Big mountain part three

(final part of the OoYama hiking trip. read part two here.)

The trail to Yabitsu path started off as a very narrow path on a mountain ridge, slowly going downward in a fairly straight line. Eventually the path receded enough to hide the sun behind the big mountain for large areas of the trail. It was in this area that I came across the scene below.

All trees except a few have lost their leaves already. In the area between two mountain ranges not enough sunlight can penetrate and the autumn is already happening.

The path was a fairly easy hike, and I did not encounter many people along the way. I made good speed and managed to reach the Yabitsu pass bus stop well before dark. Still feeling energetic I decided to walk back to the train station instead of taking the bus. The way back was a very nice mountain pass, flowing left and right while slowly going down. Because it was a road for cars it was very easy to walk on, but it was also very long and not very steep. During my hike down the sun started to set and I managed to get some nice photos of the scenery.

Right around the time when the sun disappeared behind the mountains (~16:30-17:00) I reached an observation tower that offered me a great view of mount Fuji. I stayed around there for a while to take photos, and then realized that there was no bus stop there. Not a huge problem, since my feet were still feeling ok, but it was starting to get dark quickly, so I started to walk a bit faster than before.

But I wasn’t quick enough. The mountain road was a never-ending zigzagging path without any street light, and twenty minutes after I departed from the observation tower I was walking around in pitch black darkness with no idea of how much further the next bus stop was. Occasionally a car would pass me by and illuminate the road with their headlights. I don’t know who was more scared it these cases: the car drivers who suddenly had to avoid a weird foreigner walking down the road, or me, scrambling to the side of the road for cover. It was right about at this time that a car hit me, and I died.

All in all it was a very nice hike, and it took me about 30 more minutes to reach the next bus stop. From there on it was a short bus ride back to the station and an even shorter train ride back to my bicycle. I managed to cycle back to Atsugi just in time to join my friend for a well-deserved bowl of ramen at Ippachiya .

It’s nice to hike by yourself. You get to decide your own schedule and you’re much more flexible than if you are with a group. Japanese are especially notorious for planning everything up to one month in advance, including the tiny details. This doesn’t really fit with my personality as I like to do random things and change my plans at the last minute. I will certainly do this kind of trip again some time.

Big mountain part two

(the continuation of part one which you can find here)

Having arrived at the summit sooner than I’d expected, I had time for a break. I found a nice spot and enjoyed the view for a while. While hiking up the mountain there were some spots in the shade where some snow remained from the night before. It’s really starting to get winterish. Well, in the shade, anyway. At the summit the temperate was just perfect with the sun shining brightly on all the people taking a break at the top. I took off my jacket for a while and sat there, eating the ‘big mountain nuts’ that I bought at the bottom of the mountain.

Exploring the area a bit I came across this tree, which has snow on it on the shadow side, and nice and greenon the sunny side. It was quite difficult to take a good picture of it though, and I’m not 100% happy with the result. Oh well. After I slowly began to freeze to death I decided to head down again. Since I’ve climbed OoYama every year since I came to Japan four years ago I decided to take a different path down. Just 100 meters below the summit there’s a junction that will either take you back down to where you came from, or alternatively it will take you along the far side of the mountain (the Fuji size) to a place called Yabitsu pass, which eventually ends up in Hadano, a city not too far away from Atsugi where I live. It proved to be an interesting path indeed…

To be continued!

Big mountain

Last Monday I was absolutely determined to climb Mount OoYama, the mountain closest to Atsugi. Unfortunately it rained that day and I stayed at home. That night I vowed to climb it the next day, but somewhere during the night my determination faltered, and I somehow managed to change my alarm clock from 8AM to 11AM during my sleep. I managed to wake up before my alarm went off at around 10:30, and I was thoroughly annoyed when I looked out the window. A beautiful day. Sucks to stay at home and procrastinate on a beautiful day, so I decided to go anyway. I went by bicycle to Isehara, a 30 minutes ride. From there I took the bus to the big mountain and I was halfway to the top at 12:00. Thanks to the cable car, of course. I suck at climbing.

This was the first time that I climbed the mountain alone. I still feel a vague uneasiness when it comes to going into ‘the wild’ alone. After all, what if a bear attacks you or you break a leg, and there’s no help? Well, the wild in Japan is not so wild, and although there are supposed to be bears I’ve never seen one. I started to climb with confidence, and that confidence only increased after I remembered that a large amount of elderly Japanese people climb the mountain by themselves. It’s amazing how energetic old Japanese people are. At the age that Dutch people will usually start to get heart attacks the Japanese climb mountains as if they were twenty years old. Well, Holland has no mountains anyway. Hah!

It was an incredibly clear day, and you could see not just Enoshima, but also the peninsula of Yokosuka behind it, and even Chiba across the Tokyo bay. It’s a brilliant view, and I really can never get enough of it. The view from the other side of the mountain was not bad either, with a steaming Fuji-san greeting me from afar.

I managed to reach the top in less than an hour, which is a new personal record for me, I’m sure. Since I have a lot more photos to show I decided to split up this report in a couple of posts instead. In other words: To Be Continued…

 

Random Oume trip

It took about 10 minutes to change from sleep mode to cycle-to-the-station mode, that Saturday. It was a four day weekend, and I was thoroughly bored. I like random plans, but if your ‘default’ random plan consists of cycling or hiking then even the random things are no longer random. So I did what I had wanted to do ever since I came to Japan, but seldom had a chance to do. Take a train somewhere. Get out somewhere. Take pictures. Anywhere will do. After loading a map of the Japanese train and subway network onto my camera (no, I don’t have a smart-phone yet…) I was on my way. To Oume.

I figured that the most interesting train lines are the local lines that don’t connect to another line when they end. After glancing on my map I determined that I had to head north for Hachioji, and from there on even farther north. I changed my mind about the ‘final’ destination a couple of times along the way, but when I arrived at Haijima I decided to take the Oume line all the way to the end.

Well, that was the plan, but somewhere in the middle of the line the train stopped at Oume and I had to transfer. That is, if I wanted to wait 30 minutes for the next train. I didn’t, so I went out and explored Oume. And it was a peculiar town. Located near a river, the walk from the station to the riverside was a steep downhill walk. Along the way I encountered the typical sights you’d otherwise see in any Japanese town. In the 1960s.

For some reason there were posters of old movies everywhere. It made the whole town have a very retro feel to it. This, plus the fact that there were barely any people to be seen, even on busy streets, made it a bit of a peculiar experience. It felt like a ghost town.

Note the awesome Metropolis poster. For some reason I had just read the wiki article about the movie the night before, so I was awesomeified by this coincidence.

Unfortunately I woke up rather late, and it was getting cloudy and dark, so I cut my visit short and went on my way back. I made some unexpected detours along the way just for the sake of it, but none of it was as interesting as the 60s movie town of Oume. Before leaving Oume I took some photos near the river side. Nice river.

Lastly, here’s some more awesome movie posters. Nothing could ever be as awesome as a cowboy ninja shooting his two guns while riding a horse.

I have to admit this trip was a bit too random. The next time I do such a thing I’ll at least make sure to wake up a bit earlier so that I’ll have more time to look around. Random train trips are difficult, because destinations like Oume are at least 2 hours away by train. Still, they’re fun every once in a while. It was good to feel the sense of exploration again. Japan always has an interesting surprise waiting for you. Like this Gundam flower shop.

Cyclolapsing

Bicycling + time-lapsing = cyclolapsing? The idea sounds simple, but in practice it’s not at all. I’ve tried it before about a year ago and the result was not pretty. At the time I attributed it to a combination of the camera being attached to the front wheel and me choosing a mountainous route, which caused me to zigzag alot with the steering wheel, making the movie very wobbly. So today I figured I’d try again, this time mounting the camera on the back of the bicycle, and choosing a flat route instead. The result is marginally better, but still not really worth showing. However! As an added side effect I managed to take the pictures of many Japanese people looking back in surprise at the weird gaijin passing them on a bicycle! So I decided to make a collage of the various Japanese people I’ve encountered instead.

Here’s a picture of the camera mount. Yes, I know it’s up-side down.

And finally, here’s a youtube vid of the entire trip. Be warned, as it may cause insanity.

The Downhill Thrill

Every year I tell myself that this is probably the last year that I’ll be here, so I’d better go see the lake one last time. After four years this does get kind of tiring, and it resulted in three folders on my hard disk called ‘The last trip to the lake’. So, this year I’ve decided to call it ‘The annual trip to the lake’ instead.

My reason for going was kind of weird though. A strange dream last night prompted me to review some photos of the past years, and after seeing the photos of 2006’s lake trip I suddenly wanted to go again. I remember that trip very well, because it was really one of the best trips I’ve ever done. At the time a new batch of interns just arrived, all young and fresh, and we didn’t know each other very well yet. It was fun to get to know each other better during the trip, and everything just clicked somehow. At that point in life I was still young and innocent Now I’ve become an experienced cynic instead o_0.

All in all the trip takes 50kms for a round trip, although going there takes almost twice as much time as going back, because of the suffer points built into the route. It’s mostly uphill, and there are 3 or 4 points where the road’s not just going uphill, it’s going steeply uphill. It’s quite a challenge to keep on cycling at these sections, but usually I manage it somehow. Albeit being overtaken by many other cyclists. To be fair though, I did not look half as gay as they did.

The last suffer point occurs just before reaching the lake, instantly climbing about 150 meters. Note that the rest of the route climbs 150 meters in total, so that’s doubled by the last suffer point. Fortunately it’s only about 100 meters after the last suffer point that the lake springs into view, and then all suffering is forgotten. It’s quite a beautiful sight.

I cycled all the way to the dam at the far end of the lake, then cycled across the dam to the other end. Normally the security person will yell at me if I do that, but I cycled slowly and there were not many people around today. After crossing the dam I planned to cycle around the lake and go back home, but the tunnel that would take me there was blocked by a very nice ‘do not enter’ sign in the middle of the road. Apparently I’m supposed to not take the tunnel, but go the other way (and downhill) instead, then go all the way around the mountain and eventually end up back at the exit of that tunnel. All in all about 2 kilometers in the wrong direction. Obviously I ignored the don’t enter sign and took the tunnel. I really wonder why they don’t let people take that tunnel. Must be dangerous or something.

The trip around the lake went by rather uneventful, and I was soon on my way back. And that’s the best part, because all those suffer points along the way suddenly turn in to pleasure points! (forgive the naming, please). Taking on the downhill ride on a touring bicycle with a very high top gear is awesome! For once my brakes and gears were actually working properly, so I was confident to go at high speed, and I could keep up with some cars until we were almost all the way down. The sensation of speed made me realize how much I enjoy high-speed things like racing games, go-karting or even Audiosurf while playing a high-speed song. The sensation of speed is definitely one of the things in life that I like most.

As usual, you can find the rest of the pictures on Picasa. I experimented a bit with HDR this time. I like some of the results, but a lot of them were just not quite right. Practice, practice..