Japan 3.5: Mountains in the Mist

There is a set of mountains just a few minutes away from Unzen.  You can see a nearby volcano from the tops, as well as much more.  Unfortunately, today had the heaviest fog I may have ever seen in my life.

We arrived at the top of the ropeway around 10:30 am, in our rain gear.  At first, I was super disappointed because there was absolutely no view.



We made the best of it and decided to just enjoy the hiking itself.

This looks like a normal forest.  Unfortunately, what you cannot tell from a picture is that this is looking almost straight down off of the side of our trail on the mountain.  These trees are completely sideways.

It is a bit hard to describe the hike itself, especially without views as reference points.  Instead, I will show some pictures highlighting the hiking.  Our goal was Mt. Fugen, the highest peak on this range.

About an hour and a half after our start, we arrived near the top.

We then retraced our steps for a while before walking down along the other side of the mountain, which then wrapped around, bringing us back to the bottom of the ropeway.  The entire hike took about two hours and fifty minutes, Miles' longest hike to date.  We did not see another person for the entirety of the hike.

A tree growing completely sideways.

Once we reached the bottom, we got some ice cream from a vending machine.  I chose a waffle with ice cream inside.  The fog had once again emerged thicker than ever before.  Finding our car in the parking lot was a challenge.

We returned to our hotel room, took a shower, and went back to the local restaurant that we had gone to last night.  Tomorrow we head for Nagasaki.  I have spoken with Miles about how there will be some heavy and upsetting stuff to see and learn about there, but I am honestly not quite sure what to expect from the museums there.