We were up early to make the trip to Mount Mitake. This was the trip we were going to make the previous day when I got left at the train station. We picked up the JR Chuo line from Shinjuku Station headed toward Ome. We changed at the Ome Station changed trains for Mitake Station. At Mitake we caught the bus for the 25 minute ride to the cable car station.
More photos from the day can can be found on my website.
When we arrived at the top cable car station we had some nice views of the fall colors. Since there was a large group that took the cable car we waited for them to get ahead of us so it wasn’t so crowded on the trail.
The large red torii gate. is a symbol of the fact that the area you are about to enter is under divine protection.
We were walking up a winding road through the forest.
Along the way there are inn that cater to the tourists visiting the area.
The road/trail was just wide enough for one car.
Just before Reaching Musashi Mitake Shrine, we passed  through this shotengai (traditional shopping street).
Just past the shotengai we started the clime to the Musashi Mitake Shrine.
It was a beautiful day with bright blue sky and the start of fall colors. The Shrine was very impressive with a variety of buildings on the grounds. We noticed there was some form of service going on in the main Shrine building.
Just below the shrine we found a small nature trail that provided a shortcut to the main trail to Nagao-daira which was a small plateau with some picnic tables and some great views of the surrounding area.
There were large numbers of these beautiful flowers blooming along the trail.
There were some beautiful red trees in the area. I suspect it would be spectacular when the fall colors were in full swing.
Amazing views from the end of the trail. The second shot is the back side of the small village we walked through earlier in the day.
The blue sky provided a nice background for photographing backlit leaves.
We left the Nagao-daira area and decided to do some hiking. We noticed that several trails were closed but we couldn’t read the signs and we didn’t have an internet connection so we couldn’t translate them. We decided to try and walk down to the rock garden but we were not sure how long the trail was.
We noticed there was considerable washing on some of the gully’s that crossed the trail. This was probably due to the October typhoon.
We reached a junction in the trail and it appeared the trail to the rock garden continued on but there were quite a few handmade signs which we couldn’t read and we were concerned that there might be a problem getting to the rock garden. It looked like the trail leading to Ayahiro Falls would allow us to make a loop and take us back toward the cable car station. We weren’t too happy to see the steps on the trail. We were even less happy when the steps turned into tree roots.
After the tree roots there were metal steps. The entire trail was very steep.
When we finally reached the bottom and the waterfall we discovered that the trail back toward the cable car was closed. It wouldn’t have been quite so bad if the waterfall was spectacular but it really wasn’t much of a waterfall. We had to retrace our steps back up the steel stairs, over the tree roots and back up the steps. When we were back up at the junction we debated whether or not to go to the Rock Garden and decided we didn’t know how far it was and if it was also closed off down the trail. We decided to retrace our steps back to Nagao-daira and then to the cable car.
The way back seemed a lot shorter even though we were going up hill.
When we arrived back at the shopping street we decided to find a place to eat before leaving the mountain. It was getting cool out so we looked for a place that looked like it might be warm. We had one of our best meals at this little restaurant.
On our mountain hikes I was a little surprised to find a large number of elderly people hiking. On one trip a woman was walking up a steep slope assisted by two walking sticks and followed by someone pushing a wheel chair. This was really inspiring.
We walked back though the area where the inns were located.
There were some beautiful leaves as we neared the cable car station. I did find it interesting that almost every place we found logs along the trail they were fake logs but they did blend in well with the environment.
When we reached the cable car station there was a small class of kids on tour. Once again they all had color coded hats. They were all in front as the cable car went down the mountain.
We had a relatively long wait for the bus that would take us back to the Mitake Train Station. It was packed
We arrived back at Shinjuku Station well after dark. My wife made a stop in the rest room while I took a few shots in the station. It was Friday night and really busy. When my wife returned she mentioned that there was an area in the women’s restroom to makeup on etc. The place was packed with young women getting dolled up for Friday night.
I convinced my wife to walk around outside the station so we could get some night shots of the area.
When we wee done we caught the train back to our hotel. It had been another long day.
Philip Schwarz Photography Blog 