TNT Day 40 - ups and downs

November 01, 2024

31 Oct

Map 27 & 28: (tent) Mizunashi toilet block -> gozaisho ropeway -> yunoyama onsen -> kendo falls -> momiji valley -> tabist ryokan, Suizawacho (inn)

Sunny, windy

I was pretty slow to get going this morning, made slower by the fact that once I'd walked the 2mins down to the river to cross over to the trail, I realised that I would need to take off my shoes or deal with wet boots all day.

And based on the numbness I was feeling in my feet after crossing not going for a dip yesterday was probably the right call.

I have noticed there is a direct correlation between yamap trail reviews/track and the track quality. The trail up to the crossroads was not marked on yamap and was definately looking a bit worse for wear with collapsing stairs, washouts and minimal signage. It took me longer than I would have liked to reach the point of descent. The trail down however is marked on yamap and has reviews, therefore was in much better shape, and looked to be much more trafficked (I saw 1 other hiker!). There are multiple peaks you can reach from this track including cat mountain which had cute little drawing on the signage.

Not sure if the tiny sticks holding up this rock are actually doing anything or would stop it from moving if it fancied...

Crossing under national route 477/the Suzuka skyline.

Crossing under national route 477/the Suzuka skyline again.

Crossing under national route 477/the Suzuka skyline again again.

The views from on national route 477/the Suzuka skyline.

The Suzuka skyline leads to the Gozaisho Ropeway station, that takes you up to near the peak of Mt gozaisho and yunoyama onsen. Lots of people were decked out in their outdoor gear ready to ride the gondola.

The station area also has bathrooms, a souvenir shop, food stalls and most importantly a Montbell shop. I had been trying to buy a gas canister for my stove for the past couple of days, with no luck at any of the campgrounds I'd passed, but thankfully the Montbell shop stocked them - now I can go back to boiling lots of water and having hot drinks.

There are a bunch of buildings, parks and hiking trails up and down the valley that the ropeway station lies on.

However, once you get away from the main drag of yunoyama onsen, most of the buildings appear to be abandoned and falling into disrepair. A lot seem to be hotels and restaurants, maybe 15/20 years (or maybe just 5 years) ago the area was flourishing but now the trail leads you through what is essentially a ghost town.

Throughout this trip I have been constantly surprised by the number and location of abandoned buildings and infrastructure, and I assume that number will only continue to grow as the population continues to fall and becomes even more concentrated to city areas.

Leaving the deserted streets of yunoyama behind it was back onto trails which led up and then down. Crossing this bridge I spied a motorcycle tucked underneath, this bridge was across a steep valley with a stream running through it, and was reachable by hiking trails with stairs on either side. The why it was there and maybe more importantly the how it got there remain a mystery.

The long 5km decent was down a mountain road with some questionable stability infrastructure. This concrete wall was holding up nothing and seemingly nothing was holding it up either.