Roger Shepherd, founder of Hike Korea. Courtesy of Roger Shepherd

• ●Baekdu Daegan English Guidebook author expands coverage of Korea’s mountains.

• ●Roger Shepherd guides hundreds of tourists on Korean mountain explorations.

The past two years since the outbreak of COVID-19 have been the toughest period for New Zealander Roger Shepherd since he settled in Gurye, a rustic town near Jirisan Mountain in southwestern Korea, in 2014. He is the founder of Hike Korea, a company that specializes in customized guided mountain hikes all over South Korea.

Like with many of the self-employed, Shepherd, 55, saw his business dry up during the pandemic as inbound tourists stopped coming to Korea. He was left with plenty of unwanted free time.

Despite the financial pressure, the New Zealander was able to think about what to do during his spare time, discover his artistic side and find inner peace while producing something meaningful.

“I lost a lot of business because of the pandemic,” he said during an interview with Korea Here & Now. “So, I started using my spare time to pursue the arts more. I started painting mountain scenes from North Korea and have sold some pieces. I also experimented with digital art and made a 2022 calendar of peaks in North Korea.”

In addition to those art projects, Shepherd also held an exhibition of photos that capture some of the magnificent views along the Baekdu Daegan range, a 1,400-kilometer-long mountain chain that stretches from North Korea’s Baekdusan all the way down to Jirisan in the South.

An October exhibition in Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do Province, showcased some 40 photos taken on hikes through mountains in both Koreas and several of his paintings. 

His bond with South Korea began in 1999 when he came here as an English teacher. He returned to his home country after a year and became a police officer.

After discovering the Baekdu Daegan’s unique beauty and deep significance to Koreans, he returned to South Korea on multiple occasions in the 2000s to hike further along “the spine of Korea.” Years later, he quit his full-time job in New Zealand to pursue his passion. In 2009, he founded Hike Korea near Jirisan to guide international tourists through Korea’s scenic mountains.

Shepherd is one of the few people to have hiked extensively along the spectacular inter-Korean range on both sides of the DMZ. In an e-mail follow-up, he said the NGO Joseon-New Zealand Friendship Society, which supports civilian exchanges, helped organize four separate expeditions to North Korea in the 2010s. 

In a short interview posted on Youtube, he likens the DMZ to a tourniquet constricting the energy of the Baekdu Daegan and says Koreans, South and North, react with surprise, excitement, encouragement and envy when encountering him on the ridge or at an exhibition.

He first published Baekdu Daegan English Guidebook in 2010. The book, updated in 2017 has inspired people outside Korea to explore its relatively lesser-known mountains. 

So far, hundreds of foreigners have explored South Korea’s national parks through Hike Korea. Most of his clients form fond memories of the mountains, according to Shepherd, thanks to unique cultural experiences during their treks.  

“They all seemed to enjoy them a lot and appreciate their toughness. They appreciate that a small country like Korea can be so mountainous and very pretty in the countryside,” he said. “A lot of them have been to mountains in many other countries but were surprised by the abundance of mountains in South Korea. They also enjoy the temples and culture of the Korean mountains, like eating pajeon and drinking makgeolli afterwards. Those types of scenes are part of the experience of Korean mountains and they are sociable places.”

Compared to mountains in other countries, Shepherd said national parks in South Korea are easier to hike thanks to good infrastructure.

“They are not dangerous or far away to hike in. They offer many trails all over the country,” he said. “Most of the views are very good. There’s also good infrastructure supporting the mountains, like roads, parks, trail maintenance, etc. when you are up on the ridge, you can see a long way across Korea, the rolling hills bobbing like waves in the ocean. There is, of course, the strong cultural connection the Koreans have with their mountains where mountains are represented in their national anthems, literature, arts, foods, religions and so forth.”  

Asked about his rare professional journey from a police officer in New Zealand to a tour guide in South Korea, Shepherd said offerings may vary but customer service is not that different between professions.

“In the end, you provide a service and you uphold that service through skills and experience and by being a good companion and communicator as a guide. You need to have knowledge of your product, so you can explain to your guests what they are seeing and experiencing, so that when they leave, they are better educated about their experience and time with you,” he said.

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