Saturday in the (Japanese National) Park

Greetings, cave dwellers.

It was a great day for a hike so I went back to the same area I went to a few days ago.  Last time I started at Mitake Station and climbed Mts Iwatakeishi and Takamizu.  Today I started on the north side of those hills and knocked off Mt. Kuro on the way.

One thing I appreciate about these mountains is that there is so much variety and so much beauty that the same place can have a completely new appeal on different days.  Taking a different trail to the top of the same mountain gives new perspectives and often offers different types of terrain to traverse.  Today was a bit crisp, almost fall-like, so the views were much better than my excursion just two days before.

This is where I started, Nariki, in Ome City.  Can you believe this is Tokyo?  I love where I live.  I climbed 5 mountains this day and was home by 3:30.

This is an unusual perspective of these mountains.  Mt. Otake has a very distinctive profile when viewed from other angles that doesn't show up from this direction.

Notice Fuji just to the right of Otake.

I took some pictures from this same spot two days previously.  They looked completely different than today's.

I'm really not used to seeing so many people in the mountains.  This is the kind of scene I go to the mountains to avoid.  I had planned on eating lunch here but gave up that idea pretty quick.

I did not invite these interlopers to my mancave.

(All kidding aside, it is nice that people are out and enjoying life!)

Aren't these flowers beautiful?  They are right next to an outhouse.  I guess the grass is always greener . . .

More soon.  Leave a comment.  Leave your email and you'll be kept up when I post.  Have a good day.  

Ps 118:24

In case you want more of Mt. Iwatakeishi . . .

https://mymancaveisthemountains.blogspot.com/2021/09/ome-on-first-day-of-fall-2021-sawai.html

https://mymancaveisthemountains.blogspot.com/2024/03/7th-time-up-iwatakeishi-repost.html

https://mymancaveisthemountains.blogspot.com/2022/02/nagurinariki-area.html

Caveman Out

Mitake Station~Ikusabata Station; No pain, no gain.

 

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

Clive Staples Lewis

Greetings cave dwellers.  Drop your club by the entrance and pull up an easy rock by the fire.

This quote by Lewis was on my mind all day as I hiked.  One of the things I believe we should be grateful for is pain.  Our nervous system is really a gift. But for nerves to alert us to danger, we could bleed to death after nicking ourselves shaving.  Or we might find ourselves trying to stand on a shattered leg after an accident.  

The thing that brought this topic to mind is a headache I had last night.  About 10:30, my head was pounding and, because I know the remedy for me, I dragged myself out of the futon and went walking for a few hours.

I learned that for me the remedy to a headache is to go for a walk through long experience.  I used to get headaches all the time.  When I was chainsmoking and eating McDonald's every day, I got splitting headaches on a weekly basis.  Inevitably when I am walking, I eventually find myself praying.  Then the headache goes away and I can go home and get to sleep.  

I believe God talks to us through all of our pains.  In the case of a cut, the message is, "Get a bandaid."  (That's American for "plaster" for all you Brits.)  In the case of emotional pain it might be, "Stop being so selfish." or, "Forgive."  

In my case, with all those headaches, I think one message was, "Stop smoking, Fatso."  

Another message was, "Talk to me and listen to me.  Let's take a walk together." 

I haven't had those headaches for years.   Maybe because I stopped smoking and I  do so much walking these days.  

Maybe I've learned what those headaches were meant to teach me.

  

Let me tell you about today's walk around Ome.  First, have a look at this perpetual motion machine.  Cool, huh?

I went for a long bike ride yesterday and had planned on not going anywhere today and just taking it easy.  

That plan went out the window as soon as I woke up.  A short hike never hurt anyone, right?  

I started behind Mitake Station and went to Mt Sogaku, Mt Iwatakeishi and Takamizu.  I've been on all of these before but one portion of the trail was new to me.  

It wasn't the clearest day for viewing, but the mountains are always beautiful.

Map at Mitake Station.  

Right around Mitake Station there are lots of touristy things.  Cafes, a hostel, rooftop barbecue, river rafting company.  You can rent a bicycle from a vending machine in the station.

This second-hand store is a few doors down from Mitake Station.  It is awesome.  It is packed with serious gear.

https://www.maunga.jp/

Up the hill . . .

To change the subject a little, I'd like to tell you about the first time I climbed Mt Takamizu.  I was parking my bike at Ikusabata Station preparing to hike up the mountain when I encountered another cyclist who had just arrived by train with his bike for a day of cycling around Okutama.  Since we had the same model bicycle, it was natural to strike up a conversation.  When I told him I was hiking up to Takamizu, he asked "why?"  He said I could ride.

Well, if I could ride it, I didn't see anything wrong with that.  Off I started.  The road was steep but certainly doable.

After about a mile of this, I hit this stairway.  I figured that must be one of the things you have to deal with in mountain biking, occasional obstacles.

I expected it to smooth out soon after the stairs, but it never did.

Never.

Today I walked down this trail not able to believe I had actually carried my bicycle up and down it before.  I know I did that.  I just can't believe it.

I carried, pushed or pulled my bicycle for the last mile or so up the mountain.  It never was rideable after that first staircase but every inch of mountain I pushed that bicycle up was another inch invested in my quest.

If I ever find that other guy again, I might punch him in the nose.

Yes, I pushed it up these stairs, too.  And then farther beyond.  The people I met at the top looked at me like I was insane.

Post Script  I've been telling that story for a few years now.  I still might punch that guy in the nose if I find him, but I have since realized he wasn't exactly lying.  It was on my second or third trip up to this area that I saw there is a maintenance road that reaches near the top of this mountain, but it doesn't go anywhere near Ikusabata Station.

I'll leave you with another gif of the river just because I love these things so much.

Remember to leave your email address to subscribe.  Don't worry about me selling your email address.  I don't even know who my cave dwellers are.  (Lousy squatters.)  

I'd love a comment or two.  I am not sure if that feature works.

Caveman out

Hamura Tulip Festival

 Happy Easter!

Christ is Risen, 

He is Truly Risen.

Today, as part of our Easter celebration, my better half and I got a bento and brought it to have a picnic at the Hamura Tulip Festival after Church.  

Hamura is on the Ome Line, about one hour west of Shinjuku.  The tulip festival is by the Tama River, about 15-20 minutes on foot from Hamura Station.  

The tulips are at their peak right now.  Check it out sometime.

Sannose~Shogen Pass~Ryubamiyama~Ootsunegi~Hiryuyama March 19, 2021

Enjoying bagging as many peaks as I can while spring vacation lasts.  

Yesterday I went out to the area around the Ichinose River again and crossed off two peaks I had to give up on last month.  My plan then was thwarted by the weather.  First, when I got into the mountains on my bike, I  had to dismount my motorcycle about three miles before the trailhead because of ice on the roads.  Then the amount of snow and ice on the trails inverted the fun to danger ratio so much that I opted to turn back rather than become another kind of statistic myself.  

Here in the Japanese outdoors community I often hear of the "courage to give up."  I don't think of it as courage.  Maybe prudence.  

Or as just not being stupid.

My first stop yesterday was at an overlook which gave me a profile of the day's mountains.  (I've done all the ones on the left already.)

Here is a link to a map showing where this sign is:   sign

Starting out along a stream.

I love water in the mountains!

That blue thing down below is the Shogen Pass Hut.  There is a water source year-round.  There are toilets, lodging, and dining facilities in season.  It's open from April to November.  Stay there sometime and report back to me.  https://yama-goya.jp/kanto-lodge/syogenkoya.html

The two peaks I wanted to hit today are not on a very definite trail.  You just have to get up to the top of the ridge and follow it without falling off.  It's a bit more rugged and slow-moving than "hiking."  Sometimes vertigo-inducing.

Looking north from Mt Ootsunegi.  I've always liked that lone-tree against nature kind of picture.

The trail conditions still made for slow-going yesterday.  Despite very carefully watching each and every step, I still slipped a few times yesterday.  

I'm convinced that if I ever get really in trouble in the mountains it won't be from anything exciting like an avalanche or bear attack but from slipping in a mud puddle or maybe from being startled by a frog.

Lunch at 禿岩 (Hage Iwa, "Bald Boulder").  It's a nice viewpoint just below the trail junction under Mt Hiryu.

On the final bit.

More soon I hope!