I wasn't planning on hiking yesterday but my gym was full so I shifted gears and went to the mountains. I initially planned on just doing some bushwhacking/trail running to bag a particular unimportant peak (Mt. Myogen). It's not got any trails to it and there are no views. It's only utility is for me to add another peak to my count (894) so I won't blog about that.
Anyway, it was a really gorgeous afternoon and I decided to make another quick run up to a viewpoint in the area to catch the sunset after I finished the first run. It's kind of a bookend I guess. I went to the same general area to catch the sunrise just last month.
Elevation:Lowest: 1,228m Highest: 1,375m Total Ascent: 266m Total Descent: 266m
Technical considerations/difficulty: A lot of this is runnable.
Facilities: There is a public restroom and a free parking lot by the campground. Arafune Panorama Campfield
Thoughts/observations/recommendations: There are a lot of deer in this area. The trail runs beside a cow pasture. I've never seen cows there myself, but have seen pictures.
From the Uchiyama Wireless Relay Tower Observation Deck
If you want a loooooong video with music.
Here are links to a few other trips I've made to Monomi.
Elevation:Lowest: 1,228m Highest: 1,373m Total Ascent: 355m Total Descent: 355m
Technical considerations/difficulty: A lot of this is runnable.
Facilities: There is a public restroom and a free parking lot by the campground. Arafune Panorama Campfield
Thoughts/observations/recommendations: There are a lot of deer in this area. The trail runs beside a cow pasture. I've never seen cows there myself, but have seen pictures.
Here are links to a few other trips I've made to Monomi.
Total Time: 1:13 Break time: 3 Distance: 6.8km (4.25m)
Elevation:Lowest: 1,113m Highest: 1,373m Total Ascent: 373m Total Descent: 373m
Technical considerations/difficulty: A lot of this is runnable.
Facilities: My run brought me past a campground twice. I suppose there maybe water there. There is a public restroom. I'm not sure if they close in the winter. I just checked and they are taking reservations until December 31. I'm not sure if they close then or if they just aren't taking reservations that far out. Arafune Panorama Campfield
Thoughts/observations/recommendations: This was a great run. It enabled me to connect the dots of my footprints a bit. Even though it was just a short time, running at the golden hour under clear skies gave me better views than I've had on several long excursions lately.
I won't write too much. I've already spent more time on this blog post than I spent in the woods!
Like I said, much of this is runnable.
One of the many great views of Mt. Arafune.
There is a pasture full of cows. I wondered how they kept the cows safe from bears. I did notice that the pasture is surrounded with barbed wire.
Coming down off Monomi, I ran on pavement for a while. Deer love these type of roads, especially at this time of day.
Mrs. Caveman and I first came to this area to look at the field of cosmos a few weeks ago. They're all gone now.
I love this sign! It is actually oriented to what it overlooks.
One of my pet peeves is that signs like this in Japan are often not oriented to the direction they are pointing. You have to twist your head around and try to do geometry in your imagination to reconcile the map with what you are seeing on the ground.
Well done Saku City for this sign!
This song is played in this town over loudspeakers at 5:00 pm every day. I think every town in Japan plays something near the end of the day to signify the time. It's not at 5 everywhere and some municipalities play different songs.
This song is called Yuyake Koyake 夕焼け小焼け. Yuyake expresses the idea of the last bright sunlight before the sun goes down and koyake is the light that remains just after sunset. It's quite nostalgic for me. The first town I lived in in Japan played this song at the end of the day. Doing some research for this blog post revealed that the lyricist was from Hachioji. Not only that, but I also realized that a place I hiked through before (on a long hike from Musashi Itsukaichi to Takao, 26 km) was named Yuyake Koyake Fureai no Sato in his honor because it's near his birthplace.
I really love this song and it was poignant to hear this here at this time of day.
Well, that's enough for now.
If you liked this place at sunset, check it out at sunrise here
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