VISIT JEJU

Jeolmul Recreational Forest is known for its neat Japanese cedar forest which begins as soon as you take the trail on the right past the approach. The cedars, standing tall and close to one another, seem to have a divine aura like guardian posts protecting their village. It is said that these trees have grown so tall in order to catch more sunlight in this dense forest. The best time of day to visit this place is around noon. In summer, their shade provides a cool shelter from the hot sun; in winter, the air is warmer than at any other time of day.

There is a wooden deck in the cedar forest that offers visitors a comfortable stroll. It is a recreation forest where anyone, even little children and the elderly with bad knees, can walk without difficulty. You might even feel a spring in your step.

Walk through the orderly cedar forest and you will soon find the Woodcraft Experience Center and an artificial park. You should stop by if you have children. Inside the center you can see a workroom and miniature works. You can even try woodcrafting yourself. Across from the Woodcraft Experience Center there is a recreational forest where you can spend the night if you make a reservation.

Saryeoni Forest Trail, which means a sacred forest trail in the Jeju language, delivers its sacred energy up to the road to this forest. Along the smoothly winding road lies a curtain of Japanese cedars. You can imagine a curious green pixie popping her head out like the rabbit who took Alice to Wonderland. If you are visiting Saryeoni Forest Trail, it is better to bring with you a small thermos filled with some water or coffee, since your mouth soon dries up in this mysterious space filled with silence. Its stillness might feel creepy to those who aren’t used to a dense forest. So, if you are traveling alone, you should visit at midday when many other visitors are around, instead of early morning or late afternoon.

If you are planning to drive to Saryeoni Forest Trail, visit the nearby Forest Tunnel. You can enjoy a pleasant drive with waves of various patterns drawn by the bright sunlight falling through the leaves. If you are driving to Saryeoni Forest Trail, you should park your car in a separate parking lot and take the shuttle bus to the forest approach. Or, take the other approach, the National Road No. 1118. Drive the 1118, or Namjo-ro, past Bulgeunoreum Recreational Forest, and you will soon find the 2nd approach to Saryeoni Forest Trail that leads you to a flat trail into the forest. You can park on the large side road near the second approach.

Located in the middle mountainous area, Saryeoni Forest Trail enjoys a lot of foggy weather. If a light drizzle is expected during your visit, you should bring a raincoat and some warm tea, and saunter around in the forest. You can feel the moist redolence of the Japanese cedars and the refreshing liveliness from the earth and leaves. As the mist thickens, the noise inside your head fades away and only you remain. However, note that on a day of heavy rain, access may be prohibited for safety reasons. Make sure to check the situation on the day of your visit.

Gyorae Recreational Forest is an eco-forest with a well-preserved gotjawal wood, which refers to a unique type of woods in Jeju. Unlike Jeolmul Recreational Forest and Saryeoni Forest Trail that show the aesthetics of straight lines, Gyorae Recreational Forest reminds you of primeval forests with its crooked tree branches and straggled grass. The trails of Gyorae Forest are rather steep, like in other gotjawal, and aren’t laid out with wooden decks. So, if you don't have your sneakers on, you might have to turn away with regret. Like other gotjawal, Gyorae Recreational Forest is cluttered with rocks, moss, trees and vines. However, as this place hasn’t been touched by human hands, you can see the wild, natural face of Jeju. It is also exciting to think that you might be looking at a similar scene that someone had seen a long time ago, maybe during the Tamna Period (third-10th centuries CE).

Gyorae Recreational Forest includes a campground, accommodations that consist of a traditional thatched house type and a modern type, and various kinds of subsidiary facilities. Since the place is also in close proximity to amenities in Gyorae-ri, it is nice to spend a night in this forest. If you prefer more exciting backpacking or camping, then spend a night on the golden greensward in early autumn when the fall foliage season begins, instead of the hot, humid summer. The stars twinkling against the dark night sky will guide you to happy dreams.

Japanese Torreya Forest always makes it on the list of Jeju’s good forest trails. Renowned as a forest of a thousand years, Japanese Torreya Forest is a habitat for roughly 2,800 Japanese torreyas that have grown for at least hundreds of years. Since the trees do not lose their leaves in winter, the Japanese torreyas offer a lush green forest throughout the year.

If you follow the trail into the Japanese Torreya Forest, you can see soft, red soil, called hwasansongi (Jeju scoria) on the ground. This particular type of scoria, which isn’t easy to find on Jejudo Island, releases high levels of far-infrared radiation and anion. Since the hwasansongi soil is light and soft, you can enjoy a comfortable walk. As you go into the forest, trees with unique shapes come into sight: a Japanese torreya as large as if 10 trees were combined, conjoined trees, the oldest Japanese torreya in the forest, and so on. The different trees become familiar.

The feeling of tension by the huge title, “a forest of a thousand years” begins to melt way at the sight of the trees, and during the 1-hour round-trip walk in the forest, the countless Japanese torreyas soon seem like common roadside trees. Because of it, maybe, in your memories about the Japanese Torreya Forest, the scent of the person who walked along with you leaves a stronger trace than that of the Japanese torreyas. Hence, walk through the Japanese Torreya Forest with the person who you want to make memories with. As it keeps the thousand years of memories, Japanese Torreya Forest will present the memories of the day of your visit to you in the future.

In Seogwipo Recreational Forest, you can walk from the approach or drive along the beltway and stop at a specific trail for a stroll. In particular, if you are planning to visit Beopjeongak Observatory, you should drive to Beopjeongak Trail and then walk, because the walkway from the entrance to the observatory is rather long. Beopjeongak Volcanic Cone is in Seogwipo Recreational Forest. Unlike most other volcanic cones, Beopjeongak Volcanic Cone has a well-developed gotjawal. Fortunately, wooden decks are laid out along the way to the observatory so anyone can walk up to the top without difficulty.

Once you arrive at the observatory, you may see an unusual scene where the earth, sloping up towards Hallasan Mountain, touches the heavy, thick clouds. Past the bumpy ground made by volcanic cones and Hallasan Mountain, the silver sea shines through the clouds. Since the observatory is on high ground, a unique landscape of clouds floating above the sea comes into view. If you turn your eyes away from the distant scenery, a forest that seems as fluffy as a cotton candy catches your eyes. We must appreciate and keep this beautiful vista in our hearts. Considering that in Jeju, the day’s weather and the scenery of each season are very changeable, the forest in Jeju you see at the moment can be seen only once, and that is today.

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