Hantangang River Geopark

Chatancheon flows north to south along Chugaryeong Gujo Belt and its full length is 36.8㎞. Chatancheon is a river like the lifeline of Yeoncheon residents that starts in Cheorwon Geumhaksan Northern valley and joins in Jeongok through Sintanri, Daegwangri Yeoncheoneup. In Chatancheon, you can see peculiar topography and geology not found in other rivers such as various basalt columnar joints especially in the downstream section. Among them Chatancheon columnar joint and Eundaeri fold structure and horizontal joint are the geological attractions of Hantan River Geopark.

Chatancheon Roundabout way refers to a way surrounding Chatancheon and its full length is about 9.9㎞. It takes about 3 hours 30 minutes to 4 hours to trail and it is indeed Geological Museum where you can meet various rocks and geological features. from schist, the oldest rock in Yeoncheon (1.9 billion years ago, Seonbawi Rock) to Basalt columnar joint of Cenozoic Quaternary (550,000 years ago – 120,000 years ago). Also, there are a variety of native plants in Chatancheon and Korean azalea and Neillia uyekii are representative.

The name Chatancheon was origniated from Wagon Ford. The wagon of Lee Bang-won to ascend to Taejong later in the Joseon Dynasty fell in this ford on his way to Yeoncheon to meet his friend Lee Yang-so who opposed the founding of Joseon and retired to Yeoncheon. With this episode as a momentum, it was called Wagon Ford meaning ‘wagon’ fell in ‘ford’ and Chatancheon(車수레차 灘여울탄 川)as translated into Chinese character.

Geology Trail Course