lost or what?

The walk from Yunoyamaonsen station to the cable car station is about 3km, but very picturesque. I should mention, it is about 1 hour 20 on the train to get here, one change but they are timed to meet each other, IC card is ok. There is no convenience store at Yunoyamaonsen but there are inside the station where you change trains at Yokkaichi station, if you are fast. I suggest you get supplies before leaving Nagoya, then when you get to your destination, drink another bottle from a vending machine and throw that bottle away to save space in your running backpack. OK that is too much info, do as you please.

That mountain in the middle will be my second and final peak of the day.

A lot of river crossings on bridges.

The little town near the cable car station is just for tourists, and much of it is abandoned, despite this being a very popular hiking destination - the train runs every 30 minutes.

More dilapidated buildings.

Here is the cable car station, I will not be using the cable car... I do not think I ever have at any mountain.

Time to start getting some elevation.

A lot of old run down hotels up the cliff.

A red bridge, we will see another one later.

This is where the trail proper starts, I got lost last time at this point. I have a very recent map downloaded, with up to date heat trails... I still got lost today! A huge number of people seem to double back and try and find the trail judging by their heat maps.

You have to cross the stream but its not difficult, across the other side, getting lost continues.

I am not sure this is the proper route, but maybe the proper route has been destroyed.

Once I got to this point with the sign and the power poles, I knew I was back on the right route, not the same ravine route I took last time I was here, I was high above the river.

As you can see, it now became an easy to follow route.

I was now hiking away from Gozaisho, which I will eventually circle back to after Kamagadake.

Nice cliff, nice colours.

There are always more mountains in the Suzuka range, I will go to another the day after tomorrow.

This sign shows the route I had taken last time, which joins up to this route here.

Good roots and good colours.

Great contrast in this one, I might use it as the thumbnail for today even though everyone expected a view shot.

After exiting the forest, it was rocks and sand and very steep. I remembered it fondly from last time.

Looking down the valley and unfortunately smog was rolling in.

Gozaisho looks so far away. No wonder today's hike took over 8 hours.

Smoke, smog, ruining my view.

Nearing the top of Kamagadake.

And here we are, with Gozaisho in the distance with the buildings on the peak.

As you can see, there are people on the summit. They are lazy. They caught the cable car up and walked to here, which is easy. On the route I took up I saw only one other person.

So many more mountains in the distance.

I think the ridge snaking around from the left was the one I had come up to get to Kamagadake.

There are trails joining all of these together, but they are nowhere near a train.

Now I will head down before heading back up again from the saddle. First some sandy canyon.

Dead trees appeared.

You do have to head down quite a lot.

Steep and rocky.

Most of Nagoya.

I had come down from up there.

I think I am heading back up again now.

Yep, and those are more mountains in another direction.

These smooth sections are the fastest, most of today was slow going.

Destroyed sign on the left.

There is another person, maybe this gives an idea of how steep it is.

It was almost rock climbing, but that is actually quite fast to get a lot of altitude.

A nice combo of rocks and trees.

Sand, mini canyon, low bamboo. Excellent.

Near the top there is a road network for golf buggies as it is a ski field. Fast progress but it does not last.

The top of Gozaisho is like an amusement park.

A lot of buildings and ski lifts and golf ball spy stations.

More view... too much view.

Half arsed ski field, I suspect it still operates occasionally.

There are 3 restaurants on the summit at the main cable car station, all serve curry.

This pic of the cable car really shows how steep it is, I have to get down without using the cable car.

No more road, just another trail down, of which there are at least 3 to choose from, today I was hoping for one less steep than last time, I succeeded in this quest.

The ridge seen here, actually the 2nd one, is my route down.

There are great views all the way down, last time the route I took had none.

It was mainly a rocky path, following a stream, but the crossings were all very easy or had bridges as you shall see.

As I said earlier, I had come down from up there.

Lower down the view became greener.

Redundant view photo in the same direction as the above.

Sea of rocks.

Time for some more coloured leaves.

Great leaves.

It was taking a while to get down, but I was confident I would be down before it gets dark.

This spot is about 2/3 of the way down. Although there is no one here today, I do think it still operates as a place hikers can stay. A bit weird as its only an hour back to the bottom cable car station.

Getting lower.

Back to mossy rocks.

Nice bridge, no more risk of getting my feet wet, they stayed dry today.

That is a different bridge to the above.

Unexpected flood control sculpture.

The actual trail is to walk along the bottom of it. It was not slippery.

Still a while to go, I am crossing a road here but the road is not the path down. Neither is that other road in the distance.

Instead you have to go under the road.

Still a great trail.

It seems a bit quiet along here like I was on an unofficial but well used trail, but then I got to these bridges.

And finally back to civilisation, a red bridge with an old person on it.

Back below the lower cable car station, time to jog back to the train.

And since I did not take the photo at the start of the day, Yunoyamaonsen station, I had no time for the stance.
Now I must go get a late dinner from somewhere close.