[One Day Walk] Haeparang-gil Course 10 Embracing the Nature of the East Coast

‘Haepalanggil’ is a 750km walking trail consisting of a total of 50 courses, connecting the coastal paths, forest trails, and village roads along the East Coast from Oryukdo Sunrise Park in Busan to the Unification Observatory in Goseong, Gangwon.

Haepalanggil is a compound word combining ‘the rising sun,’ a symbol of the East Sea, ‘blue,’ the color of the sea, and the particle ‘-rang,’ meaning ‘together with.’ It means ‘a path where you walk together with the sound of waves while looking at the rising sun and the blue sea.’

Haepalanggil Course 10 is the Gyeongju section, connecting Jeongja-dong in Buk-gu, Ulsan, and Yangnam-myeon in Gyeongju. This course follows 13km along the coast, allowing you to enjoy various natural landscapes, and takes a total of 4 hours and 30 minutes.

At a section 2.8km from the starting point, Jeongja Port in Ulsan, you can see the Gangdong Columnar Jointing. Columnar jointing refers to pillar-shaped rocks with hexagonal or triangular cross-sections stacked vertically. Among the columnar joints on the East Coast, this lava columnar jointing is the oldest. It stretches 200m along the coast, and the jointing phenomenon also appears on a rocky island about 150m offshore.

After passing the Gangdong Columnar Jointing and walking along the coast, the course enters Gyeongju. Here, you pass through Gwansung Pine Forest Beach and Haseo Coastal Park, which are perfect for summer vacations. Gwansung Pine Forest Beach boasts excellent natural scenery and well-equipped facilities. At Haseo Coastal Park, you can enjoy a pebble beach where smooth, round pebbles weathered by the waves cover the beach floor instead of sand.

Leaving Haseo Coastal Park, the course enters its latter part and leads to Eupcheon Port Mural Village. This village has a slow mailbox that is delivered once a week, and you can see murals along the village walls. Eupcheon Port has several restaurants and an observatory overlooking the sea, making it a good place to rest.

1.2km from Eupcheon Port is the course’s endpoint, Naa Beach. This beach features a mix of pebbles and sand, creating an exotic landscape. The pine forest allows free tent camping, attracting many campers. Nearby are Nasandeul Park and the Gyeongju Munmu Daewang Tomb.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.