TNT Day 17 - not here to **** spiders
26 Sept
Map 9 & 10: (capsule hotel) Shizuoka // bus to Ashikubokuchigumi -> yazawa -> oyama -> terajima -> kyuno -> kuromata ginkgo tree (tent)
I'll write more when I can think again.
Missed a bus. Caught a bus. Walked up a mountain. Walked down a mountain. Walked through some tea. Walked on some roads. Slipped on some roads. Walked through a billion spiders. Cursed a small 500m hill. Watched the sun set. Walked along some more road. Arrived at the ginkgo tree for camp. Cooked some dinner.
29km
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Ok, so I finally got some time to write up this day (and the next two) on the bus from ieyama to shimada.
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Overcast, mid 20s, still and muggy
My aim this morning was to catch the bus to the yazawa community centre, skipping the yuyama pass detour which was 9km of road walking through ushizuma, Ashikubokuchigumi, and yazawa. My aim for tonight is to camp at the kuromata ginkgo tree.
All was on track, until I got to the bus stop at 6:29 only to realise that the bus was scheduled for 6:27 not 6:37... And the next one wasn't until 9:30. So as a compromise I caught the 6:41 bus to the family mart in Ashikubokuchigumi, which still left me with 5.3 km of detour to walk - but better than nothing.
I made it to the oyama turn off in yazawa at 9:00 and then continued up forest roads, past old tea plantations, monorails, huts and roads.
Then it was onto some trail to get to mizumiiro pass - this was a really nicely and recently maintained little stretch. The trail up oyama was also very pleasant to walk on, well maintained but a more natural trail with less man made stair sections. The last little push to the summit was relatively steep tho. This trail also had some benches dotted along it, some had chew marks...
I stopped for a snack and took in the view from the peak. I was feeling quite energized when I reached the peak, obviously the 3 nights of good food and good sleep in shizuoka did something for me. This peak and the surrounding ones all have very large communication towers dotted along them which can be seen as you descend down the forest road.
The descent into terajima was a long one at 9.3km with numerous switchbacks. I passed by logging operations, some guard rails I wouldn't trust with my life, old terracing (for wasabi?), some serow, which I thought were a very out of place art installation at first as they looked like statues, and tea fields.
Next stop was Kagianatsuri suspension bridge, it was 3:30 by this point and I still had another 8 km, with a guide time of 2.5 hrs, to go till my camp spot for the night, so I pushed on as fast as my short legs could go.
What I didn't know as I pushed up the next hill, is that it would feast on my soul and spit me out a shell of who I was before. It was a nice little climb of 400m and then near the top was an old tea field, which I'm sure was lovely when it was tended to regularly. Unfortunately it is now overgrown and the trail between the rows is waist high ferns with big spiders and spiderwebs every step. By the time I'd made it through my poles were absolutely covered in web, as was I, but in consolidation there is a bench after this section that you can either have a cry at (or camp on if you're desperate). The rest of the trail is nothing to write home about, one section is cleared for electricity poles and the rest is on average trail through forest with more spiders.
When I finally escaped hell, I found myself at the top of a graveyard. The sun was sitting low in the sky as I made my way down to kyuno bus stop, the last bus of the day was idling here as I went past, and the drive looked a bit miffed when I looked at the timetable and instead of hoping on the 5:26 bus to shizuoka station, just kept walking. There is also a bank of 5 vending machines here, including one for alcohol, which I perused and eventually settled on 3 (non-alcoholic) beverages as a reward for getting down from spider hell.
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