Para iti panagbalbaliw: hiking inton Lunes 😉

01.11.2019 - Hike from Mt. Mitake to Mt. Hinode

Since I had a meeting with Prof. K on Saturday (that's what happens when he's on various business trips for 3 weeks and only in Tokyo on weekends...), I made up for my day off on Monday and took a train for nearly 2 hours to the west in the Okutama region. Today, I went for a hike from Mt. Mitake 御岳山 to Mt. Hinode 日の出山 😎

However, this time I made it easy for myself and took the cable car for the first part, and then walked only 30 minutes to the 929m high summit. Along the way, there was a small village with many traditional guesthouses (Ryokans) and souvenir shops, as Mt. Mitake is located on a pilgrimage route and has been a center of mountain worship for about 2000 years. Accordingly, there was a large shrine complex on the summit.

From the summit, there are numerous hiking trails, including one leading through a 'rock garden' with waterfalls and many moss-covered rocks. Unfortunately, the rock garden was closed due to typhoon damage (something new), so I had to skip that part and continue directly to Mt. Hinode with a short detour to a viewpoint (where groups of picnicking Japanese schoolgirls were hanging out). I reached Mt. Hinode after about an hour, right on time for lunch. With its 902m it offered a wonderful view towards Tokyo. As I sat there in the sun with my bagel, looking around, an older gentleman approached me and gave me 2 small sweets - I must have looked pretty needy 😅

Slowly descending through narrow paths and tall forests (so not just steep, but relatively flat at first), I only encountered a jogger and the older gentlemen from lunch, who pointed out a small snake on the side of the path as they passed by.

Well, what is essential for a hike in Japan? Of course, a visit to an onsen afterwards 😉 Actually, there was an advertisement and a discount for a spa a few stations further in Ome on the cable car ticket. So I got off there again and visited the super chic onsen on the 5th and 6th floors of a building right across from the train station, had my legs and back massaged by water jets, and relaxed in the warm pool on the rooftop... Man, I'm going to miss that in Germany 😅