노추산 모정탑길

Mt. Nochusan, 1,322 meters, on the border between Gangneung and Jeongseon. Along a roughly one-kilometer mountain path, over 3,000 stone cairns stand packed together. Cha Sun-ok built them alone from 1986 to 2011 — twenty-five years. After losing two sons and her husband, she climbed this path daily, stacking stones one by one in prayer for her family. Mojeong means a mother's love. The deeper you walk, the taller the cairns grow — some exceed human height. The knowledge that one person spent twenty-five years climbing this trail every day, stacking stone upon stone, presses on you the entire walk. It is quiet and uncrowded. The loop takes only about thirty minutes, but it may be the place from your Gangneung trip that stays with you the longest.