Mt. Ishizu and Mt. Tado

We did another lovely hike today. 13 of us covered 10k taking in 2 peaks, climbing to 650m. At the end of the hike was a really interesting temple complex. A priest blesses cars and a horse is housed in a shrine. For 100 yen I took a stick with the number "15" on it. Narita-san and Chiho translated my fortune for me. I would have good luck on a long journey, I must study harder and I will find something that I have lost. I tied the paper to the fence with all the other fortunes. Back in the town of Tado we found a beer hall specialising in the local organic brews. Makes a change from a doughnut shop!

Here are the photos from today.

Kirara Mountain

Justin scared us with his announcement for this club hike: “Expect snowy and icy conditions. Proper hiking boots are necessary along with crampons, warm clothes, wet weather gear, water, lunch and towel.” The meeting time was also 7.10am! We were so glad that we did drag ourselves out of bed at 5.30 on a public holiday as the hike was phenomenal. Our guides were the sweetest two ladies. They have been walking in the Chubu Mountains for 40 years, are now retired and spend all their free time hiking. In short, they know the place like the backs of their hands including all the secret routes and little-known tracks. In addition to showing us a lovely quiet forest track up to the peak of Kirara mountain (in the Suzuka range), we were treated to freshly-brewed coffee en route and home-cooked soup at the top. What a treat! We have decided that on future hikes, we too will cook. We’ll start with a boil-in-the-bag up Nagiso-san.

Although there was a bit of snow, it turned out that we didn’t need crampons and wet weather gear. Glorious sun shone the whole day long. This meant that we never did get to see June (pronounced Yu-ne) use her ice pick axe and scary Norwegian crampons.

Enjoy the photos!

Miyagi and Goi Mountains

Once again there were nine of us out hiking early on a Sunday morning! We climbed two peaks - Mt. Miyaji and Mt. Goi. Gorgeous day. Lovely hike. Two unexpected things at the top of the second peak: a load of chickens and a giant telecom tower. Surreal.

Have a look at the pictures.

Yorosan

Today, David, Chiho, Sergio, Brian, Nick, Sara, Paola, Alejandro and myself (Jo) headed off to Gifu prefecture to spend 5-6 hours hiking and to climb 3 peaks – the highest one being Yorosan at 859m. We had a bit of a slow start. First, we missed the little train from Ogaki and spent an hour in Mister Donuts waiting for the next one. No one seemed to mind – I have never had a Mister Donut doughnut before. They are really tasty. We are now point card carriers (dangerous). We did discuss spending the day at Mister D’s, but of course we had a few peaks to bag.

When we got to the town of Yoro, we found the park easily enough but took a while to find the start of the trail, and when we did we were a bit confused by a railing blocking the path near the beginning. We just followed Sergio and carried on anyway. There was lots of slippery ice on the initial steep ascent and then we hit the lovely, soft fresh snow which we enjoyed for most of the way. The sun was shining and it really wasn’t too cold until we stopped for lunch. I had read that there was a hut but this turned out to just be a gazebo – open to the strong freezing winds. Brrrrrr. We placed bets on how long it would take us to get back down to the train station. Let’s just say that Brian owes us a tray of doughnuts…..

Photos here