31 October 2026
Drilling for oil in a thunderstorm
Bodaijiyama from Yashiroda to Tagami stations
It is Halloween, allegedly, I am not in Shibuya this time.
Instead I woke up and was surprised by blue sky, then I checked my 8 different weather apps and it showed a lot less chance of rain than was forecast yesterday with a possible thunderstorm... read on.
Because of the risk of rain I picked a lower down closer to town hike along the Shin-Etsu line starting from Yashiroda station.
This was very interesting, as believe it or not, it is where Japan found oil, with lots of oil wells and mining equipment left all over the place.
I skipped merrily up the trail, other people were around, and then filled with bear free confidence I diverted from the main trail following my map to extend my hike up some ridges with ropes. That is when I heard a clap of thunder that made me leap 9 feet into the air, and just like in the movies, it immediately rained, hard, then brief hail. I got completely saturated. I managed to keep my camera dry but now my phone is refusing to accept the charger due to a damp port, and the 2000 emergency yen I had in my wallet are drying on my bed with all my cards. Anyway, once I was wet I was wet, after an hour it stopped raining but there were rivers on the trail. A great hike then it was, so onto the stats -
24,600 steps - I knew it would be shorter
14.04km
4 hours 20 minutes
748m vertical ascent
1,154 calories burned - weird, it felt very relaxed today
It had rained overnight, but there was a lot of blue sky around, with a lot more in the direction the clouds were coming from.
Yashiroda station, with ominous skies. A large station given where it is. There is a convenience store nearby.
The oil in the area is all from rotting dinosaurs. Behind me there is a kind of education centre I think (not shown).
Actually that's the education centre on the left, and some token gesture oil well equipment on the right.
Up the first part of the trail there were 10 or so oil derricks like this, at least I think that is what they are called.
There is another derrick hidden in there.
Historic shed. Blazing sun and wet everything make for good photos.
The wet leaves and ground also make for some god rays in the mist.
One of the only views I will get today. Not a great view, but look at all the blue sky! Confidence building.
In the other direction, more blue sky.
This is the summit of Bodaijiyama, there were old folks in that hut with a fire going. I did not disturb them. It might also be called Takatateyama, or even Gomadoyama, I have no idea really there were multiple signed peaks but none of them were particularly peaky.
Have a bit more view, there will be no more view.
I stopped to take the photo, but should have prayed to whichever god has the power to prevent thunderstorms.
As mentioned, I diverted up a ridge, with ropes, hand over hand, very steep.
Then the rain came, suddenly, and I got so wet I might as well have fallen in a river. I put my camera away as best I could after taking this photo.
Here is the aftermath of the heavy rain, puddles everywhere, very dark, but mostly stopped pouring and no more hail.
This summit also had a hut with one old guy and a fire going. He came out and yelled at me, presumably telling me to come in, but I was already so wet it did not matter anymore, so I kept going.
The back of the storm.
No more rain.
Time for some nice misty, leafy trails.
I briefly re joined a forest road as the sun came out.
No leaf colours yet, but the sunlight through the leaves and mist was good enough.
Clear now.
Really nice path on the back end of this hike.
At the last peak of the day I came to this crazy person cafe. No one around, thankfully. The owner has a lot of weird photos of herself or maybe some guy runs it and has photos of the woman he's stalking everywhere.
No entry signs everywhere, and lots of rubbish.
My map made a big deal out of this rock, so here it is.
Then I rejoined a road of sorts, and there were a lot of people coming up, people smarter than I who had waited for the storm to pass before starting their hike.
I exited here into some golf courses.
Surprise long tunnel! No footpath. This seemed a bit wrong.
OK it was wrong, somehow I was supposed to follow a path and come down from this overpass. Oh well, no cars came while I was in the tunnel. Dark clouds forming again!
And then after not too long but long enough because I was getting hypothermia, I arrived back at Tagami station, just as distant rumbles of thunder could be heard again. Once I got back to Niigata (25 minutes away), it was blue sky again. A confusing day of weather.