The BIG HIKE
September 2004

(otherwise known as the big, pretty-much failed vacation)

I had a week with no classes, so I planned out a hiking trip to go see the remaining volcanoes of Kyushu that I hadn't made it to yet - the Kirishima Group (several peaks) and Mt. Unzen/Fugen. I also planned to rendevous with a group of ALTs from other areas that were all gathering at Mt. Aso, to give them something of a guided tour and lecture on volcanoes at the request of the group's leader. The whole trip would took 6 days - and it rained for 5 of them. Almost continuously, in fact, unless I was on a train.

Day 1:
It started with a 5 hours train tide to Miyazaki, then another hour to Takahiru. From there I walked about 8km to a temple at the foot of the easternmost peak of the Kirishima group, Mt. Takachiho. I got there at about midnight, and started up the mountain. I didn't mind walking at night in the forest, but this turned into a mess because I didn't realize how extensive the damage was from the typhoon that had come through a week earlier. The trail went for about 5 km through a forest, but the trail wasn't much of a trail at all, being covered with downed trees and leaves. I had my handheld GPS unit - and it's a good thing. Several times I thought I was following the trail, then I'd just come to a point and realize I wasn't. What I thougt was the trail would just dead end. So, a lot of backtracking and searching with my flashlight, then going forward, then backtracking more, etc. This was quite frustrating, so at 4am I called it quits for the night and pulled out my sleeping bag. I was about 2/3 of the way up.

At that point I was just at the top of the forest and slept on a relatively flat bit of trail that offered a beautiful view of some city lights, and an awesome view of a thunderstorm moving across the sky. The forecast was for partly cloudy skies and 20% chance of rain, so I didn't worry about the storm, which was actually quite far away.

Day 2:
It's a good thing I have a waterproof gortex sleeping bag. As I slept, the clouds apparently rolled into my area and I was awakened at about 7am by hard rain. After an hour of hoping it would let up a little, it did. So, I hopped out in a light shower, rolled up the bag, and got moving. I made it to the crater rim in a few more hours. From there I got a few brief glimpses of the area as clouds and breaks moved through, but overall I was extremely disappointed. The best thing I saw was a few steam vents blowing fumes, and a 5-minute view of Kagoshima Bay and Sakurajima, which is another volcano I'd already visited on another trip.

Anyway, I kept moving and it kept raining on and off all day. I walked and walked and eventually made it f the tallest peak in the group, Mt. Karakuni. I made my way to the top, and there were a few spells of sunlight, but overall there was little scenery to be seen throughout the trip between the two big peaks. I slept about 100m from the rim, and it rained all night.

Day 3:
I made it back down the next morning and again, for a handful of hours, there were some breaks in the rain and a few bits of blue sky now and then. But, that's about it. My hike through the Kirishima peaks was a flop :(

Well, I had a bus to catch from the visitor's center at the opposite side of the peak. So, I got there and headed out. I went to Kobayashi, and caught the train to XXX, then switched to another train bound for, XXX, then switched again and headed for XXX, then again for XXX, then one last time for Misumi. This day I spent train-hopping was the longest dry stretch of the week, of course.

At Misumi I caught the last ferry across the XXXX Bay to the Shimabara peninsula formed by the Unzen volcano. (btw, this vocano went off in 1994 and killed 40 people and destroyed over 2,000 buildings, and is still fuming vigorously today). When I got on the ferry there was no rain and the volcano looked great. Then, before we got there, the clouds caught up with me and the rain started again.

Shimabara is the city at the base of the volcano, and after reaching the port I walked around for a while, ate a hot meal, then found a dry place to crash for the night. It was still raining. The subway station was the best I could do, as this was a "no hotel" trip.

Day 4:
The next morning I took a bus to the town of Unzen which is further up and a few kilometers to the side of the vocano's peak. Then I took another bus a little closer, and then a cable car a little closer. From the upper cable car station I started walking, in the rain, towards the area near the active peak of the Unzen volcano, which is called Fugen-dake.

When I got there I realized that I was literally a couple of hundred yards for the still fuming peak of a volcano that has killed over 14,000 people. Pretty cool. The hardened lava flows down the sides of the mountain were quite impressive, and Shimabara looked like a sitting duck waiting for total destruction at the bottom of the hill. To the contrary, they've spent a ton of money building absolutely huge canals to carry the lava produced in any future eruptions straight to the sea, bypassing the city. Might work, might not work.

Still raining on and off, so again, not much for scenic views.

While I was taking a break at the peak, I was very surprised to see a group of students coming up the trail. It was a high-school field trip, and these kids were in sweats and light rain jackets. They took a short look a the peak, ate small lunch, and took off. I stayed for a while and thought about sleeping on top, but when it started getting late, it also started getting a lot cooler and the wind and rain picked up even more, so I gave up and headed back down the way I'd come up. I was quite fed up with the weather at this point and stayed in a covered picnic area in a park in Unzen town.

Day 5:
The next day was still cloudy with scattered showers, but I took a quick tour of the town to see some of the hot springs in the area. This town is sitting right on top of a very active area, so steam is pouring out of the ground all over the place. The few hotels there have big hot spring baths called onsens, and many of the buildings and streets have plumbing and piping coming out all over the place to channel the steam out from under them.

After my hike around town, I headed back down to Shimabara, back on the ferry, and back to Misumi. From there I took the train to Kumamoto, and then changed to the train for Mt. Aso. I got to Aso station, walked a few kilos, and met up with the other ALTs at the campground there. It was a big group and we had a good night of drinking and goofing off. Of course it rained more, too.

Day 6:
It was pouring when we got up, and the forecast for the day was for more rain, so quite a few people packed their wet tents in cars and split. However, oddly enough, the rain quit around 10am, the sky started to clear up and it turned out to be the best day of the week. A few more big clouds came through, but for the most part the rain was over. Japanese weather forecasts are crap! We went as a group up the Kijimadake peak and then over to the Nakadake crater, which is the active crater there. I finally got some really good pictures, but of course, I've already been to this place twice and already have some really good pics...

As the end of the day neared, everyone started heading their own way, and I caught a ride back to Aso station. I got on the train and headed home. I'm still glad I went, as there were a few good moments here and there, but overall - about a 3 on a scale to 10.

Oh well...

Click here to see the pictures. Despite the weather, I still mananged to get some good ones.