Story Time
Today was all about getting to temple 12 which is in the mountains. While not being that far away distance wise, to get to temple twelve you must go up and down two mountains and then go up the third to get to the actual temple. From what I had read and heard, this is a difficult journey. What is not stated on how difficult it is. I imagined my self in okay shape before embarking on this, but the route to temple 12 really showed me that I am not a hiker. If you hike a lot, this might not be a big deal. What I imagined the climb to be was like what I posted on my instagram, but what I did not imagine was sheer verticalness of the route.
- If you are going to do this trip here is a tip on how to get ready based on my experience from this day. Get your backpack fully packed so it is realist weight, go find a stair stepper or use stairs and climb them for an hour (or work your way up to an hour). Do this over a month before and this whole part should be a a lot easier plus all the rest of the mountains during the trip.
It might seem like a joke, but I really wish someone would have told me to do this. My legs would be in way better shape for this and it would of been ready for 6 hours of climbing stairs with 25 lbs on my back. I did train with a 20 lb bag for about a month walking for 3-4 hours at a time, but it was the stepping that go me. Walking incline here and there is no problem for me. I didn’t get many pictures from the climb because I was just trying to survive the climb and get to temple. It also did not help that before going up the second mountain it started raining which made the whole thing even harder as the rocks go slippery.
There were a few breaks where you could look out among the mountains which was something experience. Since it was raining, mist laid deep on the side of the mountains and into the grey sky which made the views a little spooky. When I reach the temple I dragged my self through the gravel to the first vending machine and downed a whole bottle of water to appease my body. I went through the temple ritual and luckily there was an Udon shop on the temple grounds.
All I remember is sitting there staring at those noodles thinking “What am I doing?” The first part of this whole island (later given) is the “Awakening”, and sitting there, past the limit of what I thought I could have done, it was starting to set in. I am not going to lie, I was frustrated going up this mountain. I had to stop every other minute just to catch my breath. I cursed, questioned what I was doing, hated everything I could see, but each time I stopped I realized that getting angry or mad at the situation was not going to get me up the mountain. So I took deep breaths in-between my bouts of rage and kept climbing to the protest of my body and mind.
After finishing my noodles I looked to where I would be staying tonight. I had lodging in Kamiyama, which when I booked looked pretty close to the temple, but experiencing what I just had, close was relative. It turned out to be another two and half hour hike down the mountain. I knew that I needed help, I had seen some taxi signs when the path took some of the roads at the base of mountains, when I passed them, I thought they were kind of odd, but really wanted one half way up the second and third mountain. I asked the Udon shop owner if she could help me get a taxi to my lodging that night and she truly awesome with help me out. By then the rain was getting heavier and I was grateful for being able to speak a little Japanese to able to ask.
My lodgings that night was a Japanese style guest house named Saraya. It sat on a small hill facing Kamiyama. The owner was extremely friendly. He spoke English and took me to an Onsen when he arrived later in the night which after that day was heaven. The wall were a little thin, but the room was cozy and I slept well.
The bar in the front entrance
My room beyond the shoji
The view from the front. Can’t see much today, but in the morning it was really something.
The front of the lodge. My room is on the very left. To get to the bathroom you had to take the path round the corner.
An eventful day. Still working on taking pictures. I feel a little awkward taking pictures when around people haha. Something I need to work on to get some better shots. When the trip is over I will most likely do some editing to these pages to have links and everything. I have a travel log file with everything in in for myself, but I will work to include in this blog for anyone looking to use it for travel purpose.
Cheers~!