The Baekdudaegan: The Spine of the Peninsula백두대간: 한반도의 등뼈

Ask a Korean hiker about the mountains and you may hear a word that has no easy translation: Baekdudaegan, the "great white-head ridge." It is the idea that the peninsula's mountains form one continuous spine, running roughly 1,500 km from Baekdusan on the northern border all the way to Jirisan in the south — a ridge you could, in principle, walk without ever crossing a river. This is not just geography; it is a traditional worldview. Old Korean geographers mapped the land as flows of mountain energy branching from Baekdusan, and the ridge became a symbol of the peninsula's unity and vitality. It is also a real physical divide: weather, watersheds, dialects, and food change as you cross it. The South Korean section runs about 700 km from the DMZ area down to Jirisan, passing through a chain of national parks including Seoraksan, Odaesan, Sobaeksan, and Deogyusan, and the country protects the corridor by law as a conservation zone under the Baekdudaegan Protection Act. Today thru-hiking the ridge is a badge of honor among Korean mountaineers, but you do not need two months to feel it — stand on a high pass like Daegwallyeong and you are standing on the country's backbone.