Burning for Boulders. Rosoku Iwa. Gunma/Nagano.

How's it goin', cavecritters?

I had the chance to get into the woods for a little bit before work this morning.

I went for a peek at these boulders called Rosoku Iwa (ローソク岩 --"Candle"-"Boulder" in English.)  There are three boulders.

Mrs. Caveman made an observation the other day.  She said some people go bird watching, but I go mountain watching.

I guess you could modify that and say that I sometimes even go rock-watching.  

Wow.  Rock-watching.

How pathetic is that?

(They were really cool-looking rocks, though.)

For my next hobby maybe I'll take up watching grass grow or paint dry.

I am so glad I ignored the weatherman this morning.  He's been forecasting rain for the whole week but it was beautiful outside.

Location: Straddling Saku-shi in Nagano and Nanmoku in Gunma 

Starting and stopping point: Parking lot below Fudoson Shrine 荒船不動下駐車場 

Peaks bagged: 御岳 (Ontake) ~~ 神無岩 (Kaminashiiwa)

(First-time) peaks # none

Getting there/getting around:  I drove.  It's a narrow, winding road off of the Cosmos Road.  If my name were Paul, I might say it's a Long and Winding Road.  

I'm sorry.  I was just trying to be punny.

Map: Yama to Kogen Chizu 19 浅間山軽井沢・長野原の山々ASAMA-YAMA KARUIZAWA-NAGANOHARA-MOUNTAINS

Weather Information:  Asama Weather

Total Time:  2:01 Break time: :00  Distance:  3.9km

Elevation:  Lowest: 1,037m Highest: 1,350m Total Ascent: 453m  Total Descent: 453m

Technical considerations/difficulty:  These hills are not really high but demand your full attention.  The ridgeline is as sharp as a knife in places and the ridge falls away steeply on both sides.  There are a few spots with chains or ropes.  I was hiking after most of the snow had melted so there was quite a bit of mud.  That made for slipperier conditions than if it were snow-covered because I couldn't make use of crampons.  If conditions were better, I probably would have gone just a bit farther to be able to see the Rosoku Iwa from all sides but decided it wasn't worth it.  At that point, the trail was in the shade and covered with snow.  The trail there was quite narrow and just hugged the side of a really steep hill.  

The Rosoku Iwa(s) themselves are not really for hiking.  The trail passes around them but getting to the top of two of them entails actual rock climbing and necessitates all the equipment incumbent on that kind of adventure. 

Facilities:  Nothing.  You may be able to get some water from the stream, but there's nothing up there.

Thoughts/observations/recommendations:  Like I said, I'm glad I ignored the weatherman.  If I had slept in today and then walked out into the sunny morning that it turned out to be, I would have been bummed out.

This was my 3rd or 4th time to this area.  Sometime soon I will have to get to the nearby 立岩(Tateiwa) "Standing"--"Boulder".

I'm so bummed out the snow is melting so quickly around here.  I'm going to have to drive a bit far to get to snow.

Here are some pictures:

This is just before the peak of Mt. Ontake.  I'm sure many people mistake it for the peak.

Mt. Asama is in the distance in the middle of the picture.

Rosoku Iwa is actually 3 places named P1, P2 and P3.

P stands for peak.  h/t to Naresh Deora.

This is P1.

This is P1.

I could climb to the top of this one.

I didn't even realize that I had climbed P1 until I saw a picture of it on another blog.

It was a bit dizzying and climbing off

of it was a little unnerving.

I was on that one on the left, Kabuto no Iwa, a few weeks ago.

I got as far as just beneath P3 and turned back.

The trail was pretty slippery--(and I was already in

danger of being late for work.  Shhhh.)

I'm grateful for the chain.

Pictures can't quite capture how narrow and how high this ridge is.

Saitama's Mt. Ryokami is in the distance.

Well, that's it for today.  The last pictures are pics with mountain names labeled on them in case

any of you are geeks like me with an interest in knowing the names of mountains.

If not, you can stop reading now.

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Or not.  

You do you and the caveman will do the caveman.  (Hey, I think

I just came up with the name of the next new dance--The Caveman!  It'll be bigger than the 

Macarena or the Monster Mash.)

Caveman out