Mostly Japanese Mountains: 日帰りハイキング

Mt Buko again (June 2021 repost)

S'up caveboys and cavegals?

I have wanted to climb Buko since first seeing the rocky profile of the quarry on its north side last year. I came in March with a colleague and a friend of his, but the weather didn't allow us to see anything from the top. I went back today. The view was better. Not a spectacular day, but better.

If you spent all the time and money I did studying Japanese, you'd understand that this sign says,

"No Sad Birds Allowed."

This is the marker for the top of Mt Buko.

It says on the left post "Bukosan Yokozemachi (the town's name)"

On the right, "Elevation: 1,304 meters"

Looking down on Chichibu City.

Directly below this fence is the quarry which makes up the north side of the mountain. You can't see it from here, though.

Those dogs were barking.

Have a good one.

LK5:16

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Caveman out

武甲山　Mt Buko, Tokyo's limestone source (repost)

Repost from March 31, 2021. Blogger seemed to lose this post.

Last year, when I was passing through Chichibu City on my scooter on my way to Mt Ryokami for the first time, I saw this massive Mesopotamian-ziggurat-looking mound of rocks. I was looking at Mt Buko for the first time.

Some research at home revealed to me that Mt Buko is one of the main sources of limestone used in the concrete in the buildings of downtown Tokyo. There is tension in the local area about the mountain and its uses. On the one hand, it is the economic engine the area depends upon and, indeed, all of Japan depends on I guess. On the other, the scar on the environment is quite visible.

Of course, this had to go on my bucket list of mountains.

One of the neat things about Mt Buko is that the quarrying is only on the north side. Climbing up the south side is like being on a completely different mountain and you would never know what the other side looked like if you didn't have prior knowledge.

I'll put this gif here near the beginning of the post just because I love it.

This shot as we started out was the best view of the mountain we had all day.

The mountain didn't reappear until we were on board our train home.

You come across various and sundry curios all over the place in Japan.

Spring is springing.

Days like these offer the chance for a different kind of beauty in the forest.

What the day lacked up in visibility was more than made up for in the company I was allowed to spend the day with.

Getting near the end we started to encounter more and more sakura.

This soba place, "Hanitsuen", is next to Jurinsgeo coffee shop and the Hashidatedo Limestone Cave. Sorry. Hanitsuen and Hashidate don't seem to have websites.

Yummy Coffee here

https://jurinsgeo.jimdofree.com/

From Urayamaguchi Station, our departure point for home. This lines trains had only 3 cars.

I'll leave you with some more gifs. I love these things.

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Caveman out.

7th Time up Iwatakeishi (repost)

(This was originally posted in February of 2023. Blogger seemed to lose the post, though.)

I took a hike up to Mt. Iwatakeishi today. It was a great day with fresh snow on the ground.

This is my 7th time up Iwatakeishi and, since I've covered this mountain on this blog before, I'm not going to comment much.

Old posts are here:

I forgot that I've posted about this mountain so many times! I probably wouldn't have written this one if I realized that sooner. 😜 At least the routes I used for each hike are varied.

TODAY

Location: Around Iwatakeishi in Ome

Starting and stopping point: Mitake Station to Futamatao Station

Mountains climbed: Sogaku Mabotoke Iwatakeishi Takamizu Eigurinomine Raiden Karagaki Monomi Masugata

Getting there/getting around: Okutama Line

Map: Yama to Kogen Chizu

Weather Information: Iwatakeishiyama weather

Time: 5 hours or so. I started about 6:30 am and was finished well before noon.

Distance: 13.3 km

Elevation: Lowest: 236 m Highest: 790 m Total Ascent: 1,185 m Total Descent: 1,193 m

Technical considerations/difficulty: Nothing difficult. One or two steep spots but pretty easy.

Facilities: Nothing on the trail.

Thoughts/observations/recommendations: This area is a go-to for me when I don't have much time to go far from home. I'm glad I went early before the snow started melting and before many other hikers came out.