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Sun 27th April – Hike (Fudai to Kitayamazaki Cliffs)

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CR:

Hike today was 17km, with ups and downs but nothing too bad. Weather was so nice in the morning – clear blue skies. At one point we were even just wearing t-shirts! The walking in the first half was really nice, following the ocean. The second half went around the top cliff contours, where it’s a lot of weeds, pines and farming land. I got a bit sick of being in this environment and I was quite sore for the last two hours.

The hotel we are at tonight and tomorrow night is very nice. It is built into the bottom of a cliff front. Before dinner we had our first onsen. I found it a daunting process as I didn’t understand what was involved (and fear I still did something wrong). Male and females are seperated for the ‘Big Bath’ (as our English check in pamphlet calls it). I think there’d be good dramatic premise for setting the next White Lotus in Japan. You see the same family (daughter, mother, grandmother) at breakfast the morning after seeing everyone stark naked in the onsen.

DW:

I love onsen. This was probably able to be guessed. In addition to hot steamy goodness, I like that everyone is naked and it is a communal event that is accessible to and used by everyone. I think in this context, it helps to foster a healthy community. I also like that male and female sections sections are not fully separated. There is a 12 foot wall between the two parts, but you can hear the ladies chattering away. It makes you feel like one group. My experience is men have minimal chit chat. We are there to soak.

The temperature is just right. You can hop in comfortably (it’s not like a bath that is too hot and borderline scalding), but within a few minutes you feel yourself fully saturate with heat.

DW: This bridge was famous enough that the train stops for a minute or two to get a look at it.
DW: Most cities in this region have an extensive series of seawalls. Fudai is known to have a particularly large wall that blocks off the path to the ocean completely.
DW: We had a brief period of walking along the road and through some tunnels. It was unclear if these were really supposed to be walked by pedestrians. Somehow this random tunnel is still more walkable than most other countries.
DW: The weather was beautifully clear for most of today and when we were walking along the coast you could see the Pacific waters.
DW: We saw only two other people walking the track today. From counters along the way, we expect there to be roughly 5 people a day doing the track.
CR: It does seem like a lot of infrastructure for just a few people a year to enjoy. I thought I’d see local residents using the track for daily exercise.
DW: Unfortunately being at sea level means you need to climb to get over the hill to the next bay. This particular path was a 200m ascent.
CR: I had a few ‘moments of contemplation’ on the ascent, if you get my drift.
DW: This is the Michinoku coastal trail symbol. When we see it we know we aren’t that lost.
DW: Such a worldy sophisticated man. The ball spins, so I spin it. All men who pass the ball spin it. No women do.
DW: Caitlin rung the happiness bell when I wasn’t ready and I got scared.
CR: You’ll thank me later when you’re happy.
DW: The Auswalk book notes that bear encounters are extremely rare. We are starting to doubt this. We encounter, at an alarming rate, bear scats on the trail, diggings and branches that they apparently tear down for nuts. We never see a bear, but there is a weird noise coming from a nearby bracken at one point.
CR: I am mortally torn between wanting to see a bear and not wanting to see a bear. Declan began the hike saying that bear bells were a scam. After more frequently sighted paw prints, his opinion on bear bells shifts, and we begin singing little bear-aware songs in lieu of a bell.
DW: The last bit of the walk was following a stream through this valley floor that was coated in leaves.
CR: This part would have been hard if it was wet and the mossy rocks slippery.
DW: Some bridges are looking a little worse for wear. But the only impassable element has been the river on day 2 of trekking.
CR: We note how appreciative the bears must be of all the bridges.
DW: The view from Kitayamazaki Cliffs looking South.
CR: I don’t get a lot of time to appreciate the final look out of the day, as I am in the visitors centre doing the obligatory dot on the world map of Australia (data collection) and hearing the ranger Google Translate to me that bears are quite common on the track.
DW: I think over the next few days, regardless of our desires, we will enter a sashimi orgy. Last night was just a teaser.
CR: Halfway through dinner I discovered, even after hiking all day, this was too much food. I fall asleep very shortly after the conclusion of this meal.
DW: Caitlin decided to order something random from the drinks menu and got a hot sochu spirit somehow. I wasn’t allowed to finish it for her as Caitlin is afraid I would get rowdy.

Categories:Japan 2025

Cait

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4 Responses

  1. I am glad you saw some sun. It is a very rocky coastline. Are those nets along the rocks to protect walkers? The sea wall was impressive but a bit daunting. Is it protecting a town or road? I would like to try hot sochu spirit but agree we don’t want rowdy Declan 😜 I bet you slept well!

  2. That’s right, there are a lot of nets to protect against falling rocks from the above cliff faces. Sometimes we see some big boulders on the track and try to pretend they’ve always been there..

    Can’t remember about that exact seawall. We’ve seen quite a few now! Usually they are to protect towns.

  3. The sea walls are very sensible but also quite ominous.

    I know the walk has been quite but have you seen many other tourists or are the other walkers locals.

    You’ve been very lucky with the weather and the lack of bear sightings.

    Do the locals give you any tips about what to do if you are near one on the walk.

    I like the happiness bell.

    The bridge looks like there’s a troll living under it. It’s pretty broken so your walking track mustn’t be that popular.

    How do you know that all the scat sightings are because of bears. Maybe it’s from other animals.

    Wonder what they do with the data collection. Do they ask many questions.

  4. Walkers were so few that it was hard to get a sense of who was using it. I think the other people were tourists.

    I both did and didn’t want to see a bear! We saw a taxidermy of one and they were actually quite big. But apparently they are ‘cowards’ and don’t like to interact. The tips range from walking away slowly to covering your face if they attack … Predominantly pamphlets say to make noise so an encounter doesn’t happen to begin with. It was definitely bear poop, we looked it up.

    Questions are mainly where are you from and they put a dot on a visitor map, as far as I can ascertain.