Day 22: Mt. Takao

I remembered liking this hike when I went last year and had been waiting for a day to line up that would have good weather and me actually being able to wake up early (without sacrificing sleep!!!). Luckily today was that day. I don't think I took too many photos, so you might refer to last year's blog as well!

After 1.5 hours on the train, I stepped off the train at the Takaosanguchi station (literally entrance to Mt. Takao) and immediately realized that it was way busier than it had been last time I had visited. This was only a little annoying on the way up on the main paved trail 1 since often there would be groups of people (both going up and down) that were taking up the entire width of the path. The other path I took on the way down ended up not bieng busy at all and didn't have that problem. I guess most people end up just taking the main path both up and down.

Once I made it halfway up, I was pretty tired and soaked in sweat since I had been wearing my hoodie the whole time. After taking it off though, I felt like I had taken off my limiters and started feeling a lot cooler. I also stopped to get some cheese tarts, partially because they looked good and partially because they were the only thing without a line!

On my way up, I also managed to stop at Takaosan Yakuōin Yukiji Temple to get a goshuin. Well it would be hard to not stop at the temple since the main path goes directly though the temple and there are a ton of food stalls and drink vending machines in addition to shrine staples like drawing your fortune.

Interestingly, the shrine maiden (not sure if proper terminology) actually did the caligraphy and stamping of the goshuin right in front of me, which was super cool! I had also incorrectly assumed that the red stamps were applied first, but when she did it, she did the caligraphy first and then the stamps! A cool experience for ¥300!

After that, it was bascially just a line of people to the top. Unlike last time though, there were no field trips that I could see so that made it easier to pass slow groups at least since you'd just have to pass 3 or 4 people rather than find an opportunity to sprint ahead of 30 people. It was less lively in a way though.

The top of the mountain was pretty busy, which I had expected, but the view was nice. Unfortunately, it was cloudy in the distance so it wasn't possible to see Mount Fuji today!

After last year's kerfuffle with ChatGPT telling me the wrong info about which trails were used in the anime Encouragement of Climb, I wanted to actually hike down the trail that they had in the anime. I think that I actually got unlucky last year when I chose the wrong trail going back down since looking at the map, there are only actually 3 main trails going back down the mountain (even though the legend makes it look like there are 8.

So to recreate the anime, I am supposed to ascend via Trail 1 and descend via Trail 6. I didn't recreate it as perfectly as this person did though! Luckily, I hiked up trail 1. Unluckily, I found a sign saying I couldn't hike down trail 6.

But luckily, it was already after 14:00! I double checked with the information center and made sure I saw others doing it first though, just to be safe LOL

Trail 6, also known as the Biwa Waterfall Trail, was super nice on the way down! Although the hike up took nearly 2 hours with all of my stops, I didn't think the way down would really take 80 minutes like the map suggested. But luckily, it ended up being a beautiful 80 minutes!

The first part of the hike down seemed to be the majority of the elevation and was all stairs. I was glad that I didn't come up this way!

Most of the time after that you spend hiking next too (and sometimes in!) the stream heading down the mountain.

It was pleasant to hear the stream the whole time! It was less plesant that I got stuck behind a couple groups for a good amount of the time, but it wasn't too bad. They were going like 90% of the speed I'd want to go so I didn't water to overtake and then just walk right in front of them lol Eventually they stopped at one of the few shrines scattered on the path and I was able to overtake.

After making it off the mountain, I headed over to my favorite museum-dedicated-to-single-mountain-under-600-meters, Takao599. The museum was pretty busy and I was surprised to see mascot characters taking pictures with kids and a yoga class happening outside. Inside was just as lively with a lathing exhibit for kids to try out and the regular flora and fauna exhibits.

There was also a live marimba player! Doing 4 mallet technique!!! Goals wow. She was actually super talented and was singing too. I was surprised when she started doing the Japanese Marimba version of "Take Me Home, Country Roads" though!

It was crazy that so many things were going on today and that it was so busy. My first thought was that everyone was here for the Mt. Takao Momiji Festival to celebrate the changing of the leaves and the arrival of autumn. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like the colors had done much changing yet, as far as I could tell.

Originally from https://www.hkc.or.jp/takaosan/momiji_fes/

I headed home after looking around for a little while longer. One thing that happened this weekend that was annoying was that the time zones did their switching thing, meaning that I now need to work even later, so the earliest possible time I could go to sleep is 5AM. Joy! Luckily, I only have to do that for one more week!

Editor's Note: Ok actually it's still just JD, but I realized why everything was so busy today and even all of the festival's that I had witnessed yesterday. It turns out that November 3rd is a national holiday in Japan, and Novmeber 4th is the observed holiday since it was on a Sunday this year. Culture Day is a national holiday to promote the arts, culture, and education in Japan! I think I had taken a note of this in the past and then promptly filed it away in my brain's "Oh we can deal with that later" file and then tossed the whole filing cabinit in the river or something.