Happy New Year! Welcome to the Year of the Dragon. 🐉
Let's all hope we don't encounter Smaug 🐉 on the Lonely Mountain. ⛰️
I went for walks a few mornings before work this week and I'm going to put up a few pictures. If you're interested in either of these areas in detail, take a look at the previous posts I made. The first batch is from the Mt. Monomi area. The second batch is from Hirao Fuji. The third is Monomi at sunrise.
Around Mt. Monomi, I encountered three or four bevies of does. The grey hours after sunrise and before sunset are good times to spot deer in the mountains here.
The view from Monomi Iwa
(Iwa means boulder.)
If you're from America, you're probably wondering why I bothered taking a picture of a squirrel. They are so rare here that they are kept in zoos. I think I've only seen one or two in nature in as many decades.
This is the ski area at Parada. The slope faces south. I assume they have a short ski season.
The top
The artificial snow on the ski slope gave me a chance (an excuse) to put my crampons on. I have a new pair of boots and I've been wondering it the crampons would fit them.
It's like a winter 🀩 wonderland--where the snowgun was pointing. 😄 Everywhere else is green.
It's only the 23rd, but I find myself at the blog and, since it's so close to Christmas, I think it warrants a yule greeting. Especially since I saw Santa today!
This being Saku, he didn't come by sleigh. 🛷 Saku has its own mode or aerial transportation. (On second thought, perhaps the reindeer went on strike and that's why there's no sleigh. Astute readers of this blog and my eating habits will be aware that any type of deer might be skittish about coming too close to this area. 🦌🥩)
I wasn't planning on going into the woods this morning but felt the draw when I stepped out the door to do an errand I encountered a winter wonderland.
Elevation:Lowest: 1,337m Highest: 1,756.7m Total Ascent: 700m Total Descent: 700m
Technical considerations/difficulty:
Facilities: Nothing on the trail. The trailhead does have a sign which sports a QR code to allow you to post a hiking plan electronically. That's convenient.
Thoughts/observations/recommendations: What a nice mountain Asama Kakushi is. It's obvious why it is on the list of Japan's 200 Famous Mountains. The 360-degree view at the top is superb. I could even pick out Mt. Fuji 119 km away.
It's fairly steep, but there are no ropes or chains. There is a lot of bamboo grass which seems to offer some difficulty to hikers when it isn't trimmed. Today, the path was clear. All but the top of Asama Kakushi is below the treeline.
It is not a full-day hike but could be nicely paired with a trip to the nearby Asama Falls or the Onioshidashi Volcano Park to make a day of it.
First of all, please accept my apologies. Christmas deliveries are canceled this year because I ate Rudolph for lunch.
Ho ho ho
Wow. That was yummy.
No, it did not taste like chicken.
(Actually, it was steaklike and surprisingly tender. It was a great sandwich 🥩 meat.)
A few days ago I went for a run up one of my local favorites, Mt. Hirao Fuji. If you are familiar with this area, you might know the Sakudaira Interchange on the highway. Hirao Fuji is the little hilltop above the ski area and onsen by the interchange. That run was a bit of an adventure in itself because I found a new trail. I go there a lot, though, so didn't bother blogging about it. I did get this picture of where I was to be headed the next day, though.
I parked at Nidoage Pass (二度上峠) right on the line between Kitakaruizawa, Nagano and Takasaki, Gunma. My first stop was a steep, short hike up to Mt. Komagami (駒髪) from there. The view from the top would be spectacular but for the fact that it's obscured by trees.
Just starting out
The top
This was taken from the parking lot.
After that little excursion, a short walk down the street brought me to the trailhead to Mt. Asama Kakushi.
This sign has a QR code to put in a hiking plan.
The top
Looking at Mt. Asama
I don't typically take long breaks but the viewpoint here was so good that I stayed up here taking pictures for about a half hour. It was really fun to look around all points of the compass and to pick out places I've been. That's one of the things I like most about hiking.
Yatsugatake is in the middle of the frame.
The orange figures depict mountains on the 100 Famous Mountain list. The red markers are peaks over 3,000 meters.
?? Do you see what I see?
That was Mt. Fuji a bit to the right of center. I was so surprised to see it since the clouds were blocking mountains even in the immediate vicinity.
In case you're interested . . .
to the south
to the southwest
to the east southeast
I bumped into this guy on my way up to Mt. Iwabuchi.
That is a kamoshika. Kamoshika sounds like the words for duck and deer but a kamoshika is neither a duck nor a deer. It's a serow. It's more like a goat-antelope. They are supposed to be very fast--there's even a motorcycle called serow--but every time I've come across them, they've been very chill. They don't seem to be bothered by humans at all. I was standing in one spot making some adjustments to my pack for about 5 minutes before I realized this guy's (gal's--what do I know, I'm not a biologist) presence. He/she must have been watching me the whole time. Thank God it wasn't a bear.
This is the top of Mt. Iwabuchi. It's probably the last peak for me of 2023. It's been a great year in the mountains.
Asama from the parking lot
Well, that's all (probably) for 2023
I hope you and yours have a Merry Christmas and
a great 2024
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