Weekend of Physical Exhaustion

I bought this book called Hiking in Japan last week. It has a few of the best hiking spots near my area. One place it called "The Best One Day Hike In Kansai". So of course the first free day I had I spent the $20 in train fee to make it up to north Kyoto to see what this hike was all about.

Its called Yatsubuchi no taki. I have no idea what that means but it sounds cool. So last Monday I head up to the town where the trail starts (which is in the middle of no where). While I'm there I hear a couple of girls speaking English (2 college students from Georgia on a school trip), and sure enough they are headed to the same spot. So they convince me to take a bus stop before my book says as to make a short cut to the trail. Well it turns out we get lost and end up turning back. Which wasn't all bad because I ended up meeting them in Osaka that night to eat at Outback Steakhouse. Which was amazing because the waiters spoke English and they had free refills on Sodas.

But after I was conquered by Yatsubuchi last week I felt the need to go back. So I grabbed a couple of my buddies and made my way back to the small town of Kuradani.

Here is Kuradni, a small rice village just north of Kyoto.





This is the start of the Yatsubuchi no take.

Its a waterfall hike that then goes over a mountain and back down the other side.


The book called this hike Medium to Hard. Word to the wise, when a book made by hikers for hikers says something is medium to hard, they mean its pretty hard.

There were chains and ropes in some parts to help you climb the wet rocks.


Sean and I next to the engraved stone that says Yatsubuchi no taki.

Some nice waterfalls we passed on our hike.


Me and Robbie next to prob the best waterfall of the hike.


Robbie and I decided to go swimming. Well it was about 60 degrees in this pool, so it wasn't very comfortable. But quite refreshing once I got my clothes back on.

So here is the top of the mountain we climbed. This is Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan. One thing that Robbie said that I agreed with is its amazing how Japan still looks like Japan from above. Maybe it doesn't to you guys, but where else do you see thousands of small mountains just popping out of the ground.

Here is the town the we started from Kurdani.

So we were supposed to find this cable car to take us back down to the train station. But we decided to hike down the backside to get some better views of Lake Biwa.

Well not the smartest decision, since Sean and I were both low on water.



So by the end of the hike we are all struggling pretty bad. We are out of water and the sun is quickly setting behind us. We managed to make it out of the forest right before daylight.

All said and done, that was the most physically exhausting thing I've ever gone thru. Maybe the dehydration was part of it, but I came home and laid on my floor for 3 hours before I could even move. I had to call in sick to work the next day, because I think I caught some sort of stomach bug during the whole process.

(Also I can't help but feel lucky that I didn't end up finding the trail with those two girls last week. Like it seriously probably would have killed them. I might be in a Japanese prison right now.)

And in case you are wondering, it is not fun to be sick in a foreign country. I went to the drug store and bought the first piece of medicine that had a stomach on it. For all I know it could actually have something to do with menstrual cramps, but I just took one (against advice from my mother) and it appears to be working slightly.

Oh well, here is to me hopefully feeling better soon.

Also a big congratulations to Mr and Mrs Jason P. Purser and Mr and Mrs Bryce D Doty. Wish I could have been there for you guys, but I'm really happy for you!

Chad