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I had to go up to Toyama prefecture on a Friday to visit a customer, and I decided to make the best out of my week end and hike back to Nagano prefecture instead of taking the plane back home Friday night.
The customer was not the least surprised to hear that I was heading straight for the mountains after the meeting, since that had been the story the last many times I had visisted that customer.
I took the train to Tateyama station and walked a little up the road towards Shyomyo falls in the dark. When it started raining a little I put up my tent next to the road and went to sleep. I got up Saturday morning and walked up to Shyomyo falls enjoying the nice view of the cliffs.
Shomyo falls is the tallest water fall in Japan and one of Japans 100 famous water falls. The water falls in 4 steps and the fall is a total of 350 m. Being one of the 100 famous Japanese water falls it is of course a tourist attraction, and one may expect to find tons of tourists. I reached the water fall at 7 in the morning before all the tourists showed up and could therefore enjoy the view in silence.
After having looked at Shomyo falls for a while and taken some photos I started hiking up the mountain up to Dainichidaira. The trail up the mountain side was quite steep, and as I got up the weather got worse. When I finally got up to Dainichidaira the trail changed from a dirty and muddy trail to an actual path laid out on the plateau. It was great walking on this plateau. It was easy to walk, I could see other things than just trees, and I wasn't breathing and sweating like crazy for every step.
I reached Dainichi-daira cabbin after a little while and got myself a drink. I was looking forward to a long rest, but there was this guy inside the cabbin starring at me as if I was some alien. After a while he came outside, and following him was another guy with a little dog. The second guy looked, and talked, as if he never had been outside his own house. This guy was so irritating listening to that I packed my stuff and got on my way.
I now continued up the trail towards the top of Mt. Dainichi. From the trail I could see how the top of the mountain was covered in clouds. I hoped that I would be lucky and the clouds would clear before I reached the top. After all, it was still early in the morning. Unfortunately I wasn't that lucky. The clouds hung around the mountain tops the rest of the day, and the only thing I got to see while walking around on the mountain tops, were all the trees and bushes.
At the top of Mt. Dainichi I took myself a little break and got some Ramen at the Dainichi cabbin. I took full advantage of their hospitality and dried some of my clothes by the stove and had almost a whole pot of tea. It was good to get some lunch, and after half an hour I felt like new again and took off again.
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I was not hiking around on the mountain tops again in the fog not being able to see the surrounding mountains. Too bad, but stil a lot better than being back in Tokyo. I met quite some people on the trail, mostly elder couples or groups of elder people. At one time, just before the summit of Mt. Oku-Dainichi, I was walking on this narrow trail and there was an older couple coming against me. I stepped out to the side on the edge of the trail so the old man could pass me. The woman was a little behind him, so instead of just standing there waiting for her to pass also, I continued a little forward untill I met her. Again I stepped out to the edge of the trail to let the woman by, and as I did so, the gound under on of my feet gave away and fell down. My body dropped all the way down and I stopped the fall by standing on my other leg. I was now standing on one leg on the edge of the trail with my other leg hanging down the cliff. Since I had my balance on the leg on the trail, I wasn't the least surprised or scared. The woman in front of me got very surprised and gave a little yell when I started falling down. The man came running back shouting "Are you all right". I said "No problem" and grabed the womans hand and pulled myself back up on the trail and continued.
After having been hiking around in the fog for almost a whole day not being able to see anything, I finally got to Raichodaira where it was a little clearer. I could now see half of the surrounding mountain tops. I put up my tent at the campsite at Raichozawa and started cooking dinner. It got dark around 7, and since I didn't have anything to do, I went to sleep.
When I woke up the following morning the weather was almost as miserable as the day before. I was still in the middle of a big cloud and could still only see the lower half of the surrounding mountains. I packed my stuff and got on my way up to Ichi-no-Koshi. It was pretty cold on Ichi-no-Koshi, so I sought shelter in the cabbin and got some snacks and a drink. From Ichi-no-Koshi it would go down to Kurobe dam, and I would now be in shelter from the wind.
Hiking down towards Kurobe dam was a lot more comfortable than hiking up to Ichi-no-Koshi. No wind, and the weather got gradually better. After about half an hour it started clearing up so I could see the surrounding mountains, and after an hour all the clouds had disappeared and it was now so hot that I had to take off almost all my clothes. I was now hiking around in only my short pants, socks and boots and with everything else on my back in my backpack. It was great! I was walking around in the mountain, half naked enjoying the surrounding landscape and the sunshine. I got some drinks from the small creeks I passed on my way down to Kurobe dam, and I had an absolutely wonderfull time hoping it wouldn't end. Unfortunately after about 3 hours I reached Kurobe dam, which is full of stupid noisy tourists starring at normal people hiking around in the mountains half naked.
I wasn't interested in spending more time than necessary with these stupid tourists, so I hurried up and got back out and back to Tokyo.
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