Mostly Japanese Mountains: Leeches suck. Literally. Shiroyama to Miyagase Dam. 9/2022.

I'm with Charlie Allnut.

Greetings cavedwellers of all shapes and sizes.

Yesterday I continued hiking in an area that I've been meaning to knock off for a while but never have gotten around to. Last week I made it down to Lake Tsui (Tsuiko) and Shiroyama in the adjacent Kanagawa Prefecture. (A prefecture is kind of like a state or province.) Yesterday I continued on from Shiroyama down south as far as the Miyagase Dam. There aren't a tremendous amount of mountains between those two points, but making that hike enables me to cross another trail off on the map. I like to have un-broken lines of hiked trails on my maps. I can trace my footprints from Tokyo Station to Mt. Oyama, to the top of Mt. Fuji and beyond, and to Mt. Mizugaki far to the west in Yamanashi.

Recently, a hiker friend of mine mentioned that she is hiking the Kanto Fureai Trail, a trail which, according to wikipedia "circumnavigates the entire Kanto Region . . ., stretching about 1,800km." To which I secretly thought, "Only one trail? I want to do them all." And, it's not even continuous. There are parts of the trail that aren't even connected!

I blame my friend Bill for this obsession with crossing trails off. A few years ago, I mentioned to Bill that I had a topographical map on my wall and he asked me why I didn't trace on it in magic marker where I'd been. At first, I didn't want to do it. I had an aversion to writing in anything but pencil on a map. Once I started, though, I couldn't stop. Now the room where that first map was hung looks something like the RAF command center during the battle of the blitz. It's covered with maps all tacked up next to each other. The trails I've hiked (and roads I've ridden) are all traced out in bright marker and annotated with dates, distances and special items of notice,"Deer here.", "Snake!", "Missed bus. Had to walk 6 more miles.", "Yes, bears do s&%$ in the woods.", "Found monkey skull.", "Got lost here."

Mrs. Caveman, who is an artist, has been kind enough to add some artwork in appropriate places. Come to think of it, it's only appropriate that she does some cave drawings for me.

I love those maps. Thank God Mrs. Caveman puts up with that kind of decor.

Let me get yesterday's details out of the way.

Location: Kanagawa from Shiroyama to the Aikawa Park and the Miyagase Dam

Starting and stopping point: Tsuiko Shiroyama Park 県立津井湖城山公園

Mountains climbed: It's charitable calling these little bumps mountains, but they are on the map as such: Hinomori, Sakura, Amagoi

Getting there/getting around: 20 minutes by bus from Hashimoto Station (Keio Sagamihara Line or JR Yokohama Line). I drove. There is free parking at the Tsuiko Shiroyama Park

Map: Yama to Kogen Chizu # 28 Takao Jinba 高尾・陣馬

Weather Information: Weather for nearby Mt. Bukka

Distance: 18.5km

Elevation: The lowest elevation was something like 220 meters and the highest was only about 450. Very low level stuff. Despite this, I was surprised to see from my hiking app that I walked up 953 meters and back down 957 meters. I guess that the length of the hike made this possible.

Technical considerations/difficulty: This is a very gentle hike. There's nothing steep. There are no ropes, chains or ladders. Much of it is on paved roads or at least dirt roads by farmer's fields. The geography and the flora are not a problem. The fauna, on the other hand . . . I got attacked by leeches somewhere along the way. I noticed them sucking away on my legs around the tops of my shoes sometime after getting passed Mt. Amagoi. Because of this, I decided to forgo walking through the woods on the return trip and stayed on the streets. Leeches are an issue on this side of Kanagawa around Lake Miyagase. (Fun fact, the name of the highest mountain in Kanagawa--Hirugatake--translates to "Leech Mountain" in English.)

Facilities: There are public toilets at the parks and there are ample vending machines on the streets on the way. The Aikawa Park has ice cream. There are a few convenience stores on the way, too. I passed by the Ogino Bakery (オギノパン) which is famous for Tanzawa anpan 丹沢アンパン--rolls with red bean paste. It might be worth checking out as this local delicacy is popular. It was quite crowded yesterday. I am a cheapskate, though. Even though I've been by the place 5 or 6 times, I've never gone in. Check it out and report back to us, ok?

Thoughts/observations/recommendations: I'm glad I did this hike to make the connection of my footprints between Lake Tsuiko and Lake Miyagase. By doing that, I can now trace an un-broken line from Hachioji to Mt. Oyama and indeed all over the Tanzawa area. Once is enough, though. It was not a spectacular hike. Also, leeches suck. I won't be going to this area in any season other than winter again. If you want a long but not taxing walk, this would be attractive to you. Also, this hike does take in a section of the Kanto Fureai Trail if you're one of those hikers.

Here is what it looked like on the map and in animation.

Each one of these animations is created by my app. They are all 30 seconds long, no matter how far you hike. I like watching animations of a longish hikes like this one because the little guy seems to be sprinting.

Let's look at some pictures. Much of this hike was on the street.

A trap for inoshishi (wild boar).

Mt. Amagoi. ("Praying for Rain Mountain") The highest point of the day.

The trail through the woods was usually like this.

The gentleness of the trail is deceiving. Nature will try to kill you on this path. It was when passing through this seemingly bucolic spot that I looked down to see this:

Pulling off my sock revealed this:

There were actually about 10 of the little vampiric creatures draining me of my life juices but I will spare you any more pictures.

Except for new subscribers. I'll give any new subscribers the gory ones.

Leeches don't hurt, by the way. They have some kind of numbing ability and you don't even know they are there unless you see them.

This is the Miyagase Dam. The last time I was here, the gate was closed because of COVID. Keep this between us, but it's easy to climb over. There's a cable car to get up to the dam, if you're too lazy to walk up. (I'll bet Kanto Fureai hikers would probably take the cable car.) There is also some type of visitor's center which, I'm sure, has educational stuff about dams. There is a cafe and museum. The cable car opens at 10.

Mt. Tanzawa is straight ahead. Mt. Hirugatake--the leech mountain--is to the right of that.

There's even a sightseeing bort!

I took these at the Aikawa Park (神奈川県立あいかわ公園), which is right next to the dam. This park is a great place for picnicking or spending the day with kids. There are tens of thousands of azaleas, a lot of open grassy spaces for throwing a ball around, an obstacle course for kids, a visitors center, snacks, etc. It's a nice spot. It didn't seem too crowded inside the park when I was there but I noticed there was a line of cars about 100 meters long waiting to get into the parking lot.

I've been to the park and by the dam a few times to climb up to nearby Mt. Bukka and the other mountains lining the ridge up to Mt. Oyama ("Big Mountain".) I can see Oyama from my house. It is the last big mountain on the left 20 miles to the south of where I live. I really like being able to look at mountains in the distance and remember being there.

There are some great views from those mountains and Lake Miyagase is beautiful to walk or drive along. These are all pictures I took on past excursions between the dam and Mt. Oyama.

As I said, I decided to stick to pavement on the way back from the dam and I came across this farm as I walked along. This is the Hattoribokujo.

There are lots of animals, ice cream, sausage, etc. I have a retired friend who often goes on daytrips with his wife and their dog so I told him about this place only to find that he'd already been there, twice in the last month. He gave it glowing reviews. Another place that would be nice to take kids or a date.

Even walking on the streets here in Japan is a natural/beautiful experience. People really do have nice flower gardens. I'll wind up with pictures I took along my way back.