New toys.

 Very excited to find these at a thrift shop.  🏔️🏔️☃️☃️❄️❄️

Nanut, the Caveman.

Trail run (?). Hirao Fuji. Saku City. Nice fallviews.

 

This morning I took a run up Mt. Hirao.  Hirao is one of my go-to places if I have time for a run before the sun sets after work.  It's located in the northeast of Saku City, just above the highway.  It's visible from most of the city--and it has great views.

Location:  Mt. Fuji Hirao/Hirao Castle Ruins

Starting and stopping point:  Sakudaira IC Parking Lot

Peaks bagged: Hirao

(First-time) peaks #xx (Not my first time here)

Getting there/getting around:  I drove.  There is plenty of parking.  The parking lots at the onsen don't open until 8 but I was able to park at the highway parking lot.

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:  2:09 Break time: :00  Distance:  12.1km

Elevation:  Lowest:  788 m Highest: 1,155 m Total Ascent:  727 m Total Descent: 727 m

Technical considerations/difficulty:  

There are a variety of trails that I used on this run.  There are hiking trails, ski trails and some forestry roads.  

I lost a lot of time by trying to run under one particular ski lift.  There are two lifts I ran under.  The one on the lower half of the mountain is easy to proceed up.  The entrance to the hiking trail is near the top of that lift.  Until today, I'd always left the ski trail there and entered the hiking trail.  This morning, I tried to continue toward the top following under the upper ski lift.  This turned into a slow exercise in bushwhacking up a very steep, prickly, wet, slippery slope.  I lost a lot of time there but got to burn a few calories--and collect a few scrapes and scratches to the delight of my inner-9-year-old. 

Most of the trails and some of the roads up here aren't on maps.  It's quite easy to get twisted around.  I would stick to the marked trails if you don't have some kind of gps device.

Facilities:  Nothing on the trail.

Thoughts/observations/recommendations:  Do it if you can.

Today's listening:  Bible in a Year

Winter's coming.  Brace yourself.

Yatsugatake

Alps

Mt. Asama

This escalator from the onsen down to the Sakudaira Toll booth and parking lot really sticks out.  You can see it for miles around.

That's all for now.

Subscribe.  Tell your friends, etc. 

Or not.

Caveman out.

Exorcism on Aisle 3. Onioshidashi Volcanic Park, Tsumagoi, Gunma

Mrs. Caveman combined a little leaf peeping with some lava leering yesterday.  We dropped by the Onioshidashi Volcanic Park just below the volcano, Mt. Asama.  It was even cooler than I imagined.  If you can get there, go.  Admission is 700 yen for adults.

A word about the name, Oni Oshi Dashi is a compound of the words for "demon/ogre" 👹, "push" and "out."  The name probably is meant to evoke the thoughts of the locals watching eruptions back in the day.  It certainly could cause one to think the earth was spewing something evil--kind of like Linda Blair's green vomit scene in the Exorcist.

My only regret is that it was a bit cloudy.  It was still impressive but I couldn't help but thinking how amazing this would be on a super clear day. 

I'm not going to comment much because I already have something else I'd like to blog about and the pictures say more than I could.  

The Lennon family visited in 1977.  John loved nearby Karuizawa.

That's Mount Asama

They also call this one Godzilla.  I still see King Kong.

Does that mean I fail the Rorrock test?

Can you spot the Karuizawa Toy Kingdom in this picture?

Phosphorescent moss

This one is a dog.  I can see that.

Can you spot the face in the next rock?

It made me nostalgic for New Hamphire's Old Man of the Mountain.

These last few are not from the Onioshidashi Park.  We dropped by the Asama Otaki (Asama Big Falls) before going home.  They are about a 15 minute drive from the volcanic park.

That's all for now. 

Caveman out.

Take care

 

No Plan Survives First Contact With the Enemy. Leaf-peeping around Mugikusa Pass~ Shirakoma~ Nyu~ Nakayama~ Maru

Welcome cave dwellers to a leaf-peeping extravaganza.  

"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth."  Mike Tyson

I agree with Iron Mike.  You can never count on a plan to go, well, according to plan.  

That's where contingency plans come in.

As far as the mountains are concerned, I tend to have a lot of contingency plans up my sleeve because I spend so much time daydreaming about the mountains.

I hadn't been for a long hike in a few weeks and had planned a long one for Saturday.  I planned it so as to get to the top of Yatsugatake before the snow flies.  

Then I looked at the weather forecast.  Rain.  On Sunday.  You may wonder why the forecast for Sunday was so important.  Well, Sunday is the day I was going to take Mrs. Caveman leaf-peeping.  It just wouldn't do for me to go play outside on Saturday and leave her at home knowing that she'd probably be stuck inside on Sunday.  

Plan 2.  An earlier start on Saturday for a shorter hike with an early enough return to come back and get the little woman.  (Don't be getting on my case about calling my wife the "little woman."  She's short.  Got a problem with it?  Take it up with Peter Dinklage.  Nothing wrong with being short.  [Unless you want a part as a dwarf in a Disney movie.]  "Good things come in small packages" and all that, you know.)  

Anyway, I got up early Saturday and drove to the target area only to find the last 5 miles of the road were closed.  Drat.  Foiled again.

Plan 3.  Thankfully, I had another hike of a similar length already planned.  It was just a case of punching a few buttons on my iphone and driving 10 minutes to another trailhead.

I'm writing this tongue-in-cheek, but I do offer this vignet as a service.  I love the mountains and enjoy spending time out there--but I do take it seriously.   On the fly, I was able to make a change and still do something fun and safely because I had put in the time previously to study maps and figure out the logistics for this type of situation.  If only I could apply this level of attention to work or to retirement plans . . .

Before I get going, let me apologize ahead of time if there are too many pictures.  It was one of the most photogenic days I've experienced in weeks.  It was really beautiful and I couldn't stop snapping away.  Now I find it hard not to post every single picture I took.

Location:  Northern Yatsugatake Range in Nagano

Starting and stopping point:  Mugikusa Pass

Peaks bagged: Nyu (ニュウ) ~~ Naka (中山) ~~ Takamiishi (高見石) ~~ Maru (丸山)

(First-time) peaks　#832, 833, 834 and 835

Getting there/getting around:  I drove.  Parking is difficult at this time of year.  The parking lot at Shirakoma Pond is insanely crowded.  People wait overnight!  Some people parked several kilometers away from there and walked along the highway to get to a trailhead.  There is no parking on the side of the road.  You will be towed.  There is a bus from Chino Station (1 hour and 6 minutes).  There is a shuttle bus from the Yachiho Kogen Ski Area on Saturdays and holidays.  That service ends today (October 15, 2023) but the link to shuttle bus info for this year will perhaps be updated next year.  You'll have to do your own research.

Map:  Yama to Kogen Chizu Yatsugatake

Weather Information: Weather on Mt. Nyu (ニュウ)

Total Time: 5:12  Break time:  :58 Distance:  11km

Elevation:  Lowest:  2,099m Highest: 2,494m Total Ascent: 688m  Total Descent: 688m

Technical considerations/difficulty:  Some of this is steep and there are some boulder fields but there aren't a lot of chains or ladders.  Not too much of this is above the treeline.  It is colder up there.  It was below freezing when I started in the morning.  The trail for the descent from Maruyama has a lot of small boulders.  If they get wet, I think it would be slippery.

Facilities:  There are lodging with toilets and selling various food items, etc at Mugikusa Pass, Shirakoma Ike, and Takamiishi.  There are no other water/toiletry facilities on the trail.

Thoughts/observations/recommendations:  Shirakoma is pretty.  It's some of the best fall foliage I've seen in Japan.  It really was crazily crowded on the road.  I don't know what to recommend.  TBH I don't know if I would come go to this area at this time of year if I didn't live so close by.  I was shocked at the ong line of cars on the road waiting to get into the Shirakoma Parking Lot at 6:45 am!  They weren't waiting for the parking lot to open.  They were waiting for someone to leave!  Although I did take in the pond on my hike, I arrived there by walking through the woods first.  My plan started at Mugikusa Pass.  As it turns out, parking there is not really an option either.  I parked behind one other car at the entrance of the Mugikusa Hut off Route 299.  When I returned to my car in the afternoon, there was a sign placed in front of the front car saying "No Parking.  Park here and we'll fine you 20,000 yen.  We take license plate numbers."  

When I was driving home, as I was driving past the Shirakoma Parking Lot, I asked one of the old guys directing traffic how early you need to get there in the morning to get a parking space.   He said, "In the morning?  People are here all night!"  It's like a Grateful Dead concert, I guess.  Or Black Friday.

Today's listening:  Bible in a Year

Where I started.  This is next to the Mugikusa Hutte.  

It was just freezing when I started.  By noon, it was 17 celsius/ 62 fahrenheit.

Shirakoma Pond 白駒池

They say this is the highest pond in Japan.  I'm quite sure that "they" probably means the local chamber of commerce.  It's a popular place for leaf-peeping.  Probably because consumers are easily led around.  (Just kidding!  It is beautiful.) 

BTW, where I come from, we call looking at fall foliage leaf-peeping.  Sounds kind of pervy in an arboretical way, now that I think of it.  

Here, they say "momiji" "gari" which translates to "leaf"-"hunting".

I should incorporate this into my upper-level English classes.  "If you were a leaf, would you prefer to be peeped or to be hunted?  Discuss this with your partner."  

You can stay by the pond . . . Shirakoma Pond Lodge

Enough chatter.  Here are some pictures.

It's nice but to be brutally honest, I wasn't that impressed.  

I'm spoiled.  I'm from New England.

We have some of the best fall foliage in the world.

The first frost/ice I've seen this fall.  

The next few pictures are from Mt. Nyu (ニュウ).  

Fuji-san was in the house!

(BTW It was clear and I was able to get quite a few long shots today.  I could see Yamanashi, Tokyo, Saitama, Tochigi, Gunma, Gifu, Niigata . . . If you're interested in knowing what mountains I was able to see, the last half of this post is full of labeled photos.)

Mt. Asama is the big one in the middle of the next picture.

I live in that valley about mid-way from where I took this picture and Mt. Asama.

Can you find Cosmos Tower?  (In Saku City, Usuda)  It's in the lower righthand quadrant.

It's right next to Waldo.

From Nakayama Pass

Mt. Tengu.  I was there a week or so ago.  It was rainy so I didn't get a good view of it then.  I was really tempted to climb it again on this day but didn't want to make Mrs. Caveman wait.

From near the top of Nakayama

That Dai Kiretto is scary-looking even from here.

The mountain in the immediate foreground is Kirimine (Kuruma).  That is a great mountain!  I want to go snowshoeing there.

This is the Takamiishi Hut, just below the Takamiishi.  ("High" "View" "Rock")

This place was really crowded.

Takamiishi Hut

They have a lot of food.  Their specialty is agepan ("ah" "gay" "Pahn") (Deep-fried bread).

I would have tried some but they only sell it in batches of 5 for 900 yen.  1.  I'm a cheapskate and 2. five pieces of deep-fried dough is more carbs than I need so I didn't buy any.  I got someone to let me take a picture of theirs.🤓🤓

This is on the way up to the Takamiishi.

From the Takamiishi

Ready for my closeup, Mr. Demille.

Is this the big rock?

The top of Mt. Maru.

Boo!

Is this my good side, Mr. Demille.

Lunch was leftover homemade sausage pizza.

It was ugly as sin but it tasted like a bit of heaven.

I'm quite sure it was better than that agepan.  

I know it was cheaper.

Getting near the end of the hike.

I climbed those hills in front a few weeks ago.  After 3 or 4 more day hikes, my footprints should span from one end of the Yatsugatake Range to the other.

This is inside the Hutte.

As promised, labeled mountains.

OK.  Subscribe, blah blah.

Caveman, out.