TNT Day 5 - onwards and upwards

 Too my surprise I can get internet on-top of a mountain, but not surprisingly its too weak to upload photos.*photos now uploaded

--

10 Sept

Map 3: (campground) Nishitanzawa Otaki Camping Ground -> ikkenya hut ->Azegamaru mountain hut (hut)

Clear with clouds in the afternoon, nice mid to low 20s at 1292m

After a nice sleep inside last night I was up by 7:30, but didn't head off until 9:15, as my Japanese speaking contact (my brother) was going to ring the visitor centre and check the trail closure for me. And the trail is in fact still closed :(. Up Azegamaru we go.

I passed by the Ikkenya hut at 10:55, filled my water bottles from the stream (bringing my water load to ~4kg), had a snack and started off again at 11:15.

So far the trail had been a lovely gradual accent passing through beech forest and by the edge of a stream. There were a couple of stream crossings, but only one that I had to take off my shoes for. The trail up to the pass and peak itself was steeper but interspersed with flatter sections. I definitely liked this hike better than yesterday's Inugoeji pass, as there were many opportunities to take in my surrounds and I didn't have to constantly look at where my feet were going.

I arrived at Azegamaru hut at 1:15. On the walk up I saw five what I would call day hikers and ten ?mountaineers/?climbers. They were decked out in helmets and some had harnesses - I'm assuming they were doing a bit more than just waking the trail and that I don't need to invest in a helmet.

If I had started earlier in the day I would have pushed on to Konotsurushi hut, but it was 2pm by the time I'd finished lunch and walked to the peak - the hiking time to Konotsurushi is only 2hr50mins but I am taking closer to 1.5x the given times and didn't want to risk having to walk in the dark. I also don't have anywhere to be so can take my time and enjoy the cooler mountain temperatures, birdlife and serenity.

Speaking of birdlife, as the evening fog rolled in, I saw some varied tits, to go with my Eurasian nuthatch from yesterday. There were also frogs everywhere, most of them teeny tiny but a couple were bigger than 1cm.

Azegamaru hut is a lovely modern hut (built 2020) with a sleep area, table, chairs, benches, a western style toilet, and rain water barrel. Two mountain workers rocked up at 5:30 after working who knows where for the day, they have a little tarp room set up with their gear, beds and cooking facilities inside. They also have a generator and other things about, I'm assuming these were dropped by a helicopter and not lugged up the mountain on their backs.

6.4km today (my map was off and I thought it was only a 5.2km walk, oops). Only hit 11000 steps today, which breaks my 9 day streak of over 20000 steps a day.