Old Path of Guryongnyeong Pass

The Old Path of Guryongnyeong Pass is an old road linking Yangyang and Hongcheon. Because its terrain is gentler than that of the rugged Jinburyeong, Misiryeong and Hallyeong passes, people from the Yangyang and Goseong areas are said to have used this route mainly when travelling to Hanyang. It was an important trade route linking Yeongdong and Yeongseo, the regions east and west of the Baekdudaegan in what is now Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, and it is said that scholars from Yangyang and Goseong crossed the pass on their way to Hanyang to sit the state examinations, praying for success by invoking the auspicious power of dragons suggested in the pass's name. The name Guryongnyeong, meaning "Nine Dragons Pass," is said to come from a story that nine dragons, exhausted from crossing the pass, stopped to drink from a mineral spring in the village of Galcheon-ri before continuing on their way. At the entrance to the old path is a winding valley, and markers such as Hoetdolbanjaengi, Myobanjaengi and Solbanjaengi are set at intervals to indicate the route, adding to the beauty of the natural scenery and to the interest of walking the old path. The old path also retains an iron mine and a cableway developed by the Japanese during the Japanese colonial period, a site bound up with the sorrowful history of local residents forcibly conscripted to work there; and beside the path stands only the stump of a huge pine tree that was felled and used in the 1989 restoration of Gyeongbokgung Palace. With the history of the Joseon period and of modern and contemporary times preserved together here, this is a scenic site of great historical value.

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Where it is

Region

Yangyang, Gangwon

Designation

Scenic Site · 명승