Once upon a Kamoshika

 

A nice walk from Okutama Lake to Okutama Station.  Pleasantly surprised to see not one but two kamoshikas on the way.  

This is Okutama Lake, a major source of Tokyo's water supply.  It was created by damming the Tama River in 1957.  

I took a bus here from Okutama Station.  My plan, basically, was to walk along the Okutama Mukashi Michi from the lake back to the station.  Muskashi means old.  Michi means road.  One way to translate it would be "The Old Okutama Road".  Mukashi has another use, though.  Japanese fairy tales always begin with "Mukashi mukashi"; ie, "Once upon a time."

Before actually going to the Mukashi Michi, I wandered around the dam and took a few pictures.  Then I headed uphill behind the Okutama Water and Green Friendship Hall to check out those trails.  There are a lot of switchbacks up a steep, southeast-facing slope and it offered some really spectacular views of the lake as the morning sun rose higher and higher over it.

As you can see from this map, a lot of trails were closed.  I had to retrace my steps and start over to continue onto the Mukashi Michi but I had wanted to take a look around that hill for a long time and decided it was worth it.

It was!  I ran into this guy.  This is called, in Japanese, a kamoshika.  The name is similar to the Japanese word for deer, but it's not.  It's a serow in English.  Out of all my trips into the Japanese woods, this is only my 4th sighting.  And I got to see two at the same time today!

Not only were there kamoshika here, but there were a lot of monkeys.  It was like a petting zoo.

My wildlife encounters weren't over.  I found some poop!

I encounter scat (poop) in the woods often but usually have no idea what it is.  Today I dropped into the Okutama Visitor's station before getting on the train and was told the poop in my picture is probably from a tanuki.  (Japanese raccoon.)  The reason the pile is so large is that they poop in a communal spot.

While I was there, I asked about bear poop.  I know I've seen that before, too.

The Mukashi Michi was a very gentle, pleasant walk.  I think this is my first hike in a few years that didn't bring me to some mountaintop or other.  Most of the road is paved.  Since I started at the lake (upstream), most of my walk was downhill.  The only people I met on the trail were coming from the other direction.  I liked my plan much more than theirs!

Remnants...

This is on the 3rd floor at the business across the street from the Mizune Parking Lot.  On the street just below, there is a sign warning people to be careful of bees' nests.  I don't think they are kidding.

A "grow operation" in the mountains.  

The green stuff behind the fence is wasabi.

Getting there from Tachikawa means taking the Ome/Okutama train line to Okutama and then the #14 bus.  From Tachikawa it would take about an hour and a half.

My jaunt was a nice, fairly gentle hike.  I took my time because I took so many pictures and gawked at the kamoshikas but still finished in about 4 hours.  It was a little more than 8 miles or 13 km.  I walk a lot, though.  Many might balk at walking 8 miles.  

The Okutama Water and Green Friendship Hall has a lot of exhibits about drinking water and forests, but it's not geared to people who don't speak Japanese.  That place has a nice cafeteria-type restaurant and a gift shop.

The dam has some exhibits, too.  I seem to recall a diorama-type exhibit there.  

If you are interested in the area but don't want to walk all the way back to Okutama Station, you might enjoy spending a few hours around the dam.  One option would be to start at that Hall and take a walk to the far side of the dam to the Ikoinoro trail (いこいの路).   https://goo.gl/maps/U1MBnBTPgCsNRW4w5    

That trail traces along the lake so it's basically flat.  It still manages to offer great views.  I've seen lots of monkeys and once a bear on that side of the lake.  I have even seen masses of bullfrogs doing things that I don't want to describe.  It was yucky.  My biologist nephew would probably think their activity was interesting.   There are plenty of picnic tables around if you want to bring a lunch or you could drop into the restaurant at the Hall.