this view of mount fuji was a pleasant surprise. i was part of the research team for this hike and i completely forgot of this beautiful view of mount fuji at the peak of kintokiyama. and this will be submitted to #aroundtheworld contest. let me start at the beginning.
well this greeted us when we got off at odawara station along the very famous hakone tourist area. it was my very first time to be here, all of my friends have already been here in hakone many times and no one wants to go back; thus, i had no chance to be a tourist in this place.
and right away, this drunk man sleeping on the ground was a very pour first impression. this is quite a common sight in central tokyo specially on weekends, never did i know that hakone also have a fair share of this sight.
a housemate and @thinkeringbart with me, this was after an hour and a half of train ride from home and we still have a 42 minute bus ride from this station before reaching the hike trail.
Mount Kintoki (金時山)
according to wikipedia
Mount Ashigara (足柄山), also known as Mount Kintoki (金時山), is the northernmost peak of the Hakone caldera, on the border of Kanagawa and Shizuoka prefectures, in the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park in Japan. Ashigara is not a remnant of the collapse of the old Hakone volcano itself, but rather a parasitic cone growing from its flank. source
there was really nothing much i expected in this hike except that this was my first for this year and the first after that hike where i hurt my knees. in fact, this was rather an easy trail according to the difficulty level of our hiking app, with around 600 meters up hill and another 600 meters down.
here we finally reached the hiking trail mouth. we were not supposed to start here, but people were gathered at the info map that we decided to just follow these people. the more people on the trail the better for so many reasons.
this part was still paved and i was quite wondering how the actual mountain path would look like.
here came the never ending steps uphill. of all things i hate about mountain hiking, stairs top that list. i hated stairs and that never changed even in this hike.
there were occasional elevated stairless paths, but these were very far and in between. but what i appreciated much in here were the tall trees giving so much shade and a cool temperature.
japan loves hiking and it is very evident with the hiking paths created in there mountains. this is much appreciated by hiking neophytes like us.
we have now reached the short shrubby area. beside the path this time were mini bamboo like grasses. i don't know what these were called but they do resemble those picket bamboo grown in the gardens of the resorts back home. since these were short, i could feel the sun burning my skin more.
we could see occasional clearings with a view of the surrounding mountains and the plains down below. i could definitely imagine the volcano caldera. the second picture was the path toward another peak. that trail was definitely man made.
that was how it looked like in landscape.
this path of short bamboo like grasses continued a a good 10 or 20 minutes. this was the hottest part of this hike, no shade at all.
we finally reached some shady part with more steps and more rocks. i loved the part with the rocks, i enjoy stepping on rocks more. we were definitely reaching the peak in a few more meters from here.
and here she came, THE PEAK! with a beautiful view of mount fuji at the distance, still with some icy peaks. this peak was just a short one, 1212 meters tall. now i was really wondering why this peak featured an axe so i researched. kintokiyama was the legendary birthplace of a folklore hero kintaro, a child of super human strength. and this child is often depicted wielding a giant axe.
here is another view of mount fuji.
and another one in panorama. i clipped the many people below me on this shot. and the sky was just perfect that time, perfect to view the elusive mount fuji. but not for us who were under direct sun without any shade. we had our lunch in the open while enjoying the view.
majestic mount fuji yet again. and the many people on this peak. i really wanted to go on top of this rock where these two people got on. it must have been a pretty view despite the trembling knees i would surely have. my acrophobia would surely creep in either on the way up, while on the rock, going down, or in all three stages.
another view of mount fuji, yes she was the star. this first one was on a "metal plate" with the embedded names of the mountains in the vicinity.
and the view of the hakone plains, or caldera, or whatever this is called. it was a long rest at the top and we had to go down.
we went down the same trail for a few minutes before diverging on a different trail down hill. like any down hill trip, this one went a lot faster than the climb.
good thing that the trail had the tall trees, but it was a lot more difficult. this was the original up hill trail and we were all glad that we took the other one, this was a lot harder to climb.
we passed by big rocks which had some connection to the folklore hero kintaro. the first one, about 20 meters wide, seemed to be smashed in half.
here are more pictures of the down hill trail.
and the kintoki shrine at the foot of the mountain. yes, we completed the hike safely.
i was very worried of my left knee the whole time and i definitely felt some pain at some point. i was just glad to have picked up this branch and used as a walking stick for this hike. it was a head turner for sure, but i am pretty sure this was how the ancients hiked mountains.
this was the hike plan and the actual hike stats. it took us 6 hours, we were on the slow side and were definitely taking more rests. but better safe than sorry right? we were only competing with ourselves, and the mere fact that we conquered this mountain safely is a win for me.
as always, AMPING KANUNAY!
all photos are taken with a galaxy s23 ultra
This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io
07/06/2025
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