Mountain Love. Hike from Uenohara Station to Fujino Station via Akiyama Mura

 

Greetings cave critters.  It was a beautiful warm fall day for a hike.

Location:  Uenohara, Yamanashi, Sagamihara, Kanagawa

Starting and stopping point:  Uenohara Station to Fujino Station

Mountains climbed: 鶴島御前山 高柄山 小高柄  デン笠  金ピラ山 高倉山 Mt. Gozen, Mt. Takasuka, Mt. Kotakatsuka, Mt. Dengasa, Mt. Kinpira, Mt. Takakura

Getting there/getting around:  JR Chuo Line

Map:  Yama to Kogen Chizu #28 高尾・陣馬 TAKAO・JINBA

Weather Information:  Mt. Takatsuka Weather

Time:  7 hours, 30 minutes

Distance:  20.4km

Elevation:  Lowest: 165m Highest: 733m Total Ascent: 1,706m Total Descent: 1,673m

Technical considerations/difficulty:  The first half of this hike was surprisingly taxing.  There are a lot of steep slopes with a lot of ropes that are really necessary.  Going down these steep slopes was particularly nerve-racking as they are covered with slippery fallen leaves.

Facilities:  Not much on the trails, but the trails aren't that far into the woods.  

Thoughts/observations/recommendations: Nice day.

For the second week in a row, I dropped by some hills just south of the Chuo Line around Sagamihara and Uenohara.  Last week, I went for a 7 km loop hike starting and finishing at Fujino Station.  Today, I started at the adjacent station (Uenohara) and ended at Fujino Station.

I did these two hikes just to connect the dots.  I've spent a lot of time hiking through Doshi Village all the way down to Lake Yamanaka.  That long, un-broken line I've drawn on my map is quite satisfying.  There was a blank spot on my wall map between that long trail and the Chuo Line though.  That bothered me so I hiked from Uenohara Station as far as Tomioka Bus Stop at the Akiyama Onsen to close the gap.

These two hikes weren't especially photogenic but were satisfying in their own ways.

Here are some pictures.

Starting out near Uenohara Station just before 6.

These fences are everywhere.  There is a lot of wildlife right next to a lot of agriculture.

Mt. Gozen.  This is really just a hill--but it was surprisingly steep getting up to the top.

Looking toward Uenohara City.  You can see Mt. Jinba and Mt. Rengyo on the other side of the city.

I'm not sure what this was about.  Evidently you can try panning for gold at the stream behind this sign.

The stream

This is the area by Akiyama Onsen.  I have started a few hikes from here and today's purpose was to connect the dots with those hikes.

Leech warning and an empty bottle of leech repellant.  Thankfully I didn't get attacked today.

The Katsura River (which starts way down at Lake Yamanaka)

This area has a lot of artwork.  There are art installations sprinkled here and there along the trails.  It's called something like "The Trail of Art".  Some pieces were better than others.  Frankly, I thought most of them were pretty bad.

This old sign says "Art Land"

This is at a place called SGFRENTSPACE.  It appears to be a picnic/BBQ area you can rent. 

I already knew about one of these art installations and was really interested in it.  It's on the side of a mountain and is visible from the train or the highway across the river.  It's called 緑ラブレター "Green Love Letter".  I'm not sure what it means, but I've always thought it was cool.  This is what it looks like from the train.

I have seen it from a distance many times and was excited at the chance to see it up close and personal. 

Unfortunately, it was less impressive up close than I'd expected.  😂

That's the bell of love.  I rang it.

Well, that's it for today.  I wonder where I'll go next.

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