TODAY Interlude

Two weeks ago Kaori invited me to hike up Mt. Nosaka, the highest mountain in Tsuruga. Well, due to the fact that my ear was on fire and it was pouring rain, it was decided that maybe that wasn't the best day to climb the mountain.

However, today was a beautiful day; sunny, warm, a slight breeze, and my ear felt like a million bucks. A perfect day for hiking. Every time we asked people if they wanted to climb the mountain, they immediately said, "NO!" I think that is where Mt. NOsaka got its name.

Well, we were determined, it couldn't be as scary as everyone thought. Little did we know.

Here is the wonderful sign telling us the path we would be hiking the next few hours

You might be able to see the long winding path climbing 914 meters to the top of the mountain. Not too bad, a nice leisurely climb. Sounds like a good way to spend a couple of hours to me.

Hey! This is kind of a steep start! But at least it is nice and paved, easy walking.



Yeah, she is about five paces below me.

Wait. This is still pretty steep, and no more nice paved walkway.



Notice the pine trees. So straight and the long bare trunks. Japanese pine trees are so interesting to me.



There was also a nice stream running through the woods at one point.



I miss the sounds of nature. Tsuruga isn't a huge city, but there isn't much in the way of nature here. I enjoy escaping to natural surroundings. But dear lord were there a lot of bugs out there today. And there were signs warning about bears. Kaori's grandmother told her to take a stick to wave at any bears she might see. Yeah, waving a stick at a bear, that should scare it off. many of the other hikers had bells attached to their bags to scare off any potential bears. However it made for a super annoying ring ring ring sound with every step these hikers took.



A view of where I just was. Still steep. Yeah, that is a running theme of this post if you can't tell. That mountain was freaking STEEP! And there weren't really any flat spots so it was all uphill all the time. My calves were not happy today.

Here is the view of Tsuruga from about a third of the way up the mountain.



And here is the view from two thirds of the way up.



No more pictures of scenery because this is how I felt by this point.


Dying. Absolutely dying. Sweating like I had just run a marathon (like I would ever run a marathon), calves killing me, abs killing me. Just wanting to get to the top. And the top was nowhere in sight. The path did not meander to and fro like the map would lead you to believe, instead it snaked back and forth every couple of feet, going ever upward . As we headed up the mountain the path became more and more rocky which made for good hiking. I don't even know what the scenery was, I was concentrating on not slipping on a rock and falling over the edge of the mountain at this point.

But, it was noted that the trees started to grow in a very interesting way nearer to the top of the mountain.

Look at the way they swoop out and then upward. I wonder why they do that?


Oh, we are almost there! Only another 2 kms!

Finally, after hiking uphill for about two hours we came around a bend and saw this


The top of the mountain! Yay!

Here I am 914 meters up in the air. And throwing up the peace sign because I am Japanese. And no, you racists, I am not making "Jap" eyes, I am facing the sun. However, that would have been funny.

Some views from the top






It was very beautiful up there and (maybe) worth the hike. A great breeze at the top too, helped to dry up the soaking wet shirt I was wearing by that point.

Kaori made some onigiri to snack on while at the top.

Yum, yum, yum!


Delicious to the very last bite (and maybe one bite after that).


After spending a little while at the top of the mountain we made our way down. Not too many pictures of the way down. First, much much easier to walk down the mountain than it is to walk up the mountain. However, the rocks were a lot harder to walk on, so we spent most of the time looking at our feet trying to not slip and fall.

The beautiful path leading down the mountain. My favorite sight, a downhill path.

Of course, something terrible had to happen on the way down. A giant snake crossed our path and scared the shit out of me. So, for the entire rest of the hike down I was seeing snakes in every fallen stick and twisted piece of grass. Not a fun fun hike for ol' scaredy pants Alex. And of course once Kaori found out I didn't like snakes she thought it would be helpful to point out when she saw snakes off the side of the path. I still don't know if she was trying to be helpful or if she was just fucking with me. Either way, my hike down the mountain, I don't even know what the trees and plants looked like, my eyes were fixed firmly and dartingly on the ground trying to spot snakes and loose rocks.

Finally, we made it back down to the end! The red carpet a welcome sight. We started up at about 10:30 and returned to Kaori's car at 2:07. Probably two hours up, half hour at the top, and an hour back down.



I am leaning back about 60 degrees in this pic. That is how steep that damned mountain was.

Overall, it was not a bad time though. If I hadn't seen the snakes I would go back again. It was a tough hike, but it felt good, and I did enjoy the time. It was a great day for a hike too.

But, snakes. So, never ever going back.

Afterwards we went to a Wal-Mart type store because I am still looking for a decent bike over here. And this is what I saw



A giant damned beetle for sale. Apparently people (kids) keeps these as pets in Japan. They are the hermit crab of Japan. How freaking scary is that thing? I thought they were just toys until one started scampering around its cage. And then I shit my pants and sobbed in the corner for the next 20 minutes.