Mountain climbing in Kakogawa

This weekend, our neighbour, Oomichi-san took us out on our first mountain climb.


Jason and I vaguely want to climb Mt Fuji to see the sunrise... But we're just not sure we can commit.


This mountain climb was a lovely starter.


It was an easy climb, about 3 hours in total.


We slowly made our way up the first summit (Jason and I actually thought this was our end point, silly geese that we are). We stopped there for a break and to look out onto the small town below.

 

We then made our way along mountain ridges, slowly climbing higher. It was so amazing to be walking along the horizontal ridge between two mountains with drop offs on either side! Scary, but amazing. Just balancing on this narrow little peak, the wind blowing your hair, a couple of hundred metres of cliff just inches from your feet on either side.

After walking along the ridges for a while, we passed over the tsuribashi (suspension bridge) and came to a rock face with a metal chain hanging down. We climbed up the rock face, using the chain for support (it was a lot easier than I expected actually)

There, we reached our second summit, higher than the first. Here, we were surrounded by other mountains.

Our neighbour pointed out the summit that we were actually heading for... It seemed an awfully long way away...

The final destination

From here, we walked along delicately inclined ridges (and even down some, despite wanting to go up), and then traversed a large, tricky rick face, and a rocky, steep set of "stairs" (Rocks and dirt which were more like a cliff, but did have chunks and foot holds similar to stairs, but three times the height) to get to our third and final summit. The third summit was of course, the highest and the most difficult to get to. It was the only spot where I started to hurt. At the top was a viewing platform ("MOOOORE STAIRS!?") where we could view the mountain ranges below us on one side, and the town far out below us on other.

Here, we set up for lunch, dangling our legs close to the precipice. Looking into the depths of the canyons below us was dizzying. It felt like you might be pulled into it, depite sitting firmly on the ground. We ate our little picnic, and everyone had brought something to offer everyone else. Some had brought sweets, or chocolates, and one man even set up a little gas burner and made everyone a cocoa, tea or coffee on the top of this mountain. Drinking the burning hot cocoa while the brisk wind chilled our sweaty limbs was heaven. Luckily, I had packed a bag of grapes to share so that I could give something in return. There was a sense of comradery as we sipped our hot drinks and stared silently into the green and sprawling abyss.

The hike down was quickly, although descent is the hardest part. The loose stones and dirt are treacherous to walk down on and it was easy to slip and slide, being unable to stop yourself. We learnt to take tiny baby steps in the most dangerous parts, and we held onto trees, twigs, and even long grass. Anything for a tiny bit of support.

We were down in half an hour, and we then walked back through the area to our car (Oomichi drove us here).


The group was so friendly and the hike was quite addictive. The next hike is planned for the following month, and is a 5 hour hike, which will be a good jump. Mt Fuji is around a 10 hour hike, so it will be good training!