On Monday Elspeth and I set off, determined to climb Gozaisho, the tallest mountain in the Mie prefecture. We got on a train from Nagoya, changed trains in Yokkaichi and took a smaller line through the countryside to Yunoyama Onsen station. The area is well known for onsens and we were not the only ones headed up the mountain. But it felt like we were the only people under 60 and we were definitely the only foreigners.
When we arrived at the bottom, everyone else headed to the ropeway/cablecar. It is one of the longest in the world and takes 12 minutes to get to the top. We scoffed at the ropeway and tried to figure out the best way up the mountain. We headed to a bridge where we looked up at the mountain. It was tall. VERY HUGE.
5 minutes later we were in line at the ropeway with one-way tickets in our hot little hands. We both decided that taking the ropeway up and then climbing down would be the best idea. By the time we got to the top, we were positive that we'd made the right choice as we discovered that there was a chairlift thing that took you even higher to the very peak. We grabbed some lunch, hopped on the chairlift (which was quite terrifying at first) and explored the peak.
At the top it felt almost like autumn. The trees were starting to change colour and it even smelt like fall. We had perfect weather for hiking. At the shrine, Elspeth was the first to hit the gong and she started a trend (we could hear others hitting it afterwards). We found a 'path' down the mountain...I say 'path' because it was really just trees marked with red paint that you had to follow. And this kind of path would never have been allowed in N. America because there were times when you had to repel down a rockface by holding onto a chain or rope. At other times, there were cliffs on either side that one could very easily slip off.
This was a hard climb. I had imagined a well maintained, well marked path that we could walk in a leisurely manner but instead this took all of my concentration and lets just say my short legs were not helping me, Several times, groups of older (sometimes really old) Japanese climbers would run past us. I was bewildered as to how they were getting down the mountain so fast. One group even had a fancy mountain baby backpack and this tiny, smiling kid was being carted down. One group stopped long enough to ask if I was part Japanese, listen to Elspeth's explanation that I was mixed, call me 'kawaii' and then run down the path and disappear.
THREE hours later we stumbled out of the forest and onto a road. Both of us had a bad case of 'jelly legs' and we were hoping we were close to the bus stop. ONE hour after that we found the road near the ropeway start and collapsed on a bench to re-energize with some brownies (my mom's fabulous brownies all the way from TO!!!) and stare at the mountain that had taken four hours to climb down.
Somehow we dragged ourselves back to the bus stop, caught the very last bus, got on the train and made it back to Nagoya. We scarfed down a taco salad at a 50's diner in the train station and then headed home. The next morning I woke up and thought I was paralyzed. Never in my life has my body felt so broken all over. Lessons were hard on Tuesday but the climb was worth it. The scenery was beautiful and it was nice to spend the day outside in the perfect almost-autumn weather.
