The Trek to Mount Baekdu

The Trek to Mount Baekdu is a paean to the art of storytelling: a swashbuckling quest to uncover irresistible folktales through hiking trips – mostly on mountains – all around South Korea. At a time when the two Koreas are often known for their rising tensions, here is a timely story that uncovers a gentler side to the Korean peninsula. The tapestry of tales that emerges includes an array of colourful characters: rival conjurors, playful goblins, heavenly maidens, self-sacrificing birds – even a Korean cousin of Robin Hood! Yet South Korea's most revered mountain – the one whose portrait hangs proudly in school foyers and on office walls – is not in South Korea at all. Ironically, the mesmerising, two-million-year-old crater lake of Mount Baekdu straddles the border between North Korea and China. A pilgrimage from South Korea to the rim of Mount Baekdu’s Heaven Lake will be the greatest trip of all – and this is Jacob’s ultimate quest.