体育の日

This past Monday was a public holiday, "Taiiku no Hi" or "Health and Sports Day", so three friends and I opted to get some serious excercise on a long hike. After packing our gear and a very late start on Sunday night, we drove two hours north into Iwate-ken, the prefecture above Miyagi. Not finding the Iwate-san trailhead parking area where we had hoped to camp, we pulled into a nearby campground at the base of the mountain around 1 a.m. We setup our tents as quietly as possible, had a hot lemon whiskey nightcap (provided by Mark) to keep off the chill, and quickly went to bed.



In the morning we were up just past 6, had a quick breakfast of coffee, bananas, rice balls, and red bean paste donuts (I'm ridiculously addicted to these things), broke camp and then found the aforementioned trailhead.

The first kilometers of the hike through dense forest reminded me of Appalachia, though the vegetation was somewhat different of course. We met a single descending hiker who told us we could not get to the top and down in one day. Yet, not wanting to believe the naysayer, we pressed on. After several hours in the woods on a wet and muddy trail, we surfaced on a natural bald, with beautiful views of the summit and the rugged ridgeline leading up to it. We had fine, clear weather for most of the day, but the sky was fickle indeed, clouds blowing quickly in and out like a sea tide.



Stunning views as we walked along the ridgeline, looking much like what I imagine Peru's mountains might. Nearing the the top, we realized we were indeed pressed for daylight, and only one of us carrying a headlamp. Decision time. Akiko, celebrating her birthday, was not going to stop before reaching the summit. Mark, though wheezing from a lingering bout of bronchitis, was not to be outdone by a girl. Thus, they marched on. Kaori and I, both quite hungry, decided however, rather than race to the top and back, to spend the hour on a false summit eating norimaki sushi, ramen, and chocolate, and enjoying the sunshine and immense panorama. I did not regret the decision.





The walk down was stunning as well, with the surrounding mountains looking quite different in the weak afternoon light than they had in the morning. On the descent, I walked ahead of the others, spacing out for about two hours, as I tend to do when I am hiking, lost in my own world of thought and non-thought. The others caught me later, as I took a break on a sunny rock and took in a bit more of the views. We hiked the last kms together, tired but cheerful, oohing, ahhing, and sugoi-ing at the departing sun and its last rays piercing the evergreens and yellowing maples.





We had been looking forward to enjoying one of the nearby Nyuto Onsens (literally "Nipple Hot Spring", so called because the water apparently looks like breast milk) but unfortunately we had a long drive ahead of us and Akiko a train to catch. So we drove home dirty, smelly, and sore, but happy nonetheless after the healthy, 9-hour walk. A day well spent.