The Fellowship of the Stink -or- Mt. Diasen Part Deux

The Fellowship of the Stink

Heavy under packs full of jerky,
oreos, soup and dried blueberries
four young, strong travelers climbed the treacherous realm of Diasen:


Colin the Keeper of the Poles braved steep cliffs, full nostrils and was crowned the King of Hearts.

Ashley (Sam) Wise (so named because of the clink of the kettle strapped to her pack) battled insects with pinchers and the deadly fog of male flatulence.

Will O’Gortex lost repeatedly to the mercilous Queen of Spades, but found his voice and (thankfully) his pants by sunrise.

Luke “Shochu It” of Lubbock merrily brought the expedition to safety and cast a powerful spell that made an Irishman, a Canadian and a Yankee speak like Texans.

Friday was Culture Day in Japan, a national holiday = NO SCHOOL! My prefectural advisor Will, a third year ALT Colin, fellow first year Luke and myself hiked and camped on Mt. Diasen. This time we climbed up the other side, a much more pleasant and less crowded trail. The terrain kept changing, as did the leaves. The colors in the trees were just beautiful! Plenty of yellow, orange, and glorious splatches of red. We scaled small rock faces, and tripped over thick roots. Dove into sections of the trail that had been washed out.
We stayed the night at a cabin called, “Utopia"; ate dinner and slept beside a Japanese couple in matching teal, gortex suits; drank gross Shochu and whiskey; and played a full game of Hearts late into the night. The moon was almost full and very bright. The night was so clear we could see the lights of the Oki islands and fishing boats bobbing in the Sea of Japan. This cabin is perched on a wide part of the ridge on the eastern slope of Diasen. When hiking away from it, the little one room residence seems precarious and unsteady. I had an uneasy sleep complete with a dream about an army of blowfish with little guns and tanks (no kidding!).
Will woke us up to see the sunrise. I climbed up a bit of the ridge trail and had a fantastic view of the Saturday morning light. To my left was the long, curly shore and the Sea of Japan, straight ahead was the sunrise, and Diasen's peak to my right. It was incredible. Small bushels of clouds congregated at the mouth of the sunrise and broke open as the ball of the sun was in sight. From that height it was easier to see it not as the rise of the sun, but as the earth bowing to it.
We ate a quick breakfast, packed our gear and left the cabin around 8am. The plan was to hike the ridge that stretched from "Utopia" to Diasen's peak and the back down the other side (which every Japanese person warned us NOT to do, but we decided to check it out anyway and to turn back if things got too hairy). Things got kinda hairy. But man was it exilerating and beautiful! The ridge is literally where the mountain has V-ed at the top, so some parts of the trail were extremely narrow with sheer cliffs on either side. It was also made of very loose, dry shale, so some parts were climbed butt-down. We took our time, swallowed fear of falling to our deaths, and made it to the peak.
After our crowdless hikes the day before and that morning, it was hard to deal with the great numbers of people on the other side of the mountain. It was insane! There is a great hiking etiquette in Japan that consists of saying 'hello' to everyone you pass, or telling them good luck or other such friendly greetings. In a train of people, this grows old very quickly. Thankfully, we broke off of the packs of people to complete the circle. And it was a complete circle. We ended the hike at the entrance to the Temple where we began it. We drove away from the mountain, exhausted but very, very pleased.
I have posted a lot of photos on flickr, remember if you want to see them in any chronological order, view them in their sets (on the right hand side of the flickr page).

Enjoy this video! This was taken on the ridge, closer to the peak than to the cabin. (Anyone know how to make it fit onto my narrow template? Or, how can I make the template wider?)