Scandalous! Japanese woman bathing al fresco in the mountains. Japan's highest outdoor bath and Mt. Tengu.

Welcome ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, cave visitors of all ages.

How'd you like my clickbait title?  It's hard to become an influencer.  In my last few posts, I mentioned skinnydipping and you wouldn't believe how many views I got.  I'm not sure how I feel about the type of new readers I'm getting, though.

Unlike many internet entities; I'm not lying with my titles.  Maybe gilding the lily a bit, but I'm not lying.  Keep reading and you'll see what I mean.

Honest.  You can trust me.  I'm not like the others.

Anyway . . .

I went for a bit of a hike on the Yatsugatake Range yesterday.  It wasn't a picture-perfect day, but it was still a great experience.

Location:  Tengudake 天狗岳 Nagano

Starting and stopping point: 　稲子湯唐沢橋登山口（みどり池入口）

Peaks bagged: Higashi Tengu (東天狗岳) ~~ Nishi Tengu (西天狗) ~~ Neishi (根石山) ~~ Mikaburi (箕冠山)

(First-time) peaks #828, 829, 830, 831

Getting there/getting around:  I drove.  There are buses to the trailhead I used.  They run between the Nitago Onsen and Koumi Station 4 times a day starting in April 22.  I guess they run until the snow makes the road impassible.

Map:  Yama to Kogen Chizu 33 YATSUGA-TAKE TATESHINA・UTSUKUSHIGAHARA・KIRIGAMINE 八ヶ岳蓼科・美ヶ原・霧ヶ峰

Weather Information: Nishitengu (Japanese)

Total Time:   7:08 Break time: :36  Distance:  16.5 km (just over 10 miles)

Elevation:  Lowest: 1,571 m Highest: 26,46 m Total Ascent: 1,386 m  Total Descent: 1,386 m

Technical considerations/difficulty:  Much of this is above the treeline.  There are not a lot of spots with chains or ropes but a lot of this hike is steep and there are a lot of boulders to negotiate.  I think the only places where getting lost would be a possibility would be at trail intersections.  Most of them are well-marked, though.  If you pay attention, you should be fine.

Facilities:  There are lots of onsens, huts and waterholes.  There are several campgrounds.

Thoughts/observations/recommendations:  This is, I'm sure, a great collection of mountains, but I really don't know just what they look like.  It was not clear enough long enough over a wide enough area for me to have gotten a good look!  The one peek I got of the peak of Tengudake from below was really cool.  This is another on a long list of mountains I have to go back to.

I was surprised at the number of onsens and campgrounds in the area.  I also was surprised by the number of people I saw.  It didn't ever seem crowded, but there were a surprising number of hikers up there.

Today's listening:  

Bible in a Year

                               

 Orthodoxy, by G.K. Chesterton, read by David Grizzly Smith  

"The only possible excuse for this book is that it is an answer to a challenge. Even a bad shot is dignified when he accepts a duel." Orthodoxy

I have listened to or read Orthodoxy, and a few other Chesterton classics, several times.  I find more and more gems each time.  He's not immediately accessible.  I find that the first 90% of a chapter is usually bewildering and takes a lot of concentration.  The last 10% or so when he pulls everything together makes the hard work worthwhile!  And, along the way, some of the quotes are just so clever and, well, quotable.

OK.....let's look at some pictures

The Shirabiso Hut next to Midori Ike.  There are camping sites here as well as some food, etc.

Midori Ike (Green Pond)

Looking up toward my invisible destination, Mt. Tengu.

Looking up from Midori Ike in another direction toward Mt. Inago.

Back on the trail

Mt. Tengu's eastern peak

Looking back at the eastern peak from the western peak. 

People were standing and waiting with their cameras for a long time hoping for breaks in the clouds.

This is the first fall foliage I've seen this year.  It's at an elevation of about 2,500 meters.  It's still all green down below.

The buildings are the Neishi Hut and that is Mt. Io behind them in the cloud.

"Io" means "sulfur".  It is the same word as is "Iwo Jima" ("Sulfur Island")  Sure enough, it smelled like sulfur around here.

That is a woman taking a bath in Japan's highest outdoor bath.  I'm glad she was clothed!  Even so, I wish she wasn't there.  I really felt creepy taking a picture with a scantily-clad maiden (actually, more like a grandmother) in it--even from a distance.  I couldn't not get a picture of this pool, though.  That is cool.  

The path to the outdoor bath . . .

This is the marker proudly pronouncing Japan's highest outdoor bath.  I felt really awkward whipping out my iphone to take a picture here.  The woman in the bath was the only person around.  I made some small talk with her when I took this picture and tried to make it obvious I was more interested in the sign than in her.  Haha.  She didn't seem to mind me being there.

Mt. Io

This is the Honsawa Onsen.  This is the business that owns the outdoor bath.  (1,000 yen, by the way.)  They have some indoor baths, too.  There is also some lodging and several tent sites there.  I saw quite a few people there and they all seemed to be having a great time.

Walking through the Honsawa Onsen

Before heading back to the car, I passed by the Midori Ike again.  Thankfully, the clouds had cleared and I finally got a picture of Mt. Tengu.

Well, cave dwellers, that's all for now.  Come again.

Caveman out.

Kitayatsugatake area: Yabashira (八柱山) ~~ Shimakare (縞枯山) ~~ Chausu (茶臼山) ~~ Nakakoba (中小場)

I lied.  

I said the other day that I would not be hiking for a while but I went for one last hurrah on my last day of vacation.  Blame Mrs. Caveman.  She asked me the night before, "Are you going hiking tomorrow?"  I hadn't planned on it until that moment.  

I wonder if she was trying to get me out of the house, or if she just knows me better than I know myself.  The last time she did this was last year.  "Are you climbing Fuji this year?"  I wasn't even thinking of it until that moment but found myself suddenly overtaken by the urge to climb Mt. Fuji.

The weather was still overcast yesterday, as it's been the past few weeks--until the last hour or so of my trek.  

Fate is cruel.  I'm going back to work this morning and the sky is blue and the birds are singing.  Grrr

Location:  Around the Yachiho Kogen.  Sakuhocho and Koumi.  The area just north of the Mugikusa Pass

Starting and stopping point:  Yachiho Kogen Nature Park

Peaks bagged: Yabashira (八柱山) ~~ Shimakare (縞枯山) ~~ Chausu (茶臼山) ~~ Nakakoba (中小場)

(First-time) peaks # 809, 810, 811, 812

Getting there/getting around:  

I drove.  I parked at the Yachiho Kogen Nature Park.  

There are buses to the area.  From Chino Station, a bus takes about an hour and 5 minutes to Mugikusa Pass.  I DIDN'T START OR STOP HERE, but I did go by the pass on my hike, and that is as far as the bus from Chino goes.  This route runs from July through October (2023)  

From Yachiho Station, there are buses run by the Chikuma Bus Company.  Find a Japanese friend (or ask me) for help puzzling through their very limited timetable.  

Map:  Yama to Kogen Chizu 33 YATSUGA-TAKE TATESHINA・UTSUKUSHIGAHARA・KIRIGAMINE 八ヶ岳蓼科・美ヶ原・霧ヶ峰

Weather Information: Mt. Shimakare

Total Time:  6:32 Break time:  :09 Distance:  19.3 km

Elevation:  Lowest: 1,585 Highest: 2,403 m Total Ascent:  1,055m  Total Descent: 1,055m

Technical considerations/difficulty:  No serious chains or ladders.  You have to watch your step around boulders.  

Facilities:  Nothing to speak of on the trail.  No water, no toilets.  There are many campgrounds/ski areas in the area.  The Yachiho Kogen Nature Park, where I started, has a mallet golf course.

Thoughts/observations/recommendations:  I saw and heard lots of deer.  Saw a lot of tracks of various critters.  I was startled a few times by pheasants.  There was one wild animal I saw for the very first time up here in the woods.  A bunny rabbit!  I've seen lots of animals, but that was my first bunny.

Today's listening:  

Bible in a Year

Napoleonicist I listened to the episode about Napoleons's Spy.  I'm not really a fan of Napoleon but this discussion with a novelist about a book he wrote about the Russian campaign was interesting.

Here are some pictures.  I didn't get any vistas during the day.  Sorry.

Starting out from the Yachiho Kogen Nature Park, you pass along a forest road-林道- which is closed to cars for the first hour or so.

There is a lot of bamboo grass up here.  I'm very grateful that someone has trimmed it back from the trail.

Amaike 雨池　("Rain"-"Pond")

This waterhole is like a bar or a disco.  This seems to be the social place to be.

The box is for donations to the volunteers maintaining the area.  They do a lot.  That boardwalk is really long.

Temperature-wise, it was perfect!

People-wise, too.  I didn't see anyone!

Like I said, there were a lot of deer around.

Turn up the speakers.  You can hear what a deer's bark sounds like.

As my day--and my vacation--was drawing to a close, the sun finally came out over my back.

That's all for now.  Subscribe, tell your friends, etc.  If you like.

Caveman out.