I have another two and half weeks here in Tokyo before I head back for my summer break in the beautiful mountains of the Kootenays in BC. As Shelley (who is already there) fills me with stories about green, quiet, cool and peace I got desperate to head out of the hot and muggy city for a day of mountains and greenery.
As mentioned before it is amazing that Tokyo has so many mountain hikes available within a day's trip of Tokyo. This time I headed back to the Okutama valley after checking out a new route on my topo map that started in Ikusabata. An early morning series of busses and trains got me there at reasonable start time at the local station. Hop off the train, reach for my map... oh no; I forgot my map!
Serious concern; a new hike with no map! Check at the store there (where I should have bought more water!) but they had no map. Ah yes, this is Japan... there is a big map sign right at the exit of the station. I took a photo of this and had it with me the whole trip... Thank you map makers!
Like many of these hikes the first section is through the edges of the local village. I hiked past big luscious gardens...
Past beautifully kept homes with perfectly trimmed banzai gardens and flowering shrubs.
Intermixed with these beautiful homes were swaths of dense undergrowth that is slowly taking over the abandoned houses left by the declining rural population.
I continued up through the village with power lines almost always in site the entire hike and some logging in the background (signs of home!).
Each batch of houses had the tower with the public address system linked to it ready to warn for earthquakes or any one of the many catastrophes that hit this highly geological volatile land. When not announcing crises, they play regular music at 6:00 PM all across the country (everywhere we have been it is usually the same little ditty!).
Any hike in Japan will confront you with how intensely managed all liveable spaces are here in Japan. Every road has huge hand-built rock walls as retaining walls.
Every water-way, creek, river, gully is lined with concrete and texture to help manage water run-off.
The road took me by a variety of spiritual statues and structures nestled into the mountain-side. Near a grave marker:
Then, finally, the trail got serious and headed straight up the mountain past (another!) dammed stream,
and into the dark forest. You can see in this photo how deeply gouged the trails are from hundreds of years of hundreds of hikers hiking these paths. Their highly eroded state makes me think of Mountain Station bike trails in Nelson, BC.
Of course the trail would not be complete without a series of mini-shrines to the various sacred trees and rocks...
And signs that warned me of impending danger... completely un-intelligible to my uninitiated brain:
Aha, the frog from that mini-shrine telling me....??
It was thrilling to reach this gate quite near the top of the first mountain to discover an ancient temple on its own, tucked in the dark forest.
This temple was definitely not as rich as many we see in Tokyo. The monk housing looked abandoned and the site itself was cared for in a rather rugged way.
From there I scurried up to the tallest of the three peaks of the day to get a glimpse out over endless other small peaks stretched to the horizon. I had lunch at the site with the usual crowd (smaller than usual probably due to the humidity!) of hiking enthusiasts from Tokyo of all ages.
Scrambling back down to the valley bottom permitted me to slow down the sweat pouring out of my body on the way. The site of the rushing Okutama river was a welcome one.
From the Mitake bridge I hiked along a very civilised trail that ambles along the river's edge. Stopping right away for a quick dip in the racing river got me feeling a little less wilted.
Along the way a series of foot bridges cross to the other side of the river...
and the trail winds through countless flowering shrubs...
Past the ubiquitous vending machines (just in case you got thirsty since the last vending machine 500 m back!)...
To an absolutely essential stop for all passers-by: a sake brewery that has been brewing here for the last several hundred years. I stopped here to rest, to soak in the shade and peace and quiet... and the deliciously cool sake:
They give you a series of samplers to then decide on the bottle you really like.
The last kilometre along the river back to the train station was a lovely meander in the shade.
I hopped on the 5;30 train that whisked me back into the heart of the largest urban agglomeration in the world (click here for details) by 8:30 refreshed to be reminded about the beauties of Nature.
Bring it on BC; I am ready to hike! (But will there be a vending machine half-way up the mountain for when I finish my water bottle?)
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