Mafuji Hike 真富士山

Another hike from a couple weeks ago, late March. This mountain is called Mafuji (not The Mt. Fuji) and starts up in the hills behind Shizuoka city. After a steep 30 min drive up a one lane road from the Abekawa river, we parked the car and basically hiked straight up the rest of the mountain through the trees and a creek bed. Once at the top of the ridge there are 2 separate peaks with great views of Mount Fuji and the Suruga Bay.

More green tea fields along the Abekawa river valley on the drive up to the trailhead.

View from the trail through the trees.

There was still some snow on the ground as we were up at about 4,500 feet, making for a slippery climb. I received a few funny looks from other fellow hikers because I was only wearing shorts, luckily I have hairy legs.




Trail marker.


Once at the top there were great views of Mt Fuji and the surrounding area.





Maybe when the snow melts we will tackle the real Mt. Fuji.

Hakkosan Hike

Even though CNN's Anderson Cooper was telling me I would certainly die if I stepped outside, we made it out for a hike up to the top of Hakkosan mountain yesterday. With everything going on here in Japan it was nice to get away from the tv and the coast for a little while.

Again, asking for directions from the locals to find the trailhead.

Our prefecture, Shizuoka, is famous for tea. Near the coast all you see are rice fields, but once you get into the hills and mountains there are rows and rows of tea leaves.



Japanese ceder trees (i think) cover the mountain here. Easy to get lost in.

Slow shutter pan shots from inside the forest.





The top of the mountain is over 800m, supposed to take 2 hours but it took us about 2.5, all uphill. Almost to the top is this clear cut area, looks like the mountain side was shaved by a giant razor.


Lost in the tea fields on the mountain.


On a related note, we have been watching the news about the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant everyday. We are still OK down here in Shizuoka prefecture, well to the southwest of the quake, tsunami, and power plant. We are keeping the people in the Tohoku area affected by the quake, tsunami and power plant in our thoughts. I have never been up to that area but from what I hear it is similar to central CA with a lot of beautiful coastline, fishing towns and tons of local surfers, all affected by the tsunami. Ganbatte Nihon!