My Festivus

 I celebrated another orbit around the sun this week.  My 53rd festivus.  

A few years ago, I started to celebrate each birthday, each of my festivuses (festivii?) with some feat of strength. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR3S690EF2U&t=91s

I've been in the hospital a bit lately and haven't been in the mountains since June 1.  And, since it was time for the annual feat of strength, I decided to take a special trip and hop a train up to Nikko to climb Mt Nantai, one of the 100 Famous Mountains in Japan.

Since it is rainy season, the views weren't spectacular but it didn't rain and I got home safely.  

I was just about the only tourist there.  I stayed at an Air BnB on Monday night and my hosts said they hadn't had guests since May.  When I came off the mountain and got to the station, I found all of the souvenir shops were closed.  It was like a ghost town.

For this trip, I started at the Futaarasan Shrine (二荒山神社).  

The shrine is right next to Lake Chuzenji, so I stopped there for a few pictures first.  It was so nice to be the only person there.

There were the expected traditional statues and buildings you would see at a shrine in  Nikko.

This shrine maintains this mountain.  They have a lot of cautionary information at the bottom.  Perhaps they get daytrippers here that aren't ready for the steep climb that Mt Nantai is.  It's only about 4.5 km from the shrine to the top, but it is an ascent of about 1,200 meters in that distance.  

That's about 300 flights of stairs!

They even have their own hiking plan notification form they expect you to fill out and leave with them.  I already had filed a plan with the authorities online so I tried to decline.  The old dudes staffing the shrine insisted and when they saw I was planning on going beyond Mt Nantai and exiting the mountains somewhere else, they tried their best to talk me out of it.  They wanted me to just go up and down Mt Nantai.  Considering that I had invested so much time and money into this trip, I wasn't about to be satisfied with a 3 or 4-hour hike.  I told them what they wanted to hear and went on my merry way.  I had left my phone number with them so if they were concerned that I hadn't returned to them, they didn't show that concern by calling me!

I don't hold it against them because it is their mountain . . . but I was a little disappointed to find out they charge you ¥1,000 to climb it.  If I'd known all this, I probably would have chosen a different route.

This picture is getting near the top.  That is Lake Chuzenji.  Mt. Nantai dominates it.  I'll post a picture I took in November from the lake looking up.

This is what it looks like from below.

Another picture from the top.

That's a little shrine just off the top.

These are my footprints for the day.

I saved a bundle on bus fare.  

The bus companies have different plans for traveling around to the tourist sites.  You can spend about ¥2,000~¥3,000 buying a pass to get around for the day.

My Air BnB host was kind enough to drive me to the Futarasanji in the morning.  I was expecting the one-way bus ticket back to town to be ¥1,150 but because of where I exited the mountains, it was only ¥410.  (I still think that was an expensive bus ride.  It was only 2 or 3 miles.) 

I got on the bus at the Uraminotakiiriguchi Bus Stop.  This is just down the street from the Uraminotaki.  (Uramino means something like "back view" and taki means "falls").  That would be a nice place for a family picnic.  There is a parking lot with a public restroom and picnic area next to the river and a 500-meter wooden walkway along the river to some falls.  I was the only person there.

Until next time.  Take care of yourselves and watch out for bears.

On second thought, I'm more worried about pit vipers.  Watch out for them.  I've seen many more of them than I have seen bears.  And look out for wild dogs.  The old dudes at the shrine were telling me to be careful of wild dogs.

And, by the way.  If you've ever had a birthday, be grateful.  

The first fact about the celebration of a birthday is that it is a way of affirming defiantly, and even flamboyantly, that it is a good thing to be alive.

G.K. Chesterton

I was diagnosed with cancer this year and had two surgeries to take care of it.  It looks like they got it all and I'm going to live!  I feel like I hit some kind of health or life lottery.  I am so grateful to be able to keep hiking and loving and experiencing beauty and all the other wonderous stuff that goes along with being alive.  

I am consciously grateful for this gift of life to the Giver of Life.