The tale of the great leech attack of 2023, Mt. Monogatari in Rainy Season

Greetings Cavedwellers

Welcome back to my cave.

It's rainy season here and it is difficult to find a rainless window of time long enough to go for a substantial hike.  I had hoped to go on a like hike on one or another of the 100 Famous Mountains but the weather didn't cooperate.  I gave on hoping for clear skies this weekend and decided to stay fairly close to home and go for a short hike in the rain rather than do nothing.  Since I already have about 20 hikes planned, it was easy to choose one within these parameters; Mt. Monogatari just over the prefectural border in Gunma fit the bill nicely. 

A word about the title, "Monogatari" is the Japanese word for tale, fable, or legend.  The rest of the title is self-explanatory.  As far as why the mountain was actually named monogatari, there are two legends from the warring period (sengoku jidai), one or the other of which the locals surmise it has something to do with.    

Location: Minaminomaki, Shimonita, Gunma

Starting and stopping point:  Shimonita Sun Sports Land Parking Lot

Peaks bagged: Monogatari

Getting there/getting around:  I drove but there is a bus stop at Shimonita Sun Sports Mae with service from Shimonita Station.

Map:  Yama to Kogen Chizu #21 西上州　妙義山・荒船山

Weather Information: Mt. Arafune's weather (not too far away)

Total Time:   3:39 Break time: 3  Distance:  A bit over 8 km

Elevation:  Lowest: 392m Highest: 1,019m  Total Ascent: 921  Total Descent: 921

Technical considerations/difficulty:  Steep in many spots.  There are a lot of ropes that were helpful on the way down.  Much of this hike is along/through streams.  There are a lot of leeches.  The trail isn't too difficult to follow but isn't maintained.  It's covered with old fallen leaves or loose rocks in most places.  The footing coming down wasn't great.  The stones were loose and would often roll away when stepped on.  The wetness of the stones made them slippery, too.

Facilities:  Nothing on the trail

Thoughts/observations/recommendations:  I am led to believe this has a nice view of Mt. Myogi--a really cool mountain--but was robbed of any views because of the weather.  That's too bad.  I'm not sure if I should go back in better weather or not though.  The hike itself wasn't spectacular and there are only one or two viewpoints to justify the hike.

I also added a side hike to Ashonen Falls (阿唱念の滝).  The falls turned out to be just a trickle at this time of year.   I don't know that I'd recommend it at any time of year, however.  Getting up to it meant crossing through a stream several times and I was attacked by more leeches than I could count.  I can't imagine how much water would be flowing through that stream at a time of year when the falls are worth viewing.

Today's listening:  Lots of birds, babbling brooks and Bible in a Year

The hike:

Let's look at a few pictures.

Starting out:

The top of Monogatari

The viewpoint from the western peak.  Isn't that spectacular?

In case you didn't know them, these are the names of the mountains you saw in the last picture.

...and some more.

".9 km to the falls?  That should take me about 15 minutes."  (It was more like 45.  😂)

The stream flows over the bridge.

The mind boggles at the amount of effort, expense and engineering that went into making an underwater bridge.

I found a cave in my mancave today!  This was cool.

This is the falls.  It was anticlimactic.

I used this entire shaker of salt on this hike.  Thankfully, none of the little bloodsuckers attached themselves to me.

Before heading home, I drove about 5 minutes to see the Dohirakawa Dam and Lake Arafune.

Lake Arafune:

Dohirakawa Dam

That's all for today.  Have a good one.  

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