There are certain places on my trail map I call 'elusive places' for lack of a better term. Places that for some reason, nightfall, rain, or whatever else, I just never end up at despite my efforts. The story of my initial attempt to get to one of these is where the entry begins today.
All my life I've looked at forests and mountains and the like longingly, but in my adult life I hadn't yet got out there until last year. It began as a way to exercise and escape the hot summer heat. I had purchased a trail map and would find routes where I could get up and down on in a few hours or so. Wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and running shoes, and carrying very little I gradually got further and further up into the Rokko Mountains (六甲山). One day it all went south (well north to be exact.)
I had ridden a bus up to the base of Higashi-Otafuku Mountain (東お多福山) and had planned a route up and over Mt. Hebitanikita (蛇谷北山) to see a little Shinto Shrine up there. Ishinohouden (石の宝殿) it said on my map and I was curious to see what it was. I climbed the mountain which was a tough climb in itself and I began north on the trail towards the shrine.
All was fine until I reached a point where the trail just stopped. It was completely overgrown. And I was too far along to go back. I searched fruitlessly for a long while for any signs of it but found none. The only navigation aids I had were my map and my GPS and I used them to guess I should go north towards a small river I could see.
But there was still no sign of a trail in sight. I walked down the river, was bitten by hundreds of bugs, and drank the last of my water as I came upon what was either a game trail or one for the dam workers. It was mostly overgrown and very rocky and slippery but it was all I had.
After being cut and bruised up for an hour or more on the unmarked trail it met up with a trail I knew. I got back to the 'Touge' (峠) or trail crossing I had come from and walked back to the bus stop, where I drank a liter of water from a vending machine in less than 10 minutes. The first I had in over two hours of hard work on one of the hottest days of the year.
This is the last photo I took that day at the bus stop.
That was a very scary day and I shouted many an explicative into the wild I admit completely. I was very tired, partially dehydrated, and I had just no idea what to do or where to go at certain points and it was just an awful, awful feeling.
But today's entry is just beginning. That hike was the one single point where I decided if I was going to be up there and out there I had better know what the heck I was doing. I have learned so much in the months since then, and to begin this New Year I decided to get my revenge and finally see that shrine.
The route up Mt. Hebitanikita is not an easy one. It is a good 350 meter plus climb in just a kilometer or so. I checked my heart rate monitor during the hike and I had maxed out its gauge of how hard you exercise within a half an hour, the equivalent to about a 10k run.
Other than the climb itself and a few bits where the trail sits rather precariously on the sides of cliffs it's not much more than a hard walk really, and I made the peak in about an hour.
I was a little nervous with memories as I headed on to the place I got lost at and on to the shrine. But nervousness was overcome by the desire to see this elusive place and curiosity to see where the trail actually was. I was also this time armed with not only a real compass, plenty of water, ways to begin a fire, and a few more physical things I didn't have that first hike. But more importantly with all the knowledge I had gained since that day.
The trail is easier to see in winter to say the least. The problem before I could see clearly now, it heads west not north at this point. I had gone west a bit from here on the original hike but saw nothing that looked like a trail at all. I decided to head north and got my first encounter of just how bad Mother Nature can be when you aren't prepared. This time though I did head west up over another little peak and on to my shrine.
I said a prayer to the Gods for safety in the mountains and crossed an elusive place off my list. After that I hiked up to the highest point in the Rokko Mountains (六甲山最高峰), and down to the Arima Hot Springs (有馬温泉). The last picture I took was the one below. It felt like a graduation of sorts to take that picture at the end of this hike. It was also a wonderful way to begin the New Year.
Happy New Year to all! Let's all hope 2012 brings us and Japan happier things.
And remember if you're going to be outside you had better know what the heck you are doing.