Today was the first mountain trail in our new mission to try to do more hiking and mountain trailing! I have almost no experience since the only mountain I always go to is the most touristic and one of the easiest which is Mt. Takao. But Sho, he has been part of mount climbing group with firends so he’s already accumulated plenty of knowledge, fact that makes me a little lazy myself to prepare beforehand everything necesary, maps, tools etc.. So finally we started. The first one we chose is a trail very near our house. Before starting we had combini breakfast in Bushi station
Sho enjoying combini tortilla This is the closest to a mexican food option we have at Family Mart
To arrive to the start of the trail we just needed to go by train to a 5 stops away station called Musashi Yokote
This station is in the Seibu Ikebukuro LineThis station was so pinteresque and tiny! The station has toilet and vending machine
The route of the trail was to start in either Musashi Yokote station or Koma station, go up to the lined three small mountains and go down exiting throuhg the other station.
As we chose Musashi Yokote as our starting point we found this pole sign marking the entrance of the trail
In all this area you will find this korean poles with red face since there’s some historical facts relating with Korean emmigrants our direction is to visit Gojo falls as one of first pointsThe weather was so nice Sunny and almost no clouds
As we started the trail we notice the inclination that we were going uphill and the path was surrounded by huge pine trees
This path is also a car’s road so always be careful of popping out cars! It’s been so long we didn’t gi to the wild ! Little mushroom guys along the roadOne small shrine on top of rocky formation
The first part of the trail is a walking throuhg a street going up hill so even it’s so quiet we could see around two cars coming so this part we need to walk on the side of the road.
One of our first checkpoints is Gojo Falls, all the way leading there we can appreciate a small water stream along the road, is so refreshing and relaxing by listening the water running.
Sho shared to me that mountains are great source of water, they are like water factoriesIf you get closer to the nature you can see another miniature world
After around 20-30 minutes walking we could spot the entrance of Gojo Falls, actually this is a shrine so there’s a small fee entrance of ¥200 which helps the shrine to keep maintenance to the place
This place was the training place for a monk called Gojo, it reminded me of Jiujutsu KaizenHere is the English explanation of this place I was so surprised to find this bautiful place in the middle of the forest As all shrines in Japan you can get here a Gozhuin stamp for your collectionThere are momiji trees, so in more advanced autumn must be very nice ! Be careful on your step! is very rocky and slipperyRed bridge above little stream of clear waterThis is a very famous statue in Japan Do you know who is he? We found a group of orange mushrooms in front of these little shrines, I could feel some kind of resemblance Fly resting abive the mushroom, Can you see it? This bucket was the represantation of a Confucius learning, This hanging bucket is not straight, to make it balanced you need to pour water in it If you add right amount it will be straight but be careful, if you add too much the water will make the bucket unbalanced and be spilledIs always good to keep right amount of everything, to wish to much on anything is also not good This was the fall in which Gojo Sensei trained It is a small fall, only 12 mts tall but full of freshness Turning back the scenery is also beautiful The bridge in rhe middle of the trees is a perfect spot for a selfie
It’s time to keep the way up to our first mountain ! So at this point the road of tall pine trees is finished and we headed to a clearer and high er area
Along the trail you will always find signs that helps you find the correct route Again our Korean friend telling us the way Around another 20-30 minutes later we found a small group of houses, they have an amazing view from hereThis area was full of wild cosmos flowersSho enjoying the view! This point was the first in the trail in which we can have an open view
We continued following the road which actually is still a car’s road so carefully headed up until our next checkpoint, Ojizou san ( little gods) statues
The way up posing These are the Ojizou San statues, they are suppoused to take care of the town away from catastrophies The people of the zone dress them with red clothes and fold crane origami for them It was so nice to find English explanations This little god may had been thirsty In front of the statues there was this shiny guy
From this point we leave behind the car’s road and start follwing a small dirt trail which in several places is full of tree’s roots which add a new challenge on the walking
Yo will find this sign and head to Mt. Monomi directionZone full of roots, it looks so cool but be careful not to stomp! Now the road is just for hiking, mostly uphill until the top of Mt. MonomiThis path goes on going up, we start feeling the heat now! Is a huge difference the use of hiking sticks!
I’ve never used the hiking sticks, but as you feel you transform into another insect-like specie, you feel so much lighter and I must say they saved me around 3 times from loosing my balance.
Finally we made it to the top of the first mountain, Mt. Monomi, we did around 2 hours to get here, the view is not as wide but it’s a very nice spot to take a break and have lunch for the rest of the journey!
Some people resting at the top of Mt. MonomiWe did it! we want to gather pictures of us next to the summit poles like this one! Mt. Monomi 375 mtsIt’s lunch time! Cup ramen is a very good option for hiking since they are not heavy at all and so easy to prepareMy favorite Cup ramen is curry one!
After finishing lunch is time to go down hill for later go up again for the next mountain.
going down from this mountain was pretty easy since the path was so flat This pole guides you when you’re in the middle of borh mountains , Mt. Monomi on the right, Mt. Hiwada on the leftOur Korean friend is telling us to keep up down hill now following the car’s roadJust after the intersection with the car’s road we can find a store with resting area inside, we didnt go inside since we just had lunch in Mt.MonomiAlso there are toilets here, so if you feel like going even a little, you should go since there won’t be other toilets after 2 km
Continuing this road you will find the entrance to go up to the top of Mt. Hiwada It may seem pretty steep and rocky but belive me, it’s worthy once you reach the top
This point was pretty steep so I needed to use my hands to grab myself from the tree’s rootsYou will need to do a little extra effort in here, just watch out from loose rocks Even if it’s a little harder here is quite short way so is fast to reach the top Yeah! We did it! And here is the reward! What a great view! Thanks to the good weather We could see the city and Tokyo sky tree in the horizon! Let’s take a rest to appreciate the view here I want to know what is the meaning of these monuments found often on top of mountains, Somebody knows? And yes! the picture of the collection! Mt.Hiwada 302 mts
After reaching the top when you are on your way down you will find a shrine, here you can have another amazing view of the city but this time with a great torii gate on it!
Going down now! from here the rest of the journey are descending paths This shrine was closed and it had a little misterious vibe Some kind of monuments too were surrounding the shrineIn front of the shrine there was this amazing view! Luckily we made it until this place before dawn so we could still appreciate the view with some sunlightThis was so catchy place so I couldn’t resist the selfie
To continue going down is a very unique thing, we need to choose from two different roads the “woman road” or the “men road” As you can imagine the “woman road” is easier so we decided going that way this time since so far we have been walking for 4 to 5 hours approximately. Even we chose the woman road we remained very curious in knowing how hard was the men road, we will leave it for the next time!
Here is the turning point to go down from either “woman road” or “man road” Next time we want to separate and go down Sho from man road and me from woman road and see who can get to the bottom first! Here is the bottom and the junction of the “woman road” and “man road” If you start your journey from this side of the mountains, oppositely as to how we did, then you need to choose which direction you want to go from here As we finish the trail, there is a stone torii gate saying goodbye to us! and for the people starting from this side you will find more information maps about the trails Here is another hiking map board, you can get a good image of the trail and how it is possible to hike the three mountains at onceI don’t know if this is a tradition but Sho told me to ring the bell as to finish our journey session, I suppouse I will find out about it in the future little Ojizou san saying goodbye to us and hello to others who will start from here We noticed some people leave wooden hiking sticks here for whoever that may need of them! That is so nice and once more I experience a beautiful manner we can learn from Japan Is time for our reward and great thing was we found a Vegetarian restaurant very close to the trail and Koma station our destination to go back homeThis was maybe the best veggie burger we have tasted! Even you don’t come to this area for hiking we recommend this restaurant located in Koma station -Alisan Restaurant-It also has a store in which you will find plentu of organic and vegetarian products, some of them produced by the same restaurant This is our final destination! Koma station Is time to go back home!
Thank you so much if you have read until this point! To be true, I wanted to create a diary in which I can record our mountain journeys from now on since this will become our quality time project, I searched several jornal applications for smartphone but none seemed good enough and more over they were kind of pricey, Note is free and i think if someone could find useful information in our diary while post in it online then we can shoot two birds with one stone!
