Deogyusan autumn colour at its peak — free Gucheondong shuttle runs to 15 November, nine days only in November

The autumn colour in Deogyusan National Park, in Muju, North Jeolla Province, has reached the summit and the valley floor at the same time. The park office used the phrase "full peak" in its press release of 27 October, and in the same release it extended the free electric shuttle along the Gucheondong valley by a fortnight, to 15 November. The shuttle was introduced in April for visitors who cannot manage the long valley path — older people, wheelchair users, pregnant women — but in leaf season it is useful to anyone who wants to shorten the walk. The catch is that it runs on a limited set of days in November: pick the wrong date and you will be standing in a car park with no bus. Below, the dates, times and distances are cross-checked against two KNPS press releases, the park's own notice and its trail course pages.

How far down the mountain has the colour reached?

The gist of the announcement is "summit and valley together". The broadleaf trees around the 1,614 m summit of Hyangjeokbong have already begun to drop their leaves, and in the Gucheondong valley below them the red of the maples now overlaps with the yellow of the ginkgo. The two photographs attached to the release were taken in the valley on 25 October; the date survives in the image metadata. Two newspapers, Naewoe Ilbo and Cheonji Ilbo, reported the same announcement on 28 October, so the statement itself is confirmed by two routes. Colour changes a great deal in a week, though — if you are coming in November, check the state of the valley with the park's notice board or a phone call just before you set off.

Who can ride the Gucheondong shuttle, and how?

The shuttle runs the 6.1 km between Gucheondong car park and Baengnyeonsa temple (백련사). According to the press release of 14 April it is a 15-seat electric bus with a wheelchair lift, there is no fare, and it was planned to run from 18 April to 31 October. The release of 27 October and a park notice of 26 October pushed that end date to 15 November. None of the documents restricts the bus to people with reduced mobility, and there is no booking procedure. Its purpose, though, is access for those who cannot walk the valley, so when the 15 seats are full the right thing is to give way to wheelchair and pushchair users.

The running days are written differently in different documents, and that needs care. The press release of 27 October says only "no service on Mondays for maintenance", but the park notice posted a day earlier pins the extension period down to dates: Sunday 1 November, Thursday 5 to Sunday 8, and Thursday 12 to Sunday 15 — nine days in all. On 2–4 and 9–11 November there is no bus even though those are not Mondays. The service was also suspended on 24–25 October for the Muju international trail race, so before a November visit it is worth confirming that day's service through the park notice board or a call to the office on +82 63 322 3174 (Korean).

Shuttle timetable — first bus 09:00, last bus 16:10

This is the timetable attached to the 27 October press release. Going up, the bus does not stop at the Eosagil ranger post (어사길지킴터) but runs straight to Baengnyeonsa in about 25 minutes, waits 30 minutes at the temple and comes back down. Only on the way down can you get off at the Eosagil post, and you cannot board there — the April timetable allowed boarding and alighting at that stop, and the October timetable changed it to alighting only. So do not plan to walk down the Eosagil trail and flag the bus partway.

The timetable suggests two ways to use the bus. One is to ride both ways and spend only the 30-minute stop at Baengnyeonsa: in an hour and twenty minutes you see the valley colour from the window and walk round the temple grounds. The other is to ride up and walk down the Eosagil trail (구천동 어사길). From Baengnyeonsa you follow Hyangjeokbong course 2 down to the Eosagil exit at Ansimdae, then take the 3.3 km Eosagil path to Gucheondong Visitor Centre — all downhill, so it asks little of the legs.

The 33 scenes of Gucheondong — what do you see once you step off the bus?

The park's own introduction describes the Gucheondong valley as a chain of "13 rock platforms, some ten pools and 20 waterfalls", and says the 33 named scenes (구천동 33경) that earlier generations gave it are the face of Deogyusan. Along the shuttle's route between Gucheondong Visitor Centre and Baengnyeonsa lie scenes 15 to 28, from Wolhatan rapids to Gucheon Falls. The highlights the park lists for Hyangjeokbong course 2 are the same places — Wolhatan, Inwoldam (scene 16), Sajadam (17), Bipadam (19) and Gucheon Falls (28) — all a few steps from the valley path.

If you get off at the Eosagil ranger post on the way down, the Eosagil section from Inwoldam (scene 16) to Ansimdae (scene 25) begins right there. The places the park's course guide numbers are Wolhatan (15), Inwoldam (16), Sajadam (17), Bipadam (19), Guwoldam (21), Geumpotan (23), Ansimdae (25) and Gucheon Falls (28), and the Eosagil signposts give distances to four of them: Bipadam 400 m from the entrance, Guwoldam 1.4 km, Geumpotan 1.5 km and Ansimdae at the 3.3 km exit.

The names and positions of the 33 scenes follow the park's course guide and the Eosagil signposts; some of the named spots cannot be seen from the trail or carry no sign. Rather than counting how many scenes you have ticked off, it is more practical to walk from one of the four signposted points — Bipadam, Guwoldam, Geumpotan and Ansimdae — to the next.

Eosagil and Baengnyeonsa — how far is the walk?

According to the park's guide to Hyangjeokbong course 2, the path from Gucheondong Visitor Centre to Baengnyeonsa is a gentle track 2–3 m wide that families with small children or older members can manage. The round trip from the visitor centre to the temple is given as 12 km and about three hours. The visitor centre lends pushchairs and bicycles for free, and a bicycle-friendly path runs all the way to the temple. The Gucheondong Eosagil is a separate 3.3 km path laid right beside the stream between the Deogyudae nature study area and Ansimdae, within that section; the park's course page grades it "easy", gives 1 hour 40 minutes at the top of the page but 45 + 45 minutes in the section breakdown, so allow the longer figure. The name comes from a story about Park Mun-su, a Joseon-era secret royal inspector (암행어사), punishing bullies in Gucheondong.

For a wheelchair there is a second option besides the shuttle: the barrier-free trail. The park's barrier-free trail page describes a flat 1.5 km section from Gucheondong Visitor Centre past the Wolhatan toilets to the car-camping ground (site 7), 30 minutes one way by wheelchair, with a viewing deck over the Wolhatan falls. The surface is timber decking and packed granite sand at least 2 m wide, with an average gradient under 8 per cent and no steps or kerbs, and the page says wheelchairs can be borrowed at the visitor centre; the park recommends turning back at the camping ground. The page carries no revision date, so check wheelchair hire with the office before relying on it.

Which way up to Hyangjeokbong, the summit?

From the shuttle terminus at Baengnyeonsa to the summit of Hyangjeokbong is 2.5 km one way, about 1 hour 30 minutes. The park classes this as "short but steep, on wooden steps" and asks walkers to warm up and to allow for their fitness and the sunset. Starting on foot from Gucheondong Visitor Centre, the whole of Hyangjeokbong course 2 is 8.5 km one way, about three hours. From November the entry window for this course is 05:00–14:00, so a plan to take an afternoon shuttle to the temple and continue to the top will run into the cut-off.

To save your legs and still stand on the summit there is Hyangjeokbong course 1. The tourist gondola run by Muju Deogyusan Resort takes you to Seolcheonbong (2.7 km, about 20 minutes), and from there 0.6 km of wooden steps, about 20 minutes, lead to Hyangjeokbong. The park says around 600,000 people a year use this route. Its course page gives gondola hours of 10:00–16:00 on weekdays and 09:30–17:00 at weekends, with online advance booking on public holidays, but these are the resort's rules, so confirm them and the fare on the resort's own site. The gondola stops in severe weather warnings. The November entry window at the Seolcheonbong checkpoint is 05:00–15:00.

Shuttle, Eosagil or the summit — which combination?

Getting there, November entry times, what to bring

• By car: set the satnav to Deogyusan National Park Office (덕유산국립공원사무소), 411-8 Samgong-ri, Seolcheon-myeon, Muju-gun — that is Gucheondong car park. The park gives 2 h 30 from Seoul, Daegu or Gwangju and 3 h 30 from Busan. From the car park it is about 700 m on foot up to Gucheondong Visitor Centre; the shuttle stop is at the car-park end. The park's pages give no parking fee.
• By public transport: the park lists intercity buses to Muju terminal from Seoul Nambu, Daejeon Dongbu, Bukdaegu and Gwangju Gwangcheon terminals, then the local bus from Muju to Gucheondong (about 40 minutes). There is also a direct bus from Daejeon to Gucheondong terminal (1 h 40). The frequencies and departure times on the park's page carry no date, so confirm them at the terminal before you travel.
• Entry times from November: from Gucheondong Visitor Centre, 05:00–16:00 to Baengnyeonsa, 05:00–14:00 to Hyangjeokbong, and 05:00–15:00 at Seolcheonbong — each an hour shorter at both ends than the April–October windows of 04:00–17:00, 04:00–15:00 and 04:00–16:00. Visitors with a shelter booking at Hyangjeokbong or Satgatjae get one extra hour.
• Clothing: the park warns that the high ground is cold and windy, so bring warm layers and be down before sunset. After the last bus reaches the car park at 17:30 the valley path goes dark quickly.

Getting there from Seoul, and what to expect if you do not read Korean

The simplest route from Seoul is the intercity bus from Seoul Nambu Terminal to Muju (about three hours), then the local bus to Gucheondong; a KTX to Daejeon and the direct bus from Daejeon Bokhap Terminal to Gucheondong (1 h 40) is the faster combination. Nothing about the shuttle needs Korean: there is no ticket, no app, no registration and no fare, so you simply queue at the stop by the car park and board — the driver will manage the lift for a wheelchair. What does need Korean is the paperwork around it: the timetable, the November running-day notice, the entry-time table and the trail course pages are all published in Korean only, and no English-language service is advertised for the bus. KNPS has only a short multilingual help page in English, which does not cover this shuttle, which is why the dates and the full timetable are translated above. On the trail itself the signposts give distances in kilometres and the place names in Korean, with the 33 scenes marked by number, so the numbers in this article are enough to follow them. Mobile data works along the valley floor. If you want to confirm the day's service and cannot phone in Korean, the surest way is to arrive for the 09:00 or 10:30 departure on one of the listed days, when the bus is at the stop before it leaves.