I tend to spend a lot of time in an area once I start. Maria von Trapp may have wanted to climb every mountain but I want to climb every trail up every mountain.
In the winter and early spring, I spent a fair amount of time in the corner of Yamanashi north of Mt. Daibosatsu around Mt. Kasatori. There are some wonderful trails there.
Imagine my surprise when I came upon this!
I thought it was so cool that I returned a week later with this knife . . .
Those antlers are now on my wall. They are one of my coolest possessions.
Up in Saitama a few days later
Back in Tokyo, near the Okutama Line in Ome.
This is a カモシカ(kamoshika). That translates as serow. I've only seen 3 or 4 them in all the times I've been in the woods. Probably because they tend to not be found in areas where deer are present--and there are a lot of deer in Tokyo and Yamanashi.
Greetings spelunkers of all ages, shapes and sizes.
This past year was a great one for art on the walls of my mancave and I want to share some of it with you. I have way too many pictures to put into one post so I've concluded to break it up into six separate posts covering 2 months in each. I hope you enjoy them. I certainly enjoyed taking them.
The last day of fall was a good day for a hike around Doshi Village and Tsuru City.
I started out at Mishotai Bashi and climbed up to Mt. Mishotai before then heading south over Maenodake, Nakanodake and Okunodake toward Mt. Fuji before hopping off the trail returning to the starting point by walking along route 413.
This is what Mt. Mishotai looks like from below.
. . . this is what it looks like from above (from Mt. Fuji)
. . . and this is what it looks like at the top.
It was a pleasant day for a hike but the scarcity of views didn't make for a lot of photo opps. I was in fairly close proximity to Mt. Fuji and even though I was walking in its direction, it was mostly hidden by trees 90% of the time. Because it was so close, it loomed really large but still was never visible enough to justify stopping and taking a picture.
Most of the day looked like this.
When I finally did get to the one clear spot of the day though, it was stunning. I took about 20 pictures of Mt. Fuji but will suppress the urge to post them all.
That vantage point also gave a good view of the Minami Alps to the west . . .
. . . and of the Tanzawa Range in the east.
I was close to Lake Yamanaka, too, but that never really came into view.
This is the route I took. I took my scooter down there but there is a bus that runs along Route 413 so you can get there by public transportation. The highlight of the hike was that one good viewpoint. If you're interested, that spot is just to the north of Mt. Okunodake (奥ノ岳). I think that might be a good starting point for a hike going down to Lake Yamanaka.
See you soon. There is time for one more hike before the year ends. Where shall I go?
Yesterday I hiked from Kai Yamato Station in Koshu City to Sasago Station in Otsuki via Mt. Ojika, Mt. Ottate and Mt. Takigo. It was a nice hike.
This lamp is just around the corner from the Kaiyamato Station. Somehow it gave me a craving for Taco Bell.
My trek took me to the north of the Sasago (rail and road) Tunnels. You may recall there was an unfortunate tunnel collapse in 2012. That was in the Sasago Tunnel.
A few months back, I climbed over the tunnels from the southwest to the same area I hiked yesterday. Last time I started at the Sasago Pass (Denoted as "笹子峠" and a white pushpin on the map below). Yesterday's hike is the blue line.
The weather was nice and brisk starting out. 29 Fahrenheit is about -2 degrees Celsius.
Glimpsing the South Alps at the trailhead.
Approaching the top of Mt. Takigo
The top of Mt. Takigo.
Mt. Takigo is touted as having one of the best views of Mt. Fuji. I've been here 3 times and the weather has been bad each time so I have to take everyone's word for it. Thankfully my app could give me an idea of what I was missing.
It started to snow on top. That was fine with me. A chance of rain had been forecast. Snow was definitely more welcome than rain.
This warning was posted at both ends of the trail I'd planned on using to descend. I decided to choose a different path.
The last few miles of the descent were along the Ojika ("Big Deer") River. I love walking next to running water.
The last couple of miles is on pavement.
The entrance to the Sakura Forest. The gate is just to keep the animals in.
Not long after this point, I checked my watch and the train schedule. I realized that unless I picked up the pace I would have to wait about an hour for a train. I ran the last mile or so and made the next train with about 2 minutes to spare. Go me.
That's all for today. There are two more weeks left in this year so I should be back out there two more times before December 31st.
I have today and tomorrow off. I was hoping to go for a long hike during this time, maybe even an overnight trip.
Since the weather people have been forecasting rain for the past few days, though, I decided to curtail my plans and try to fit in a quick hike this morning before the deluge. I only hiked about 3.5 miles.
I was successful. I've been to the mountains and back and it hasn't started raining yet. I've been home for 4 hours and nary a drop has fallen.
I feel like I got gypped. They told me quite authoritatively (100% chance!) that it would start raining at 2 pm.
I'm starting to trust the meteorologists about the next few hours' weather about as much as I trust Prince Charles or Greta Thunberg about what the climate will be in a century or a decade.
All they say is blah, blah blah.
Anyway, I'll share what I did today. It may give someone an idea for a light excursion. Today does show that you don't need to overtax yourself in order to experience some of nature's beauty in Tokyo.
Today, I took my scooter to the Nishi Kura Bus Stop on Route 33. You can reach there by bus from Musashi Itsukaichi Station. Normally I would take my bicycle since it's only about 12 miles from home but I was afraid I'd be caught in a downpour. For those familiar with this road, it's a mile or two past the Kurochaya (黒茶屋.)
Anyway, I poked around the trails between the Nishi Kura and the Jurigi bus stops. I hiked to two little "mountains" and took a peek at few shrines.
It is true that you don't have to go far to get some cool views. Since these foothills are higher than anything to their east, you can see really far. I couldn't pick it up in a picture, but even as overcast as it was today, I could see Tokyo Skytree with the naked eye. That's on the other side of Tokyo. I also got some great views of USAF C-130s flying over Yokota Air Base. For opsec purposes, I won't post any pictures here. ;-)
This is from Shiroyama.
This is an artist's rendition, and an historian's imagining of what this area used to be. This mountain's name, Shiro, means castle. They believe it was a castle and that samurai used it in the past. They're not quite sure who or when, though.
This guy is at a temple (Kogonji) I passed through. There are a few temples and shrines in the area and several small cemeteries.
This big cherry tree is at the same temple. It's called Oosakura in Japanese. That means "Big Cherry Tree" in English. I'll bet you didn't see that coming.
It must be something to see in the spring.
https://goo.gl/maps/X2NveGdaKXZbYdL28
One thing that I find interesting is that the Japanese soil is so fertile that the growing season never seems to end. It's not uncommon to see root crops growing under a cover of snow.
One last pic of the trail...
That's all for today. I had thought of going to a nearby onsen today since I had such a short hike and would have more time available than usual. I skipped it though. I didn't work up enough of a sweat to justify it.
If you are interested in an onsen in this area, the nearest one is the Seoto no Yu. Nice place. http://www.seotonoyu.jp/
