natural Reserve

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Geomunoreum Lava Tube System - 4

   The fourth stop in the Geomunoreum system is a quiet one, tucked away in the middle of the island, on the slopes below Hallasan. The volcano's name means roughly the dark hill, and its eruption sent lava flowing down the northern flank to the sea, creating a network of tubes that now form part of the UNESCO site. Not all of them are open to the public, and the quieter ones, in the forest, are of most interest to the hardy, since they preserve the strange, damp, silent world of the island's underground.

   Read the complete Geomunoreum Lava Tube System - 4 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Geomunoreum Lava Tube System - 4 is where the day begins. Next is Seongsan Ilchulbong Tuff Cone.

2. 2. Seongsan Ilchulbong Tuff Cone

   Seongsan Ilchulbong rises from the eastern tip of Jeju like a stone crown that someone dropped into the sea. It is a tuff cone, formed in a single explosive eruption when magma hit shallow water, roughly five thousand years ago, and the crater at the top is a wide, grassy bowl about six hundred metres across, ringed by jagged rocky teeth. The name means sunrise peak, and the Koreans take the idea seriously: on New Year's morning thousands climb the steps to watch the sun come up out of the East Sea.

   Read the complete Seongsan Ilchulbong Tuff Cone write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Seongsan Ilchulbong Tuff Cone comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hallasan Natural Reserve.

3. 3. Hallasan Natural Reserve

   Hallasan rises from the middle of Jeju like a shield laid face-up on the sea. At 1,947 metres it is the highest mountain in South Korea, a massive shield volcano with a crater lake at the top, called Baengnokdam, and a ring of smaller cones on its flanks, perhaps three hundred in all, which the islanders call oreum. The upper slopes were declared a nature reserve and are part of the World Heritage listing of the island's volcanoes and lava tubes. Camellias, Korean fir, azaleas and a great variety of mosses grow in layers by altitude, and in winter the summit is under snow, a surprise on an island with palm trees at its coast.

   Read the complete Hallasan Natural Reserve write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 86 km into the recorded legs you reach Hallasan Natural Reserve. Next is back through Seongsan Ilchulbong Tuff Cone.

4. 4. back through Seongsan Ilchulbong Tuff Cone

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Seongsan Ilchulbong Tuff Cone write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Seongsan Ilchulbong Tuff Cone, late in the day. Next is Geomunoreum Lava Tube System - 4.

5. 5. Geomunoreum Lava Tube System - 4

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Geomunoreum Lava Tube System - 4 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Geomunoreum Lava Tube System - 4. That is the ride.