It is my goal while I am in Japan to see and do as much as possible. I feel that while I had a lot of fun in college, it is time to really step back, look past the partying and really app
reciate my surroundings. It is my goal to make every weekend I have contain some new adventure, something that I can look back on and think, I am so glad I did that! During this particular weekend I had accidentally left the door to my balcony open about an inch and by the time 5 AM rolled around I was covered in mosquito bites and hadn't been able to sleep most of the night. So at 5 AM I got out of bed and got rea
dy to head out to Mount Takou.
I arrived at the foot of the mountain at about 7 after getting of a train where I shouldn't have and taken a bus I should't have, I finally arrived at my destination, unscathed by a morning of mishaps I prepared myself for my first hike since leaving Colorado. At the bottom, right next to the gondolier of sorts that will take you to the top of the mountain for only 3000 yen (about $3
3) is a sign showing the route to get to the top of the mountain, it was official, I was entering my first quasi-national park. To someone who lives in Japan this is a pretty normal occurrence. Japan is a bit different from the US in that if there is buildable land, they build on it, protected or not, if they can make a profit they will, I guess they figure that because there is so little usable land, any that they can use, should be used.
So I begin my journey. I will admit that I haven't always been the most enthusiastic hiker but I went into this one with guns blasting, I was going enjoy this in every way possible. As I started up, the trees
were unlike I had ever encountered before on a hike, so tall that I felt that they were at times going to engulf me and as green as emeralds sparkling under the fresh morning dew. The path was all paved in stone and began to get progressively steeper until I thought I was just going to give up. I was standing by a creek catching my breath for a moment when I saw an old man, no less that 70 walking down the mountain, he looked at me and I loo
ked at him and I knew nothing was going to keep me from the top after that.
I finally reached the top, passing temples and statues I understood why they had built a shrine at the top of this mountain, the whole walk up I felt like I was in a dream world, when I finally reached the top I sat for an hour and wrote anything and everything that came to my mind. What a magical experience!
reciate my surroundings. It is my goal to make every weekend I have contain some new adventure, something that I can look back on and think, I am so glad I did that! During this particular weekend I had accidentally left the door to my balcony open about an inch and by the time 5 AM rolled around I was covered in mosquito bites and hadn't been able to sleep most of the night. So at 5 AM I got out of bed and got rea
dy to head out to Mount Takou.
I arrived at the foot of the mountain at about 7 after getting of a train where I shouldn't have and taken a bus I should't have, I finally arrived at my destination, unscathed by a morning of mishaps I prepared myself for my first hike since leaving Colorado. At the bottom, right next to the gondolier of sorts that will take you to the top of the mountain for only 3000 yen (about $3
3) is a sign showing the route to get to the top of the mountain, it was official, I was entering my first quasi-national park. To someone who lives in Japan this is a pretty normal occurrence. Japan is a bit different from the US in that if there is buildable land, they build on it, protected or not, if they can make a profit they will, I guess they figure that because there is so little usable land, any that they can use, should be used.
So I begin my journey. I will admit that I haven't always been the most enthusiastic hiker but I went into this one with guns blasting, I was going enjoy this in every way possible. As I started up, the trees
were unlike I had ever encountered before on a hike, so tall that I felt that they were at times going to engulf me and as green as emeralds sparkling under the fresh morning dew. The path was all paved in stone and began to get progressively steeper until I thought I was just going to give up. I was standing by a creek catching my breath for a moment when I saw an old man, no less that 70 walking down the mountain, he looked at me and I loo
ked at him and I knew nothing was going to keep me from the top after that.
I finally reached the top, passing temples and statues I understood why they had built a shrine at the top of this mountain, the whole walk up I felt like I was in a dream world, when I finally reached the top I sat for an hour and wrote anything and everything that came to my mind. What a magical experience!
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