An Unexpected Adventure

Last Monday, Manami and Haruka and I went hiking.  They needed to scout out a location for the upcoming Fileo camp in August.  We went into unknown territory near Mt. Zao.  It was quite a far drive away up a very high and windy mountain.  The trail was closed off by a sign that said "stay out", but we went in anyway.  None of us had hiked this trail before.  I had no idea what I was in for.  I thought it was gonna be like a 30 min. hike.  Nope.  More like 1:30 one way.

It started out nice and easy and paved.  But then we went off the trail, down, down down.  The trail was extremely narrow and hidden by much vegetation.  I mean LOTS of vegetation.  It was really hard to see where I was going.  That's especially scary when you're going down, the dirt is loose, and the ground is covered with rocks (not firmly planted in the ground).  We stopped several times for a break and to take pictures.

  

Do not enter!

 

Manami admiring the view.

We were not without injuries.  Haruka got bit by some mosquitos.  Manami bumped her knee on a big rock (that was hidden by the aforementioned vegetation) and it bled more than one would expect.  I also bumped my knee on that same rock, but did not bleed, thank God.  But I did fall down twice.  Once my foot slid on some rocks, and when I tried catch myself with the other foot, the dirt below that foot gave way.  So I found myself hanging off of the trail down into a hole/slope of the mountain.  The second time I fell was around here (below) near the rocks.  I got wet as well as scraped this time.

When we reached the river and bridge, it was really nice.  Unfortunately we weren't there yet.  Our destination was an outdoor onsen somewhere on the other side of the valley.  We would have to hike our way back up on the other side.Well, we didn't make it very far.  We ended up turning around and going back.  I was unprepared for this challenge: mentally and physically.  As we pulled up to the mountain, I could feel a sore throat and some grogginess come upon me.  Aaron had passed his cold onto me!  On top of that, since I thought it was going to be a short hike that ended with a nice swim, I brought my tote bag.  It is a very inconvenient thing to carry around when you're hiking down a huge gorge.  Plus, I wore my bikini and board shorts, when I really should've worn my sports bra and khakis.

At the bottom of the valley, in the river!  You can see a waterfall in the background.

The return hike was pretty easy and fast.  Thankfully.  After the hike, we stopped at an onsen for a nice scrub and soak.  I really needed it since I was covered in sweat, dirt, and on some parts of my body, blood.  Not to mention I knew I'd be paying the price for this hike the next day.  Thankfully, I wasn't too sore the next day.

It was a nice adventure, but it also meant that we had no plan for the upcoming camp in August.  Back to the drawing board for Manami and Haruka.  Whatever we end up doing in August will be another surprise.