TNT Day 23 - waterfalls and nope ropes

 7 Oct

Overcast, light afternoon showers

Map 13 & 14: (tent) shiba rest shelter -> kunma roadside station -> Kuro falls -> Shizuoka/aichi prefecture border -> seven falls of Atera -> mikawa-ono station // train to toyokawa (hotel)

today's walk looked like it had quite a bit of road walking and the forecast was threatening rain at 11, so I wanted to get away early so that I hopefully wasn't soaked to the bone by the time I got to mikawa-ono station. I slept through my alarm but luckily woke up at 5:30 anyway. I was away and on the road through the village of Shiba(?) by 6:15am.

Through tea fields and mostly abandoned hamlets I made it to  kunma roadside station by 7:40. It is a small roadside station with a restaurant, souvenir shop, toilets and park. The shops only opened at 10 and not much seemed to be happening in the town, nevertheless two of the local taxi drivers were parked up and having their morning smoko - maybe rush hour was about to start?

Leaving kunma I followed a lovely stream for a couple of kms. I finally remembered to take a picture of the below setup, I think it's for growing mushrooms but I'm not entirely sure, normally they also have a shade cover as well as side walls.

The trail took me through a road closed sign at the turn off to Kuro falls - the road is closed to cars as it has some nice potholes and some debris, but it is perfectly fine for walking. I even crossed paths with a local man walking the other way.

There is a nice rest area at Kuro falls and also a toilet 10mins further on.

I finally hit my first bit of hiking trail for the day at 9am, it was short 500m section and then it was back to forest roads.

The forest road towards the prefecture border had yellow markers and pink flagging tape all along it. The flagging tape read 'cadastral survey' so perhaps they are planning to upgrade this road.

You never know what you'll find on a track in the middle of nowhere.

I made it to the prefecture border at 9:40, and was assaulted by all the signs. The aichi signs don't appear to have any English on then and the guide times didn't match between the Shizuoka and aichi guideboards, but any trail sign is better than no trail sign. It also started to rain as I entered aichi prefecture and I really hoped that it would not go on all day.

Walking down from the border I came to a bus stop and toilet, this toilet was nowhere near as maintained as the trail toilets in shizuoka. The bus stop was adorable and had a collection of figurines on the still and a handful of car magazine on the bench inside. Although I'm not sure who is catching a bus from here as there weren't any houses, fields or other building for that matter, around

More road walking and I entered the town of suyama and the rain stopped - hallelujah! The approach to the town centre was beautiful with rice fields and flower gardens along the road. I even saw two people tending to the fields, proof that people do still infact live in these towns.

At the centre crossroads of town I came across this trail sign, the green arrows are for the Tokai nature trail and the white arrows are for... something else - looks like I will have to be careful when following directions.

I found my way to the post office and only vending machine in town for a drink and snack. Based on the post cubby holes there are 14 people/businesses that receive mail in suyama, what a thriving metropolis it is.

Through town and through a boar/deer exclusion gate and I was on more road, only this time it had a nice green carpet laid over it. I also started to see some wildlife on this section, a bunch of lizards and two small and two big-ish snakes were out and about (for those not down with Australian ecology slang - nope ropes are snakes). I had a stare off with one of the larger snakes, until finally it decided to move away from the centre of the path, giving me enough room to creep on by.

Since I was walking by the seven falls of Atera, it was only fitting that I saw seven three waterfalls

And the median tectonic line mutudaira outcrop - almost as beautiful as the waterfalls!

Making my up through the valley and back onto the road, I entered the town of Ono at 2:30 and made my way to the train station. Ono does have a bit more going on compared to the other towns I've been through recently, on my short walk to the station I saw a primary school, a convenience store, a couple of restaurants/cafes, a pharmacy and a health clinic.

Unfortunately the two days of sitting around at a damp campground didn't do wonders for my mold problem and it is back with a vengeance. I am going to spend two nights in toyokawa where I am going to cover my whole bag in vinegar - last time I just cleaned areas I could see. Hopefully that will do the trick and stop the mold from multiplying further.

22km, highest point: 629m, elevation: +913m, -1382m. (stepping off trail at 2:45)