🎉🎊Happy New Year times two! ✌️ ⛰ Oyama for the first sunrise of 2023. 🌅

あけましたおめでとうございます！

Happy New Year!

🎉🥳

Greetings cave dwellers.  Welcome back to my mancave for another year.

Have you decided on any resolutions?  I'm thinking of taking up hiking myself.

The first hike of 2023 ended up being a two-fer for me!  I climbed Mt. Oyama twice.  I was up to the top of Mt. Oyama and back down to my bike by 9 and ready to go home when I realized my keys were missing.  Yikes.  Nowhere to be found.  Although I climbed the mountain again (bonus hike!) in my search for them, they never appeared.  

  Here are the details for both hikes.  I'll add commentary after that.

Location:  Mt. Oyama, Kanagawa

Starting and stopping points for both hikes:  First Isehara Daiichi Parking Lot Second Oyama Cable Station 

Mountains climbed: Mt. Oyama

Getting there/getting around:  There is bus service from Isehara Station on the Odakyu Line.  Public transportation doesn't run early enough for sunrise, though.  There are many parking lots along Route 611. A shuttle bus runs up and down between the parking lots and Koma Sando.

Map:  Yama to Kogen Chizu #29 山と高原地図・２９・丹沢

Weather Information:  Mt. Oyama Weather

Time:  (First time) about 3 hours, 20 minutes.  (Second time) 2 hours 48 minutes

Distance:  (First time)  9.5km (Second time)  6.2km

Elevation:  (First time)  Lowest:  254m Highest: 1,252m  Total Ascent:  1,110m Total Descent: 1,110m  (Second time) Lowest: 659m  Highest: 1,252m Total Ascent:  718m Total Descent: 729m

Technical considerations/difficulty:  The trails here are rugged but extremely well-maintained and sturdy.  There are a lot of steep natural rock stairs but very few loose rocks.  Dirt parts of the trail that are prone to turning to mud are often traversed with wooden walkways.  It offers a good climbing workout without any danger.  There are only one or two spots that have chains.  Oyama is climbed by people of all ages.  I even saw a few parents with newborns strapped to their chests yesterday.  If you're out of shape, you can take the cable car to shave a half hour or so of climbing off.  If you're really out of shape, you can just take the cable car to the shrine and stop there.  There are lots of restaurants and a great view there.

Facilities:  Since Mt. Oyama is so popular, there are myriads of souvenir shops and restaurants.  Many of these shops line Route 611 where the parking lots are.   Route 611 is connected to the cable car station by a quaint shopping street called Koma Sando.  Koma Sando has a large concentration of restaurants and gift shops and many little "chokubai" spots selling mountain vegetables, roots and citrus fruits.  "Chokubai" means direct selling.  Most commonly it means un-manned stands selling produce on the side of the street.  Koma is the word for spinning top and this is the place to buy a top if you're into that kind of thing.  Evidently, the wood in the area is famous and that's why they make tops here.  Just below Afurijinja (Afuri Shrine), near the top of the cable car, there are a few restaurants selling Japanese food, ice cream and hot dogs.  T-shirts, etc. are on sale there.  At the top of Mt. Oyama, there is another mountain restaurant serving things like ramen and oden.  There are public restrooms on the top--but they seem to be closed on weekdays now. 

Thoughts/observations/recommendations: First, don't ever lose the 🔑 to your 🛵 on a 🏔.  😭  

Yesterday was a great day to welcome the first sunrise of the year and Mt. Oyama is a swell place to do this.  No wonder it's popular for the first sunrise.  If you go for sunrise on January 1 though, be early.  I was really surprised at how all of the parking lots were already full when I got there around 4:30.  It took me 15 minutes to find a parking lot with a space for me.  I was able to park only because I was on a bike.  I don't think there was any car parking left.  Indeed, there were cars waiting in the street for people to leave the parking lots all day to open up spaces.  

Here are what my hikes looked like yesterday.

First time up.  I went basically clockwise.

Second time up

Here's how the day went from the beginning.

1km up the street from the parking lot I got to Koma Sando.

I didn't take this in the morning.  The caveman is a cheapskate and also feels that ropeways, gondolas and cablecars are cheating.

Just beyond the cable car, there is a fork in the trail.  The　女の道 (Woman's Trail) goes to the left and the 男の道 (Men's Trail) goes to the right.  They meet up again later.

I made great time on both of my hikes today.  I usually do go a little faster than the estimates on maps because those are based on how long it would take an average group of four 40-y.o. women to hike.  Despite all the voices in my head, none of them are 40 and none of them are women, so those estimates never apply to me.  

One factor that always increases my speed is the number other people who are on the trail.  It always makes me go faster when I encounter someone.  It becomes a race and I won't be happy until they are eating my dust.  I guess I drive the same way.  Anyway, in the early morning, it was like a traffic jam or a line at Disney with everyone heading up for sunrise so I never slowed down from passing speed.  On my second trip up, I moved fast just because I was hoping to find my keys before it got too late.

"90 minutes".  Ha!  I sneer at their estimate.  🐌  I did it in 43.  🏃

After catching the sunrise from the east side of the peak, I headed over to the west side to catch another iconic Japanese view; Mt. Fuji.

And back to the east side for a picture of Tokyo before heading down.

Some place names make me laugh.

When I came down, I used the Women's Trail.  It passes this temple.

Can you spot the lost article in the picture?  (Hint: it's right in front of your eye.)

Satoji Shrine by the Suzu River

It was soon after this that I got to my scooter and realized I lost my keys.  Then I turned around and headed back up the mountain.  I stopped into every store I'd been to, I called the cops and I talked to everyone coming down the trail.  I even took the cable car 🚠 on the second trip.  Buying a ticket was the only way I could get inside to ask about their lost and found.

See the trip back to get the scooter here:

https://mymancaveisthemountains.blogspot.com/2023/01/what-is-purpose-of-keychain-oyama-area.html

Here's a report I made on a hike to Oyama in 2022, if you're interested:

https://mymancaveisthemountains.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-last-mountain-on-left-aka-big.html

This was my second view of Fuji.  🏔

Last week I was on Mt. Furo which is in line between this point and Mt. Fuji.  Despite knowing this, I still can't quite put my finger on which Mountain it is in this picture.

Looking northwest to other mountains in the Tanzawa Range.

I had planned to be home for lunch.  No such luck.

That's all for this report from the man cave.  I hope

you have a peaceful, healthy and prosperous 2023.