I went back to a spot I've spent a fair amount of time in recently. This is an area on the border between Chichibu in Saitama and Enzan in Koshu, Yamanashi. One part of the map of Japan that I haven't connected the dots on is between Mt Kobushigatake and Mt Kumotori. That bothers me.
I seem to have these need not just to summit every mountain but to walk every trail on the map. Call me Maria. "♪Climb every mountain🎵. . . "
Before you recommend a therapist because I'm O.C., calm down. I don't really lose sleep over this. I just like the sense of accomplishment.
The theme of today's hike was deer. Specifically, evidence of deer because I only caught a glimpse of one live one all day. Funny thing though since signs of deer were ubiquitous.
The first thing I noticed was that there seemed to be a lot of deer tracks. I don't mean just that I could pick out some tracks here or there. I mean that there were deer tracks just about everywhere I looked. They use our trails. (Or maybe we are using theirs?)
The next thing I realized is that there was deer poop EVERYWHERE. Sorry to shout, but I don't how to express just how much poop there was scattered around any other way. (See what I did there?) I honestly wondered if there was a square inch that I hiked today that was not covered with Bambi pellets.
It's enough to make one ask, what are they feeding these deer?
The piece de resistance was the poor guy I encountered at the end of the day.
Isn't the circle of life awesome?
I haven't come across anything so cool since I discovered a monkey's skull on the side of the road. My friend, Kevin gave me a hard time for not bringing that home. (Checking to see if he's reading this. This is my version of a green M+M clause in my rider.)
He was right. I still kill myself that I didn't bring Curious George home for the mantle.
I so wanted to bring the antlers home. I would have if I had anything better to cut with than my jackknife.
Here are some more pictures from this day. It was a nice hike. Warming up down below but just cold enough to have a little ice and snow up top.
In case you're interested, this area can be accessed from the Daibosatsu Line (Route 411) about 35km to the west of Okutama Station. Turn right toward the Enzan Ichinose Campground and then drive in another 10km. I parked my scooter on the side of the road near the Miharashi Minshuku. They have a parking lot you could leave a car in for ¥500.
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