8 April 2025
Autumn is better than spring
Mount Iwawaki from Takihata dam to Kimitoge station
First hike on the Japan leg of this trip, and I was tired, fatigued, sleep deprived, sore, swollen etc.
I pre-selected a shorter, easier hike knowing that this would be the case, I was determined to go regardless, because who knows when I will eventually succumb to the terrible coughing disease the entirety of planet earth has?
Getting to the trail head was not tricky, but there was really only one option. The train left from Namba station right by my hotel, and then I transferred to a bus at Kawachi-Nagano station. This bus only comes once every 2 hours, so there is really only one that makes sense for hiking. I do not actually know the number, but it is easy enough to find, it will be the one with the other people in hiking gear waiting for it.
The bus ride was very slow, it never went over 30kmph, and made a couple of detours off the road into villages where it then doubles back from, so do not be alarmed that it is turning to go the wrong way.
Despite all that it only takes about 1 hour 20 minutes from the hotel to the trail head.
Now the stats, as unimpressive as they are -
11.15km
3 hours 19 minutes - I didn't push hard, but still beat the time on alltrails by an hour
715m vertical ascent - you go down more than you go up
894 calories burned
21,500 steps
Now for the pics, and so far I think Autumn looks much nicer for hiking than spring (which it is now), the views were all quite grey and or dead.
Here is Kawachi-Nagano station from about where you get on the bus to Takihata dam.
The dam itself is nothing to write home about. I suspect it is nicer at other times of the year as there is parking for about 5000 cars.
This is the nicest public toilet I ever saw in Japan, I suspect it is brand new. Those are my fellow hikers who were on the bus with me, performing a series of stretches.
From the very start, the hiking trail was standard Japanese style, and quite different from the Hong Kong style trails from a couple of days ago.
Out of the forest, and it was dead looking.
There is always more forest being rotated.
I always appreciate some good tree roots, even if they are trip hazards.
Before too long I broke out of the forest and it was dead grass and a staircase to the summit.
Despite today being 'sunshine', it is grey and polluted.
Osaka is down there somewhere, the south of Osaka anyway.
The summit area had a couple of other people, I poorly framed this photo.
I enjoyed my caloriemate block on this bench.
That is the way I had come from.
It is me, unshaven. Do I look tired?
The summit area was mostly flat, with what appears to be the rusty ruins of an old ropeway nearby.
This is the view in the other direction, down the hill to Kimitoge station.
Back into the forest.
The trail down was more developed than the trail up, I suspect there is a lot more logging activity on this side.
I followed a logging track for a while, but that goes down to a different town without a station, there was however good signage pointing to turn down the staircase to get to the station.
Nice staircase.
I suspect that yellow truck has not moved for about a decade.
Then I broke out of the forest, at Kimitoge station. Blossoms everywhere.
I guess I had come down in that direction from somewhere.
The station seems very remote, but surprisingly trains come every 20 minutes or less. That is a cool looking older train going in the other direction. From here the train goes direct back to Namba, right where my hotel is. So today's hike was very convenient, but only because the bus came on schedule as promised, which seems to at least happen occasionally.