Misen River Trail

Seit letztem Wochenende weiss ich was "Mountaineering" ist - mit dem International Outdoor Club wanderten bzw. kletterten wir entlang des Misen-Flusses in der Nara-Präfektur: es war ein Spielplatz für junggebliebene Erwachsene, die gerne am Berg herumkraxeln. Fötelis werden demnächst eingebaut, hier mal das Picasa-Fotoalbum:

20090718 Misensan

Diesmal war ich an der Reihe einen Bericht für unseren Verein zu schreiben, daher ist der folgende Text in Englisch gehalten:

Misen River Trail 18/19th July 2009
Leader: Seiko (聖子)
Members: Dominikus, Hiroyuki (裕之), Martina and Yasushi (靖)

This would be my first three-star event with the IOC – so I was quite nervous and did not get a lot of sleep. But after getting a good sleep in the Kintetsu Yoshino line to Shimoichi-guchi (下一口) in Nara-prefecture I was ready for the day. Dominikus and I took a small bus full of hikers to the Tenkawa-Village Information Center (天川村役場) where we met Hiro and Yasushi. Yasushi had already parked his car at the end of our 2-day hike at Kawaai (川合) and Seiko was waiting at the parking lot close to Kumawatari (熊渡) where we started our hike around 10:00 along the wonderful Misen-River (弥山川). Already in the first part of this course it was necessary to use “our hands other than for maintaining balance” as described in the IOC star-rating description.

At 12:30 we had lunch at the beautiful Ichino-waterfall (一の滝) for about 45 minutes before the real fun started: around 60 ladders up and down the rocks! I have never done something like that before in my life – it was really challenging but so much fun!!! At 15:15 we passed the Somon-no-taki (双門の滝) which belongs to the „100 Best Falls in Japan“– we could enjoy an amazing view. At 16:00 we made a short break at a nice water pool and after another hour of ladder-work we arrived at the Kawara-shelter (河原小屋) shelter at 17:15. The Kawara-goya is perfectly situated at the river side where we refreshed our bodies with a bath in the river and after that with a mountain-river-cooled beer. I cannot find the words to describe the feelings we had at our final goal of the day ;)

Next day we started at 7:20 and even though it did not rain in the night, there were some slippery stones that we had to pass – not so easy and more than one shoe took a short bath in the nice water. At 9:10 I could see our next goal: the Okamidaira-shelter (狼平避難小屋) which was just next to the Misen-river. Seiko and Hiro decided to take a rest while Dominikus, Yasushi and I did not want to miss the chance of some more climbing. At 10:10 we took our photo at the summit of mount Misen (1895 m), after that we enjoyed a coke at the hut and at 11:00 we got our summit-photo at Hakkyogatake (八経ケ岳) – with 1914.9 meter the highest mountain in the Kansai-region. It was quite cloudy and it looked like it would be rainy soon, therefore, we decided to hurry up to go down. The vegetation along the trail was great, especially the moss covered old trees were fascinating. And as the sun came out again, Yasushi and I could not stop making photos! By 12:00 we were at Tochiotsuji (栃尾辻) where our group was complete again; after lunch and coffee we started the long way down. Starting at 12:40 and arriving at 16:00 at Kawaai (川合) it took us 3 hours 20 minutes to go down and actually this was the most tiring part of the whole event for the knees of the over 30-year old people ;)

Unfortunately, there was a waiting time for 30 minutes at the Onsen-entry. Yasushi and Dominikus did not mind driving to Kyoto immediately. Therefore, we said good-bye to Seiko and Hiro and started our journey home with all the sweat of the day…

Dominikus and Hiro, thanks for searching the hidden markers of the trail and for helping the ladies over the difficult parts; special thanks to Yasushi who supported me and waited patiently when I slowly passed the ladders where a lot of balance was needed. Thank you very much, Seiko - it was great and I am looking forward to your next event!!!

Und hier noch die Herbstvariante und eine Webseite mit Karte.