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Type
12 Attractions of Daejeon
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Location
79-70, Sandi-ro, Daedeok-gu, Daedjeon
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Telephone
+82-42-623-9909
Tourist Attractions
Tourist Attractions
Gyejoksan Hwangtogil Trail
Gyejoksan Hwangtogil Trail is the only place in the world to experience such a healthy feeling from nature, and you cannot experience this anywhere else in Korea. It is a must-see place for travelers, along with Mt. Gyejoksan and Daecheong dam, when they visit Daejeon. While walking or running 14 km of the exciting Hawntogil Trail located at an altitude of 200 m to 300 m, you can find health in body and mind. In spring and fall, hikers from all over Korea gather to enjoy the landscape of Mt. Gyejoksan while hiking. Gyejoksan Hwantogil Trail was selected as ‘the must-see place in May’ by Korean Traveling Agency in 2009 and is the place where around 500 participating children from 100 other countries and James Michel, President of Seychelles, walked with bare feet and highly praised it during the UN Environment Children Assembly. As a ‘healthy forest’, Mt. Gyejoksan became famous, and the ‘Gyejoksan Hwangtogil Trail walking’ travelling product won the grand prize in the travel category of the ‘2nd G Market Local Government E-marketing Fair.’ In addition, every year the ‘Eco One Sunyang Masai Marathon’ is held here, which has over 5000 participants including about 600 foreigners from over 40 countries. This has become a major festival in Daejeon.
Passing by the Jangdong Recreational Forest with luxurious ~0.4 km of forest trail and a swimming pool, a circular road starts, and the actual Hwangtogil appears when you walk a bit along a paved road at the entrance of the Recreational Forest. Half of it is Hwangtogil and the other half is a normal trail. Hwantogil is available to experience from spring to fall. 14.5 km in length in total, Gyejoksan trail has made bare foot walking popular everywhere in Korea and is a road built by private investment from The Mackiss Company co. ltd. (previously Sunyang) that is famous for soju (Korean rice spirit).
Walking inner city blended with trails of trees, flowers, and water
The president of The Mackiss Company co.ltd., Woong-Rae Cho, gave his shoes without hesitation when he saw a lady who had difficulty climbing up with high heels on. He went down the trail in bare feet. His feet hurt very much but he indeed had a deep sleep that night and his tiredness went away completely the next morning. From this, he realized the benefits of walking bare foot and founded Hwangtot-gil with his own money to encourage walking bare foot.
Although the trail is covered with Hwangto (red clay), it requires great courage to walk all 14.5 km of Dulle-gil bare foot. Even after 1-2 km of walking, the soles of your feet become numb. To that extent, we can realize our weakness of relying on shoes, a modern convenience. Anyways, we thank his warm generosity that has allowed the luxurious trail to maintain the health of the citizens by investing 400 million KRW out of his pocket every year.
Trail with natural freshness
Gyejoksan Dulle–gil is a general gradual forest trail, and with natural freshness, it is suitable for seniors and children to walk without excessive effort. So you can see families walking with their elderly parents and young parents walking while holding the hands of their children. It looks natural and beautiful to see mothers and daughters walking bare foot courageously. Another bonus is providing happiness to the visitors. A ‘Forest Concert’ that is held from April to late-October every year is already popular entertainment. Saturdays and Sundays every week from 4 pm to 5 pm, the standing concert hall is filled with various visitors. It is a concert hall that does not have assigned seating and the visitors can freely enter and exit without formality. The visitors can sit on the ground or on top of a small stone in front of the stage with natural freshness from the trail. They can enjoy classical music that is infrequently played in their daily lives. Hikers, after finishing their walk in bare feet, can rest here to refresh their minds. The Forest Concert here is of course free of charge.
Information
| Hour | 09:00 ~ 24:00 / 09:00-24:00 |
|---|---|
| Parking Facility | 25 cars |
| Additional Facilities | Nearby tourist attractions: Jangdong Recreational Forest, Daedeok Gyejok Sanseong Fortress Jangdong Recreational Forest pool in summer. |