30 October 2024
Waiting out the rain to play in mud
Takao from Aihara station
I finally waited long enough for the rain to go. And to celebrate, a 23km hike.
I actually had to wait a bit longer for the rain to go as when I woke up it was still bucketing. So I changed up my plan to pick a hike that had multiple exit points along the way, and also a bit of a journey to get to the start point made longer by delays at Yokohama station (yes it seems the way to go to Sagamihara area is via Yokohama).
You might think you have been to Mount Takao, everyone has, I have been multiple times, but I started at a point south of it, walked a long loop west of it, then finally circled back to it as almost the finishing point of today's long hike.
It did not rain all day, the mud was not too bad, the hike was fairly flat most of the day, just long. I decided to make it as long as possible due to multiple days of being trapped in Tokyo with nothing to do, such a terrible fate.
Will the long hike today impact my ability to double up tomorrow? I do not know yet.
OK let me put the stats here and type some stuff for each pic, I am back very late due to the late start!
Start station: Aihara
End station: Takao
Distance: 23.07km station to station
Steps: 34,500
Time: 6 hours 19 minutes
Ascent: 836m (more than I thought)
Calories burned: 1565
Look at the rain! I went and had a coffee before even getting on the train to wait it out some more and look at the weather radar.
Standing on the station and it was not looking good.
By the time I arrived at Aihara station, some 2 hours later due to delays changing in Yokohama, I could kind of see blue through the cloud. There was hope.
The sun came out exactly as I passed this shrine.
It was actually about a 4km walk from the station to the start of a trail, which I started by Lake Shiroyama if you are trying to figure out where the hell I went. Oh, and these colourful houses look nice enough, but I took this photo standing in the petrol station pump area, so that is their view.
The road got quite remote, there was a gate letting only vehicles related to the dam at Shiroyama lake enter.
Before too long I ascended a hill by the lake and saw the city, but not the lake. I never got a clear shot of the lake. It is particularly clear after so much rain.
I assume the lake is some kind of hydro plant, so here is some Hitachi branded infrastructure. There was a drone flying overhead observing me...
Here is some more view, looking back in the direction of Yokohama I think.
The path was very nice for many many hours.
Behold, the giant forest penis! You can rub it for luck.
Someone is carving all kinds of things in the forest, environmental terrorism.
I was enjoying this nice sunny path.
What are all these seats for I wonder?
Another view! This lake is not the same lake as I mentioned before.
About half way in I crossed this bridge over the road. This was planned. If it was too wet or too muddy I could have got off the path at this point and followed the road down to a bus stop. But I did not, I decided to keep going much further.
The path after the bridge up to the main Takao trail was flat and smooth.
Before too much longer I was back on the main Takao trail, with its many steps and seating areas. There were really not many people around, and the outdoor cafe places were all closed.
No view of Fuji today.
Last time I was here there was a crush of people, today almost no one.
The shrine was also not very busy.
I nearly forgot to do one of these! Not bad, not bad at all.
Of course I was not going to take the cable car down, I found a slippery and rocky path instead.
These things are booby trapped.
At the bottom I passed the cable car, which is not getting much use today, and mocked the one guy sitting in it to go up. Hmm, I cannot actually see him in the photo, but there was definitely one guy sitting in it.
The last bit is this nice street at the bottom. I took a great photo from here at dawn many years ago.
I do not bother with the train that goes from the cable car to Takao station, I prefer the walk along the road lined with all the nice cafes, but after 20 minutes or so, here is my destination, Takao station. And on the train on the way back, another emergency stop! This time for 'emergency signal', only about a 10 minute delay.
And just when I thought the fun was over, back at Shimbashi station and the local branch of Aum Shinrikyo and or the APA hotel group owner are atop their black truck screaming nonsense. The guy in the foreground is strutting around in a strange manner. Sometimes freedom of speech is overrated. As you can see I got back from hiking after dark. Long day was long.