Hiking stories

Jun 04

Ok, I have officially given up on trying to make weekly posts about daily life in Tokyo. There are so many things happening that I have trouble keeping up even without writing them down. But no worries, I’ll start doing themed posts instead!

For the last month or so, I’ve been going hiking once or twice every week. The season is perfect now - the temperature is great and there are not so many funny animals that want to eat me.

So, this time I’ll share some recent hiking adventures!

滝後山 / takigoyama / “waterfall-behind-mountain”

My first hike since returning from the Golden week was on Monday 12.5. I had been chatting with あ, a Japanese graphic designer I met at uni, and we agreed to climb a mountain called 滝後山 together.

This hike was the most beautiful thing I have experienced in Japan so far. It was really misty at the top of the mountain, and everything felt so mysterious and relaxing, even though the climb was demanding.

rice. — We got off the train in a village some hours to the west of Tokyo. There were many rice fields.

sign. — Helpful sign about the power of teamwork. The sun had burned the colors.

road. — Approaching the trailhead. I kept pointing at things and asking あ how to say them in Japanese. At least my nature vocab is growing quickly.

break. — We had a little snack break by this stream. And found a bunch of gold in it. But maybe it wasn't real.

river. — For the first few hours, we kept following rivers like this upstream.

mist1. — The mist started to gather around halfway up the mountain.

mist2. — Narrow trails through misty greens.

mist3. — Eventually we branched away from the water.

mist4. — Already starting to look like a fairytale.

At some point, when we were walking through the misty forest, we suddenly heard a loud and sharp whistle. First I couldn’t understand what it was, but then we saw a pack of deer standing higher on the hill.

They were whistling. Kind of like birds, but the sound was louder and really short. It felt a bit eerie at first, coming from the fog.

Did you know that deer whistle? I didn’t.

mist7. — The silence was really deep. The mist muffled all sound, including our footsteps.

mist8. — Sometimes I could hear raindrops falling around me. I wasn't sure where they were coming from.

mist9. — Perhaps forming in the air around us?

mist10. — Walking deeper into the cloud.

top. — We made it! Lunch break at the top after ~5 hours of walking. On a clear day, there would've been beautiful views of Mt. Fuji. But, to be honest, I didn't really miss them.

mist13. — The forest on the other side of the mountain was equally misty but darker.

mist14. — It felt quite spooky at times. I loved it.

lizard. — A lizard congratulating us for good work.

We both fell asleep on the train back to Tokyo, and I felt tired for many days after. But it felt good to have the memory of the mountain in my body like that.

岩殿山 / iwadonosan / “rock-lord-mountain”

One week later, on Monday 19.5., we were back in the mountains with あ. And this time, another Japanese person joined us: あ’s friend さ. They are both in the same hiking club at Tamabi.

We decided to do a loop covering three smaller mountains: 岩殿山, 天神山 (Tenjinyama / “heavenly-god-mountain”) and 稚児落し (Chigootoshi / “baby-dropping-mountain”). According to a legend, somebody threw their baby down the last one. What a nice hobby.

Anyway, the hike was more relaxed than 滝後山, but still adventurous. There were some parts with ropes and ladders, and we had to use them haul ourselves up and down the cliffs. Fun!

We started in a village close to 滝後山 - again in the western mountains.

tiles. — Tiles found on the way to the trailhead.

caveout. — Just starting the hike, we found a cave.

cavein. — There was water dripping. Tip tip tip.

staringtree. — "Hmm, what are you doing in my forest?"

The way wasn't only up. We also went sideways.

topviews. — And up again, here are views from one of the tops.

sensual. — And views with some Finnish boy.

bridge. — Down in the village, walking to train station, looking back at the hills we came from.

tankengine. — Choo choo all aboard the meme train.

trainsleep. — Classic activity after a long day.

八ヶ岳連峰 / yatsugatake-renpō / “eight-peaks-mountain-range”

Two days later it was 30 degrees in Tokyo, but we luckily had hiking plans with も and friends. We rented a car and drove ~3 hours to walk in the 八ヶ岳連峰 mountains. It felt quite special since we started the hike already at 1700 m - the landscape and vegetation were really different to anything else I’ve seen here.

This mountain range consists of dormant volcanoes, and there are some really high peaks closer to 3000 m, but we didn’t even try to tackle those - there was already snow on the hills around 2200 m. Better save the high ones for summer!

yamanoko. — We parked the car and walked some 40 minutes to reach やまのこ (Yamanoko) hut. Also, I need this font in my life, I would write everything in it.

riverlunch. — A spot for lunch and general fooling around. Above the little waterfall there was kind of a natural pool, where one could bathe in the river. Many of the trees were just starting to make leaves - almost felt like mid-northern Finland.

heli. — We came across a helicopter dropping supplies for some workers in the mountains. They were constructing an onsen.

snow. — There was still a lot of snow, even though it was end of May. The temperature was a really pleasant 18ish degrees - we didn't miss the Tokyo kettle.

treehugger. — も performing reverse shavasana.

summit. — After waddling through the snow for some hours we decided to call it at this hill. Those higher peaks were definitely not for us today. They made for a nice lunch view though.

tractor. — Mom can I please have a tractor like this?

vending. — Almost back at the car. Because it's Japan, there's naturally a vending machine in the middle of nowhere.

On the way back, we had a really nice talk with M (mentioned for the first time). We were walking to the car through the dark forest and chatting about our past crushes and how love is presented in media in such a linear and uniform way.

And how so many people are led to believe they need a romantic relationship, when they would actually just need friends that see and hear them. People to hug and to discuss their feelings with.

Romantic relationships can be great, but they are not, contrary to how they are often marketed, a magical solution that fixes everything in one’s life. They work much better when the people involved are already happy by themselves - when they can focus more on giving than receiving.

Ok, but stuff like that! In general I felt that we agreed on many points and understood each other really well. I like M, and should definitely try to hang out more with him!

西沢渓谷 / nishizawa keikoku / “western-stream-gorge”

Another Monday hiking day on 26.5. with あ! I slept really bad the night before, perhaps 3 hours. Good thing I couldn’t fall off a mountain since we weren’t climbing a mountain.

Instead, we decided to head ~2.5 hours west of Tokyo to a region famous for gorges. We took a train and a bus to get there, bought some rice cakes from an old couple whose house was next to the bus stop, and started walking!

dam. — I see a lot of dams and structures like this in the mountains. I guess they somehow protect the villages from torrential rains?

walk. — We were walking upstream for the first hours.

rest. — Testing the waters. The weather was a bit chilly so no swimming today.

dragongod. — This one was called "dragon-god-fall". Very dramatic.

walk2. — There were some chains, but most of the way was pretty easy to walk.

walk3. — I really liked the colors of the trees.

watercave. — This cave looked like it would be fun to swim in.

moth. — We found a funny moth during the lunch break. It was pretty huge, like the size of a medium potato.

stones. — Having a break i.e. climbing some stones for fun.

bridge2. — A bridge over land. We were heading back towards the bus stop through a hilly route.

hillviews. — Checking out where to go next time.

givemeasign. — This was close to the bus stop. Pretty.

So we basically walked ~5 hours by flowing water. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty relaxed and tired at the end of the hike. We slept most of the way back on the bus and the train.

I don’t know if I’m giving off the vibe that I enjoy Japanese nature. But I do quite enjoy Japanese nature. I actually went to hike in the mountains this Monday as well, and will do the same on Thursday by the sea.

However, I know you’re already terribly bored of seeing photos of trees and water. So next time, I’ll write about something related to city life!