Do you like that title? I'm just experimenting with clickbait.
Hello cave dweller. (Now that I think of it, you probably are living like a cave dweller because of COVID. Stop it. Get outside. Get a life. Even if you do it like I do--with nobody around--please get outside.)
Yesterday I got on my scooter before 5 am to ride nearly three hours to a trailhead. I'm glad I got such an early start because the weather was gorgeous--until about 9 or 10. Then it got cloudy and Fuji and all the distant mountains disappeared for the balance of the day.
I started at the Yunosawa Parking Lot (湯の沢駐車場), way up in the hills. It's at the end of the mountain road. It's so far up there, that there is an emergency hut next to the parking lot. One thing I really like about having a scooter is that I can get to trailheads that trains, buses and cars can't.
Getting there entailed riding west on Koshu Kaido past Otsuki and through the Kai Yamato Tunnel. Then, just past the Michi No Eki (a roadside spot selling local produce and goods to tourists) turn right and right about 15km up winding mountain roads. It was while I was on this road that Fuji made its only appearance of the day.
I chose today's route because I wanted to connect trails I've hiked in the past. There was a gap on my map between Yunosawa Pass and Mt. Oyagamaru. The first map was a hike I did a few weeks ago. The second is where I went yesterday.
Notice the Kaiyamato Michi no Eki in the top left of the first picture. That is just outside the entrance of a long tunnel from Otsuki to Koshu. On the first hike, my path took me over that tunnel.
Yesterday
Like I said, the sky was only blue so long. I was able to get this shot of 3 of my favorite mountains. They are all fun to climb and they all have great views.
BTW, you can see a watermark for Peakvisor on the picture. That's an app I use for mountain identification. It's really cool. I took the picture, though so I think I deserve the bigger watermark.
I startled Bambi's girlfriend this morning.
This video is better.
I'll never forget the first time I heard a deer bark. I had no idea what it was and it scared the living daylights out of me.
The clouds may have obscured the view of the mountains, but the flowers and butterflies made up for it! Between the Yunosawa Pass and the first mountaintop going south, the path wanders through a few hundred meters of wildflowers. They are beautiful and they attract lots of butterflies and honeybees. That spot is 湯の沢峠花畑。 (Yunosawatoge Hanabatake)
As usual, after a day like this, my dogs deserved a break.
That's all for today. God-willing and if the creek don't rise, I'm going on a really special trek next week. Stay tuned.
S'up cave lovers? I want to share with you some of the places around Mt. Bandai in Fukushima. As I said in the last post, aside from the mountain, there are a lot of recreational things to do here.
The volcanic eruption greatly interrupted the drainage of the area and created numerous lakes and marshes. These first few pictures are of the Goshiki Numa, "5-colored Marsh", (五色沼). There is a fairly flat walking trail of about 4~5 km through it. Along the way there is a restaurant, an ice cream stand, a souvenir shop, and rental boats. Great fun for kids from eight to eighty!
Some of the watery sights in the Goshiki Numa.
There are some well-fed, well-coordinated Koi here.
The next place I'd like to share is the Matsubara Campground on Lake Hibara. The Matsubara Campground is a great place. It faces the mountain across the lake and the views of Bandai are just incredible. It also offers a front-row seat to the annual fireworks display held over the lake. (Unfortunately, that display has been on hold since the COVID era began.) The campground has swimming, tenting, cabins, boats, canoes, kayaks, fishing, bicycles, hiking, cooking facilities, water, a bath, great bathrooms . . . and they pick you up in a boat to bring you to the campground! Since there are no cars it offers a more serene experience than the usual car-camping lollapalooza.
The owner is a descendant of one of the 4 people that survived the eruption in 1888 and likes to show old pictures and tell the story.
Their website it here:
http://www.urabandai-camp.com/
Note the slide and the rope swing on the left. The water is so clean. I dropped my glasses in about 10 feet of water but was able to spot them from the surface. There are lots of fish to see, too.
Since I'm a walker, even after climbing the mountain, I was happy to have the trail along the lake to perambulate. There were some spots along the way that were just so beautiful I couldn't help but linger to look.
The water is very high compared to my last trip. Then, these islands were above water.
Mt. Bandai, in Fukushima, is a really beautiful, interesting mountain. It's shape and the topography all around it is the result of massive volcanic eruptions in the past. The latest eruption, in 1888, nearly wiped out the entire local population--all but 4 people who were out of the area for work at the time perished--eradicated a mountain peak, stopped a river, and created numerous swamps and lakes. Along with the mountain, these spots offer innumerable leisure opportunities from hiking and boating to ice fishing and skiing.
I think I will make another post about the stuff below the mountain in the near future.
It's my blog. I'll post about whatever I please. ;-)
This is a view of the north side of Mt. Bandai from our campground on Lake Hibara. Bandai is the higher peak on the right.
I was a bit nervous about this trip. The weather forecast was for thunderstorms, hail, brimstone, frogs, locusts, bats from Wuhan . . . This was my third trip up to this area. The first time it rained so hard, I just stayed in the campground the whole time. My first climb up Bandai was two years ago but this is all I got to see from the top.
Thankfully, the weathermen were wrong. It was gorgeous. Who says you need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows?
Our route:
That is a hotspring we encountered on the trail. There used to be public bath here. This spot is called Nakanoyu (中の湯).
It smells like hell. Really. It's the smell of sulfur.
From the top:
Looking south to Lake Inawashiro, the largest lake in the area.
Much better view than the last time!
There were a lot of dragonflies on the top.
This is Kevin, my sherpa.
When we were coming down, it was something to imagine that there used to be a mountainpeak towering here. Kevin kept saying, "The mountain blew up."
I hope I didn't post too many pictures for you. Less is more but it was really difficult to keep the number of pictures down. It's such a beautiful place.
More soon. Like I said, I think I'll make another post about the area below the mountain. Take care of yourselves.
I'm looking at the statistics on my blog and I am seeing people viewing it from every continent. That makes me curious. Who are you? How did you end up at my blog? Have we met?
Anyway, whoever and wherever you are, I hope you enjoy this blog. I try to pass on beautiful things that I come across and hope it brightens your day. If you're in Japan and are able to pick up some ideas for places to go and things to do, I'm really happy.
This is the second one I've seen in as many weeks.
I was hiking around Otsuki and Koshu yesterday. I discovered a cool tool on one of my hiking apps. Check this out.
I wish I had a better avatar than the one they assigned me.
Not many pictures yesterday. This one shows my path.
To get to the trailhead, you take Koshu Kaido west from Otsuki and follow the signs for Sasago Pass just before the long Shin-Sasago Tunnel that goes to Koshu City.
On the way to the pass, you go past the 矢立杉 ("archery quiver" "cedar"), a tree that is supposedly over 1,000 years old. The locals seem to be proud of it. There are lots of signs promoting it and a memorial there. The memorial has a device that will play the song for you. I'm sure it's all more meaningful to a native speaker. I would have been more interested if they billed it as an ent.
It wasn't a day with a lot of breathtaking views--but it was nice to see the sun for a change. Rainy season officially ended the day before. This picture shows Koshu City.
