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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Went to Yamanashi to hike a lesser-used trail. It was cold on the way out on my scooter.
It was about an 18 km walk. I started at the Daibosatsu Trailhead and hiked up a ridgeline to Hanzenoto. On the return, I descended to Yanagisawa Pass and walked be along Route 411 to where I started. The street gave much better views than hiking through the woods had.
Fuji was quite visible today. I got so many beautiful pictures of it. It is hard to choose just one or two.
There really isn't much snow around this year.
Took this from the フルーツライン ("Fruit Line"--a road lined with vineyards and orchards) on the way home.
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This day I wanted to take advantage of the warmer weather and ride my bike a bit as well as go hiking. Over these past several months while snow has made bicycling less attractive, I've been going farther from home and taking much longer hikes in higher elevations. This trek was a return to my roots in a way; combining riding and hiking in places closer to home. It was a few years ago that I got really bitten by the mountain bug and it was making trips like I did today that hooked me.
I remember one day that was particularly pivotal. Occasionally I used to go on what I used to think of as long bike rides (10 miles or so) to the local tourist area. One day on one of these trips I made a split-second decision to turn onto a gravel road. I didn't think it would be a big deal, but it turned out to be really something. That road happened to follow a beautiful stream--and there was nobody around. Eventually, the gravel road became a dirt trail. That eventually became a footpath. I got off the bike and followed the footpath. Soon enough, I found myself on top of a mountain! It was really a eureka moment. That was the beginning of my discovery of the intertwining networks of maintenance roads, logging roads, bike trails, hiking trails and forest ranger roads of the Japanese forests. I have loved these discoveries so much. Since then I have been on a kind of mission to hike or bike every trail, path, road or street.
There is so much beauty to be seen and shared and much, if not most, of what I've been blessed to see is not in the guidebooks.
Since I returned to the roots today and was biking before hiking, I thought I would show a picture from my apartment before getting on the bike. (I love the views from our place. Not only are the mountains beautiful, but when I see the mountains in profile, I am reminded of so many good times with my family or friends on particular mountains we've been together.)
This picture is from later in the morning from a spot between the two peaks I visited. The low visibility is a bummer. I've seen as far as Izu Peninsula from this spot.
This is the bike portion. My place is on the east. The mountains are to the west. That long, brown patch to the north northwest of our place is Yokota USAF Base.
This is on the way. I didn't bother taking pictures on the way, but much of the trip is along the Tama River which is lined with cherry trees. Absolutely beautiful at this time of year. The lighting yesterday just wasn't good enough to get pictures that did them justice though.
This is a recreational business on the Akigawa River called Jurigi Land. You can rent a spot for the day to have a cookout. I took the picture just because I like the Easter Island figure. It weighs 6 tons. (https://10-rigiland.tokyo/ Opens on April 2. Nearest station is Musashi Itsukaichi.)
This is the hike for the day.
My bike is parked on the bottom left of the screen next to the Yozawa River. It's a popular place for fly fishing trout. The building with the green roof used to be an elementary school. Like many other schools, it's fallen into disuse because there aren't enough kids. :-( Now it is used as a kind of experiential nature museum.
Unfortunately, it was a hazy day. This was my only view of Fuji all day.
Spring is springing.
My last landmark before getting to the bicycle was the Seoto no Yu onsen. Nice place. http://www.seotonoyu.jp/
Feel free to use the footbath, but make sure to social distance!
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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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