THE hike

Starting out

The day before I left for Kagoshima city Kamada sensei invited me to go hiking with him and two others (his young daughter and a mountain pro). I was a little nervous to accept because the destination was Miyanoura dake, the highest peak on Yakushima (and also all of Kyushuu). I'm not in good shape for all day hikes but who could say no to the offer.

Keiko Chan, amazingly tough little girl

We head out at 4 30am and reach the trail head at exactly six. We hiked for an hour, ate breakfast, and hiked for another few hours until we got high enough to get out of the dense forest. We rarely took breaks, saw few deer and no monkeys... and just kept going up and up.

The inner peaks hide behind gorgeous hills of granite

The sights were amazing and after about 5 hours we came to the path that leads to Miyanoura peak. But instead of simply tackling this one mountain, our group heads for a peak in the other direction. I have to say that this first peak was more fun to climb than Miyanoura but I was so tired after the first one I honestly felt ill trying to make it up the second.

A buck watches us pass

The first peak we climbed had hardly any kind of path at all. It was just pushing through thick vegetation that was anywhere between two and six feet high. Keiko chan got pushed through it more than once because the bushes were almost always taller than she was and she didn't weigh enough to push through them. On top of that we had to step very carefully because the mountain below us was full of crags and pits we couldn't see.

The first peak, we bouldered to the very top

We ate lunch at the top and headed down, back to the fork in the road. It had taken us seven hours to get to this point and we were just starting up the final path.

Just a few more peaks beyond this one

It wasn't easy, and I wasn't sure if I was going to make it, but eventually we got there. I don't remember if it was beautiful, I just remember being hot. And I remember thinking to myself, how the hell am I gonna make it back.

頂上。 That's right, the summit

We made it back to the car in about four grueling hours. I had been comfortable almost the whole way up, but the trek back was more like a death march. We just kept going, five minute breaks once an hour. There are about 50 Japanese sayings for "Just keep going" and I think I heard them all. Little Keiko chan was doing about as well as I was, but she hardly complained at all, I was really impressed. She's super tough.

And that was the Hike. I don't at all regret going, I just wish I had been in better shape. (I do regret our fish breakfast and lunch, however). I don't doubt that I'll be back to the top again.