Greetings cave dwellers. Welcome back to my mancave for another year.
Have you decided on any resolutions? I'm thinking of taking up hiking myself.
The first hike of 2023 ended up being a two-fer for me! I climbed Mt. Oyama twice. I was up to the top of Mt. Oyama and back down to my bike by 9 and ready to go home when I realized my keys were missing. Yikes. Nowhere to be found. Although I climbed the mountain again (bonus hike!) in my search for them, they never appeared.
Here are the details for both hikes. I'll add commentary after that.
Getting there/getting around: There is bus service from Isehara Station on the Odakyu Line. Public transportation doesn't run early enough for sunrise, though. There are many parking lots along Route 611. A shuttle bus runs up and down between the parking lots and Koma Sando.
Map: Yama to Kogen Chizu #29 ๅฑฑใจ้ซๅๅฐๅณ・๏ผ๏ผ・ไธนๆฒข
Elevation: (First time) Lowest: 254m Highest: 1,252m Total Ascent: 1,110m Total Descent: 1,110m (Second time) Lowest: 659m Highest: 1,252m Total Ascent: 718m Total Descent: 729m
Technical considerations/difficulty: The trails here are rugged but extremely well-maintained and sturdy. There are a lot of steep natural rock stairs but very few loose rocks. Dirt parts of the trail that are prone to turning to mud are often traversed with wooden walkways. It offers a good climbing workout without any danger. There are only one or two spots that have chains. Oyama is climbed by people of all ages. I even saw a few parents with newborns strapped to their chests yesterday. If you're out of shape, you can take the cable car to shave a half hour or so of climbing off. If you're really out of shape, you can just take the cable car to the shrine and stop there. There are lots of restaurants and a great view there.
Facilities: Since Mt. Oyama is so popular, there are myriads of souvenir shops and restaurants. Many of these shops line Route 611 where the parking lots are. Route 611 is connected to the cable car station by a quaint shopping street called Koma Sando. Koma Sando has a large concentration of restaurants and gift shops and many little "chokubai" spots selling mountain vegetables, roots and citrus fruits. "Chokubai" means direct selling. Most commonly it means un-manned stands selling produce on the side of the street. Koma is the word for spinning top and this is the place to buy a top if you're into that kind of thing. Evidently, the wood in the area is famous and that's why they make tops here. Just below Afurijinja (Afuri Shrine), near the top of the cable car, there are a few restaurants selling Japanese food, ice cream and hot dogs. T-shirts, etc. are on sale there. At the top of Mt. Oyama, there is another mountain restaurant serving things like ramen and oden. There are public restrooms on the top--but they seem to be closed on weekdays now.
Thoughts/observations/recommendations: First, don't ever lose the ๐ to your ๐ต on a ๐. ๐ญ
Yesterday was a great day to welcome the first sunrise of the year and Mt. Oyama is a swell place to do this. No wonder it's popular for the first sunrise. If you go for sunrise on January 1 though, be early. I was really surprised at how all of the parking lots were already full when I got there around 4:30. It took me 15 minutes to find a parking lot with a space for me. I was able to park only because I was on a bike. I don't think there was any car parking left. Indeed, there were cars waiting in the street for people to leave the parking lots all day to open up spaces.
Here are what my hikes looked like yesterday.
First time up. I went basically clockwise.
Second time up
Here's how the day went from the beginning.
1km up the street from the parking lot I got to Koma Sando.
I didn't take this in the morning. The caveman is a cheapskate and also feels that ropeways, gondolas and cablecars are cheating.
Just beyond the cable car, there is a fork in the trail. The ๅฅณใฎ้ (Woman's Trail) goes to the left and the ็ทใฎ้ (Men's Trail) goes to the right. They meet up again later.
I made great time on both of my hikes today. I usually do go a little faster than the estimates on maps because those are based on how long it would take an average group of four 40-y.o. women to hike. Despite all the voices in my head, none of them are 40 and none of them are women, so those estimates never apply to me.
One factor that always increases my speed is the number other people who are on the trail. It always makes me go faster when I encounter someone. It becomes a race and I won't be happy until they are eating my dust. I guess I drive the same way. Anyway, in the early morning, it was like a traffic jam or a line at Disney with everyone heading up for sunrise so I never slowed down from passing speed. On my second trip up, I moved fast just because I was hoping to find my keys before it got too late.
"90 minutes". Ha! I sneer at their estimate. ๐ I did it in 43. ๐
After catching the sunrise from the east side of the peak, I headed over to the west side to catch another iconic Japanese view; Mt. Fuji.
And back to the east side for a picture of Tokyo before heading down.
Some place names make me laugh.
When I came down, I used the Women's Trail. It passes this temple.
Can you spot the lost article in the picture? (Hint: it's right in front of your eye.)
Satoji Shrine by the Suzu River
It was soon after this that I got to my scooter and realized I lost my keys. Then I turned around and headed back up the mountain. I stopped into every store I'd been to, I called the cops and I talked to everyone coming down the trail. I even took the cable car ๐ on the second trip. Buying a ticket was the only way I could get inside to ask about their lost and found.
Last week I was on Mt. Furo which is in line between this point and Mt. Fuji. Despite knowing this, I still can't quite put my finger on which Mountain it is in this picture.
Looking northwest to other mountains in the Tanzawa Range.
I had planned to be home for lunch. No such luck.
That's all for this report from the man cave. I hope
Hello cave critters. Welcome to the last post of the year.
I have been casting about for new mountains to climb and it's getting mildly difficult to find mountains I haven't climbed already that are within commuting distance. I was spoiled when I got bitten by the mountain bug. I live close enough to Okutama that for a few years I could simply take my bicycle and find a new mountain. Now I need to go farther away.
Yesterday, I chose a spot between Lake Yamanaka in Yamanashi Prefecture and Lake Tanzawa in Kanagawa Prefecture. I've hiked all around Yamanaka and have hiked quite a bit in the Tanzawa area, but never in this corner of Kanagawa. Let me get the details out of the way so I can share some pictures with you.
Mountains climbed: Mts Mikuni~Moujin~Yubune~Shirokuranoto~Furo (North and South Peaks)~Oiwa~Teppokinoto
Getting there/getting around: There is a parking lot at the Mikuni Pass. There are buses that stop close by the lake. Mt. Mikuni and Mt. Teppokinoto are convenient to buses. There is also a bus stop at the Myoujin Pass.
Map: Yama to Kogen Chizu Tanzawa #29 ๅฑฑใจ้ซๅๅฐๅณ・๏ผ๏ผ・ไธนๆฒข
Elevation: Lowest: 395 meters Highest: 1,320 meters Total Ascent: 1,891 meters Total Descent: 1,891 meters
Technical considerations/difficulty: This was not a very technically challenging hike, although it was long. There were only two spots I recall where ropes were in place. For the most part it was not too steep. One portion where the trail is not really well-marked and you need to use common sense to pick your way is between Yozuku Pass (ไธ้ๅณ ) and the Yozuku River below. To descend from there to the river, you need to find your way down a spider's web of forestry roads. They are all in disrepair. Some of them dead end. Portions of them have disappeared in landslides and you must decide whether to detour or turn back. That part of the hike took me a lot longer than I estimated it would. After that, the final several miles of the hike are along a closed, lonely forestry road. That wasn't in very bad shape, though. I was able to make up some time.
Facilities: Nothing commercial. My (2019) map shows restrooms at the Myojin Pass (ๆ็ฅๅณ ) and the Yozuku Pass (ไธ้ๅณ ) but I can't recall seeing them when I was there. I seem to remember Yozuku Pass as being especially barren. Maybe there used to be a restroom.
Just hold it. Patience is a virtue.
Thoughts/observations/recommendations: One of the nice things about this hike was that there was nobody there. Well, almost nobody. I did see two guys eating lunch at the top of Mt. Furo. And I happened upon one fisherman by the river who happened to be relieving himself just as I was coming around the corner. That was funny. He really didn't expect anyone to show up when he decided to do his business al fresco. Being Japanese, he still tried to be polite and do the greeting/small-talk thing with me.
Without zipping up. ๐
I'm really glad Japanese people don't shake hands.
This was probably my last trek for 2022. I have thoroughly enjoyed the mountains this year. I'm glad to have ended the year on a day of good weather and am looking forward to getting out again to start 2023 right off the bat. I'm not sure what my plan is for the next year. I've been going out at least once a week for the past 2 (or 3?) years. Part of me thinks it would be sane to slow down. The other part of me says "Why?" I always enjoy the mountains and I really like to think about them after I come home.
I'll tell you a secret, dear reader. I would be keeping this blog even if nobody read it. It's more for me than for anyone else. I just want to remember what I've done. If I can make some happy by showing them some beautiful pictures or if I can give someone ideas about hiking in Japan, that's great. I don't expect it, though.
Anyways . . .
Here are some pictures:
The first Google Earth screenshot shows a map oriented to the west. This gives a sense of where I was in relation to Mt. Fuji and Lake Yamanaka. The best views I had of Fuji were at the beginning and the end of the day since I started and ended nearer to Fuji.
If you notice, there are little green triangles dotting the screenshot. Those are places I've been before. I don't know why, but Google Earth has seemed to lose about half of them. I have such a bad memory that I sometimes forget the places I have climbed without seeing some kind of documentation.
You can see Mt. Mikuni at the top left of my footprints. From that point, there is a grey line tracing a ridge up to the top of Fuji. That is the prefectural boundary between Yamanashi to the north and Shizuoka to the south. A trail runs along the border. I hiked that trail as far as the Misaka Pass on Route 138 earlier this year. A little further along from there that trail joins the Subashiri Trail to the top of Fuji.
Oriented to the north
I think I took this picture from the street at the Yamanakako Panorama Dai on Route 730.
Those mountains on the northeast side of Lake Yamanaka have great views.
After 2 hours on the bike, I was glad to get moving. It was a few degrees below freezing for the first few hours.
The next picture is of yesterday's furthest point; Mt. Furo. This mountain's name translates to something like eternally young.
I had a decision to make here. My planned route would take me down off this ridge into a winding river valley which would lead me more-or-less in a circle back to my departure point. The return route was much longer because it was less direct. BUT, it was a road, not a trail and I assumed I would make better time on that than climbing. I wanted to get back to the area I started from by sunset at 4:38. Specifically, I wanted to get to Mt. Tepponokinoto* for sunset. I climbed that earlier this year but missed out on what promised to be a good view by bad weather. I hoped to make up for that by catching the sun going down.
*Tepponokinoto means "Gun~Tree~Head."
I knew that I would make it if I just returned the way I came, but I would actually be too early. Also, I like to cover as much territory as possible and avoid retracing my steps as much as possible. I knew I would be cutting it close for time because I had lost a half hour on the road in the morning. (I made a few bathroom breaks just to warm up!)
In the end, I decided to go with my original plan. Stick around to find out what happened.
Soon after coming off of Mt. Furo, just passed Yuzuku Pass, I descended on a trail that was shown as a dotted line on one of my maps. It doesn't show up on my other maps. It turned out to be a network of forestry roads. Some parts of it were in great repair. Some parts were washed out. No one of the roads really matched the map. Getting to the bottom of the valley took a long time because it necessitated a lot of switchbacks.
This spot is where I first saw some deer. There were signs of them--scat, barking--all day, but from this point until almost the end of the day I kept running into them. They don't show up in this picture, though. I am showing the picture just to show the condition of the road.
In some places the road was great.
After about 40 minutes, I got to the bottom and the Yuzuku River.
At the river, I discovered that the road, Route 729, that I was to start walking on was more of a forestry road than a tertiary road, like I thought it would be. It was completely blocked off to cars and there wasn't sign of a soul in sight. I was a little worried what this might mean time (and safety)-wise.
I encountered some more time wasters on the way. It seemed like I could not go 50 feet without coming across deer. I love seeing deer and I can't help taking their picture. It began to concern me as the clock was ticking.
Look at this if you want video of some of the deer I saw.
I eventually got to the point where I stopped taking their pictures.
I was watching my time and my pace and knew that I would be really cutting it close to try to make the sunset. They are cute, though. Especially at this time of year. The adults have now big white bushy tails which make their hoppy way of running funny.
After I stopped taking pictures of the deer, I made better time. After about 7 km on the forestry road, I turned into the woods again for the push up to my objective. Time was tight. I had only 1 hour and 18 minutes and 4.6 km (3.1 miles) to go. The problem wasn't just the distance I had to go horizontally, it's that I also had to ascend 520 meters. How long does it take to walk up 5 soccer fields? I thought I might make it if I hustled. I ran where I could.
About 50 feet to the top . . .
Close enough. I'm glad I got this much of a view.
Finally at the top.
๐บ๐๐
I got to my scooter at 5:02. It took me 20 minutes before I could hop on and go. I needed to put on a few more layers and the temperature had dropped so much I had to stop and warm my fingers up for each button I needed to button and each zipper I needed to zip.
Well cave creatures, that sunset lowers the curtain on my cave for the year.
I hope that 2022 was good for you and that 2023 will be even better.
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