Saturday November 5, 2011
Malibu, California
Sunny, Cool and Bright Blue Skies
Wow, I can't believe its been over a month since I was in Japan. Time sure does fly. I meant to post this earlier but just did not have the blogging mojo. Lately, I've been very busy with lots of travel and work. Anyhow, leaving for Japan again next week, so wanted to tell you all about one of the most beautiful hikes I've taken in Japan thanks to Mary L who referred me to this blog about hiking in Japan.
Fortunately for me, I was in Japan, the end of September when signs of fall started appearing in Tokyo and the surroundings. And as I mentioned in some previous posts about Japan, I love that in Japan, they celebrate the seasons by "honoring" the flowers that bloom during the different seasons. I happened to be in Tokyo when the spider lilies were in full bloom. The blooming of the spider lilies signify the end of summer and beginning of Autumn.
So to welcome Autumn in Tokyo, my besties in Japan – Mary Z, Mary L, and I decided to take a 4-5 hour hike through a couple of small villages outside Tokyo where spider lilies are in full bloom.
We met up early on Sunday and took the one hour or so train ride to Koma station which is in Saitama. It was easy to find the trail as we just had to follow the crowd. In addition, the trail is very well marked albeit in Japanese. What was surprising though, that throughout the whole hike, we were the only foreigners! We were lucky to find out about this place because of the aforementioned blog that Mary Z found but it seems most people do not know about this area. I asked several people from the office and they did not know anything about the area so I suppose it should not have been surprising to us that we were the only foreigners.
Anyhow, our first goal was to hike to the top of Mt. Hiwada which is only 300meters high but a typical Japanese mountain that is steep. On the way, while following the crowds, we noticed that the locals were selling vegetables from the farms and also some great fall displays. It was quite inexpensive compared to Japanese standards and also some stands were based on the "honor" system. That is, leave the monies in the box after you pick which veggies you want. The people of the village were so friendly and happy.
Passing local vegetable and fall display stands on the way to Mt. Hiwada
Mary L and Mary Z bought some gorgeous fall displays from this very nice lady
Barbecued Fish caught in the local river for sale
Once we past the village, we saw a sign that took us to a main street and then to a country road. On the country road, we saw many beautiful chestnut trees. Many of the chestnuts were bursting from their burrs. Another sign that fall has arrived.
Chestnut trees
As we got closer to the trail to Mt Hiwade, the more spider lilies we saw. We even went over a bridge decorated in spider lily motif.
We found the trail very easily and loved the wild flowers that greeted us at the beginning of the trail.
The beginning of the trail was very wide and easy but gave one a workout. And like all mountains in Japan, one most go through the Shinto gate (Torii) to reach the top. The path got narrower though and although not difficult, it seemed that some of the path eroded from the recent typhoon, so it required some careful maneuvering which was hell on my bad knee as I did not have my trekking poles with me.
View from the trail
Almost to the top
I think this is the first time I saw a hang glider in Japan
Lots of folks had a snack near the top. The views are spectacular from here. Unfortunately it was overcast so could not see Mt. Fuji
Alas, the peak
And here we are.
After carefully, walking down the path, we found out that there were 2 paths. (Path for a Woman, and path for a Man). Seriously, that what they were named. The Path for Woman, is the easiest and the one we took. The Path for Man required some rock scampering. I'm so glad we didn't accidentally take that one!
Anyhow, after carefully going down the path, we found our way to the next destination – Kinchakuda. Kinchakuda is a park most famous for the spider lilies. And it did not disappoint. It was spectacular. And as Mary Z said, the colors remind her of the upcoming holiday season.
We saw some cute scarecrows before entering Kinchakuda
And once we entered, we saw a SPECTACULAR display of the spider lilies.
And we ran into this old man fishing!
We were supposed to take the Do-Re-Mi bridge which will take us through the Koma pass to the Hanno Station. But the bridge was destoyed by the typhoon so had to walk around the park to get to the trail.
Once on the trail it was a nice walk through a forest. However, the signs are all in Japanese, so can be difficult to find one's way if you can't read the signs. Fortunately, there were enough hikers so I was able to stop them and ask for directions.
Koma Pass
A wood carving left alone on the trail
The trail dumped us at a busy intersection where we lost our bearings a bit. Fortunately, we found a woman who offered to take us to the train station as she was going that way. On the way,we started to seeing pomegranate trees and found out the town was known for pomegranate!
Pomegranate Trees
Road to Hanno Station. Notcie the flag. It says that Hanno is the Pomegranate Village
We made it back to Tokyo, tired but refreshed. We had a GREAT time and I feel so fortunate to be able to discuss another part of Japan that I did not know and explore it with dear friends Mary L and Mary Z