Jeju Olle Trail: Daily Log Book Courses 20-21
We hiked South Korea’s Jeju Olle Trail in March of 2024. To give you a sense of “life on the trail”, I’ve published my digital logbook here with minimal edits. This post covers days 1-3, courses 20-21. Natural and cultural highlights include Woljeong and Sehwa Beaches and the Haenyeo Museum.
Day 1: Course 20 - Gimnyeong to Woljeong Beach, 4.5 miles, rainy and blustery
Landed in Jeju City at 8:30 in the morning; rain and wind. Took bus to a restaurant and had breakfast of abalone stew (전복찌개) and seaweed soup (미역국). Realizing we had to wait an hour for the bus to Udo ferry port (course 1), we instead chose a local bus eastward. When we noticed a lull in the rain, we hopped off the bus at the Course 20 trailhead and headed toward Gimnyeong-ri (김녕). The lull didn’t last. Full rain gear needed, as it was raining quite hard with a ferocious wind.
We headed eastward, with a vague plan of hiking the full 10 miles of this section… but the conditions were really bad. We walked about 2 hours (5 miles) before calling it a day in Woljeong Beach. March is a little early in the season for walking the Olle Gil, so many pensions and minbaks are not open yet. We called a few places without much luck, then connected with an owner across the street from an italian restaurant. Really great place! Lovely elderly lady made us mushroom tea, dried our wet clothes, gave us some snacks. $50 for the full suite and nobody else in the other rooms. Super clean and lots of space! Electric blanket in the room heated us up quickly. Took a nap, then went out for dinner at 6:30.
We had seafood jampong (짬뽕) at a nearby restaurant - loads of seafood! - and also mixed rice (비빔볶음밥). The owner was chatty and generous, giving C a bunch of “extras” as he talked with her, including fermented crab. We ate a ton of seafood! Afterwards, we took a walk in the dark along the beach; very very windy but the rain had stopped. Returned to the minbak, had tea and read books; went to bed about 10:30 or 11:00. First day of “no plan” travel exceeded expectation 😀.
First thoughts about the trail itself: Jeju Olle Gil has all the elements of an epic walking trail, but the amount of garbage washing in from the sea is hard to overlook. The white sandy beaches, contrasting black lava, beautiful turquoise and marine blue sea, traditional small low houses with colorful roofs, palm trees - and then garbage. I want to love this trail, but the garbage dampens the vibe and experience.
Post-hike note: This was the impression on day one in a more remote section of the trail in March. Throughout March as the weather warms, there is a massive clean up effort by the citizens of Jeju Island to remove a winter’s worth of sea-drifted garbage from the beaches. After day one, we encountered only a few beaches that had not been cleaned up. For the most part, the Jeju Olle Trail is beautiful and clean.
Day 2: Course 20 & 21 Woljeong Beach to Sehwa Beach, 10.5 miles, overcast but mild
Started the day along the sea shore, with crashing waves, white sand, black lava fields. Woljeong beach (very clean!) has a small town, interesting architecture, many cafes and traditional houses. Had fantastic scones at a local coffee roasting cafe. Watched some morning surfers.
At the end of town, the path turned inland. We wove through farm fields: carrots, Korean radish, spring onions and garlic fields; farmers harvesting carrots, freshly tilled fields ready for seeding, first blossoms of spring: cherry blossoms, colorful wild purple, orange and yellow flowers; cacti and succulents on porous lava rock walls, colorful painted shells adorn garden walls. Colorful rooftops: blue, green, yellow, red. Terrain: sandy, lava rocks, small alleyways. Weather: 50’s, overcast, a breeze, but not too windy. Sun came out late afternoon.
Lunch: daily made 시계 김치 (fermented barley kimchi), rapeseed flower kimchi, perilla leaf in kimchi, fresh caught fried 가자미 (flounder), salad with beet dressing, abalone dolsot bibimbap.
Haenyeo Museum was excellent! We spent 1.5-2 hours learning about Jeju Island’s famous women free divers - their harsh lives, political activism, unionization, and physical ailments. Feeling the Jeju vibe!!
Found a nice pension (아머지의 바다 펜션) for the night at 65,000 won (~USD$50.00). Nice view of the sea from our window. The minbak owner gave us a ride into town to get dinner. We happened upon a fantastic Thai restaurant - really excellent pad thai and tom yum soup! Walked back after dinner along the beach, with just the sound of the waves. Hot shower and then bed at 10pm. Why hike Olle Gil? DEEP cultural immersion.
Click any photo for a larger slideshow…
Day 3: Course 21 - Sehwa Beach to start of Course 1 in Siheung, 9 miles, sunny and mild - after 2:00 pm, gusty winds
Beautiful walk again today, starting through the back fields of Sehwa, watching farmers harvesting Korean radish. Hado town area had a preserved fort wall from circa 1510; could climb up for nice views of the colorful town and beach. Very tidy, pretty houses! Bright yellow rapeseed (canola, 유재화) fields everywhere. Walked along the seashore, past several haenyeo changing stations.
At Hado Beach, we saw a police and citizen group cleaning the trash off the beaches. The beaches in this area look pristine!! They even had a dive team cleaning under the water. We had a short stroll across the white sandy beach, then arrived at an even larger beach. Took a rest break in the sand, ate snacks and watched a guy learn to surf.
Then we had our first hill climb of the trek: Jimibong. Its summit is 410 meters; gorgeous views of the sea and Seongsan Ilchulbong in distance + all of Udo Island. After hiking back to the seaside, we had lunch - 갈치귀 and 해물툭빼기 (grilled belt fish and seafood hotpot). The grilled beltfish was fantastic!
View from Jimi Hill
After lunch, the wind was really gusting! It felt quite a bit colder too. We headed toward the port for Udo with the intention of taking the ferry today, but changed our minds after about an hour. Unsure if we would make the last ferry on time - and unsure we could find a place to stay in Udo at a reasonable price - we decided the best plan would be to settle in a little earlier today. So after finishing Course 21, we headed to the start point of course 1 and then searched for a minbak.
After calling around and looking at a couple, we chose Just Inn. Normally, they rent the whole place for 120,000 won per night, but since it is the off season and we are just two people, they offered 50,000 won per night. Nice! We got settled in about 3:30 and I laid down for a nap; C took a shower. It was so warm and quiet, I slept until 6:00! Sooooo QUIET!!! I haven’t slept in such quiet for a long time! We went for dinner at 7:00 at a local restaurant. We had their specialty, which is four kinds of hand-made mandu (kimchi, pork, abalone, octopus) plus a huge seafood and mushroom hotpot. It was so delicious and filling! Well fed for tomorrow’s Course 1!
