After my last effort to do this day walk near Tokyo I was mindful of the effect that the weather may have on the area. I woke at 4 am on Saturday to the sound of hail and snow and decided that it would be best to wait until Sunday to do the walk. It turns out that the snow that fell on Friday night was the first April snow in Tokyo for over 30 years.
After my initial attempt at this walk I did some further reading and one of the things that struck me was that this walk traversed 3 of Japan's top 200 “best mountains”.
I rose early on Sunday and started the 3 hour journey to the mountains. While travelling there I was a little concerned that the weather would not clear but when I arrived at the top of the cable car I had a great view back toward Tokyo.
The beginning of this walk takes you through Mitake town where some of the buildings still have traditional thatch and shingle roofs.
Even though it was relatively early in the morning the shop keepers on the way to Mitake shrine were open and trying to entice travellers into their restaurants to partake of raman.
When I finally managed to make it out the town and started walking proper it became apparent that even though the snow had melted at the lower altitudes it was hanging on up higher.
After walking through the snow for almost 2 hours I came across the Ohtake shrine which is located at the bottom of the final steep section to the top of Ohtake mountain. While it’s not much to look at it is 2 hours from the nearest road and amazing that they managed to carry all the materials up the mountain to this point.
After my initial attempt at this walk I did some further reading and one of the things that struck me was that this walk traversed 3 of Japan's top 200 “best mountains”.
I rose early on Sunday and started the 3 hour journey to the mountains. While travelling there I was a little concerned that the weather would not clear but when I arrived at the top of the cable car I had a great view back toward Tokyo.
The beginning of this walk takes you through Mitake town where some of the buildings still have traditional thatch and shingle roofs.
Even though it was relatively early in the morning the shop keepers on the way to Mitake shrine were open and trying to entice travellers into their restaurants to partake of raman.
When I finally managed to make it out the town and started walking proper it became apparent that even though the snow had melted at the lower altitudes it was hanging on up higher.
After walking through the snow for almost 2 hours I came across the Ohtake shrine which is located at the bottom of the final steep section to the top of Ohtake mountain. While it’s not much to look at it is 2 hours from the nearest road and amazing that they managed to carry all the materials up the mountain to this point.
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