Buna Ga Take Goten-san Hike
November 07, 2004
We met at a crispy 6:30am on Saturday at Yodoyabashi and took the 6:40 limited express train on the Keihan line heading towards Demachi-yanagi (450). Laura literally made it in the nick of time. She’s always late for everything everytime, always. We got off at Sanjo in Kyoto about an hour later and took the #10 Kyoto at 7:45am bus to Bonmura (990yen), which was about another hour later. Be forewarned that this busride is rather bumpy and does sway a fair bit – take your car sickness pills beforehand if you’re easily nauseated.
Our purpose? We were going to hike up Buna Ga Take mountain (1200m) and take another path down in a big loop. It would’ve taken 6-7 hours.
From the title and from the many dead giveaways already, you’ll have realized that the hike didn’t go exactly as planned. First, it was listed as a “medium” in Mike’s Lonely Planet Hiking book and I guess this book was written for people who are more athletically conditioned than I am in my present state.
Basically we got up the peak of the first mountain (Goten-san) in about 3 hours. I gotta say, Mike’s endurance impressed me. He barely broke a sweat and was waiting for us many many times. I did alright I guess but I had to stop fairly frequently to let my poor quads rest. When we got up to the top, we were treated to a fairly nice view. It was great to get out of the city and breathe clean air and not see concrete for miles and miles.
At the top, Mike decided to go reach the peak of the second mountain (Buna Ga Take). I think I would’ve gone with him but I don’t think Poora (stands for Poor Laura), was up for it. I decided to stay with her and go back down. As chivalrous as this sounds, I also didn’t go because I know the extra mountain would’ve limited the power left in me to go back down.
It’s been roughly 2.5 years since my last hike but I still remembered that although going down is a lot faster, it’s just as dangerous (if not more) as going up. We got back down in 2 hours after a nice lunch at the peak. The saddest part? Mike reached the second peak and came back down and caught up with us right as we got to the foot of the mountain.
I’m glad we didn’t get stuck up there as the skies really darkened quickly. I didn’t want to have news crews and company staff waiting for me at the bottom… I think the saddest thing though was the dozen or so other hikers who warped by me. Actually the saddest thing is that the average age of those hikers who warped by me was probably 50. Mike made a good point that it’s retired folks who have the time to frequently go hiking and therefore be in better shape than lazy lards like me.
I’m slightly ashamed at my fitness level after seeing my performance today. Still, it was a good wake up call and I had a great time and worked my legs harder than any time before in Japan. The ride back was rather long but I got home and enjoyed a good long sleep. I’m hoping to go again.
See my pictures.
