Damyangho Lake

Character

Damyangho Lake fills a narrow mountain basin below Chuwolsan and Geumseongsan, with the Yongmaru trail following forested shoreline created by a 1976 dam that still supplies agricultural water across the region

The original Yongmaru section runs 3.9 kilometres from the Chuwolsan tourist area, beginning with a high wooden bridge across the water before continuing along deck and earth paths beside the lake

About forty minutes into the walk, the trail passes the former site of Yongyeon-ri. Residents moved away when the reservoir was completed, and bamboo fields remained where the village had stood. The old settlement is not reconstructed; its absence sits inside the present walking landscape

The experience

The Chuwolsan parking area is the clearest entry point. The bridge, trailhead and lake views are concentrated here, while the wider reservoir stretches through a much larger mountain basin

The first Yongmaru route alternates deck and earth trail and can be walked in roughly two hours. Later county projects extended the lakeside network in separate sections toward Dorim-ri, Seoksan and the Geumseongsanseong side, so the named Yongmaru system now reaches beyond the original 3.9-kilometre walk

The mountain road repeatedly disappears into tunnels and returns above the water, opening views toward Chuwolsan, Geumseongsan and the reservoir’s branching coves

History

Damyangho was built as part of the first-stage Yeongsan River basin development program. Construction began in the early 1970s and the reservoir was completed in September 1976

The dam is 316 metres long and 46 metres high, with a full-water area of about 405 hectares. Its primary purpose was agricultural: the reservoir was designed to irrigate roughly 4,245 hectares of farmland in the Damyang plain and surrounding districts

Yongyeon-ri was among the communities affected by inundation; residents relocated as the reservoir filled. The bamboo fields beside today’s trail remain one of the few visible traces of that earlier landscape

Damyangho was designed to receive part of its inflow through a diversion tunnel from neighbouring Sunchang. During drought in 2010, local residents there installed a two-metre concrete barrier that reduced that inflow for fourteen years. Damyang, Sunchang and the Korea Rural Community Corporation removed the barrier in April 2024 after an agreement intended to restore water supply and raise average reservoir levels

Before you go

The original 3.9-kilometre Yongmaru section is the simplest way to experience Damyangho on foot; newer trail sections extend the network farther around the reservoir. The lake itself has no controlled entry schedule, while individual parks and facilities around it operate separately