[One Day Walk] Enjoying Pohang Beach While Walking Haepalanggil Course 18

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

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

Course 18 of Haepalanggil starts from Chilpo Beach in Pohang, Gyeongbuk, and goes to Hwajin Beach. The total length is 18.9 km and takes about 6 hours and 30 minutes to complete. The course is composed of several beaches with clear water and shallow depths, offering the fun of comparing large and small beaches.

Walking along the coast from Chilpo Beach, you will arrive at Chilpo Port. Here, you can see Skull Rock, which resembles a human head, and it is also considered a sacred place for anglers. It is also the starting point of Pohang’s famous Yeonan Green Road, a 1 km forest trail to Odori Beach where you can enjoy the sea scenery. On the Yeonan Green Road, there is the Haerum Observatory shaped like a ship’s bow, which is great for taking photos.

Along the course, there are various large and small ports and fishing villages. In the villages, you can see layers of various seafood piled up and watch fish drying in the sea breeze, which adds to the enjoyment. There are also several restaurants and cafes, making it a good place to rest midway through the course. At Odori Beach, located in the middle section, there is the Sabang Memorial Park, opened in 2007 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Korea’s Sabang project. Sabang refers to construction work to prevent soil erosion, and you can see historical and technical materials related to the Sabang project during the modernization period.

Near the end of the course, you will pass Bangseok Port. On the breakwater of Bangseok-ri, there are unique murals painted. White beaked whales, orcas, white dolphins, whale sharks, dugongs, sharks, and pollocks are painted facing the land side on the breakwater. All of these are endangered marine animals, raising awareness about nature conservation.

Near the final destination, Hwajin Beach, there is Hwajin-ri Village. This village is known for its beautiful murals, where you can enjoy various different paintings. Among the murals is one depicting ‘Sitting Tug-of-War,’ a traditional fishing village culture and a custom to pray for the village’s well-being during the first full moon of the lunar year.

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