Mt. Nittany Hike

Hyunjoo and I finally drove over to the famous (in this neck-of-the-woods) Mt. Nittany for a Memorial-Day Weekend hike. It's only a little more than 10 minutes from Lion's Gate Apartments, so we were up and running in no time.

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Being a rural area, we have lots of hills around us, but this is the famous ridgeline for its proximity to Penn State.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of our trip due to a glitch in my iPhone I've just fixed, but we'll get some posted on our next trip up.

The hike up only took about 25 min and the rest of the 3 hours was spent hiking around the rim of the ridge with a little "extra" meandering worked-in.

The majority of folks keep around the inner circle of trails and the look-out to Penn State's campus. Hyunjoo and I only saw a hand full of folks during the rest of our hike.

It's a nice little peak with some potentially nice terrain for some winter backcountry skiing if they get enough snow here in the winter. It's almost all hardwoods, so I'll definitely be coming back here next winter to check out the conditions.

Finished Fuji

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We just woke up from our post-hike nap. Yikes it's midnight and we haven't even eaten yet.

So, we went up together and we returned together and had a great experience. It was a fantastic trip and well worth the effort.

We hiked the mountain within a 24 hour period from the "regular" Kawaguchiko 5th station trail-head and back. It was mostly cloudy and misty and we barely managed to miss the most recent "Number 4" typhoon.

It was a blast. I'll update the entry later with better details.

Scouting trip up Hakusan

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On my quest to hike the three sacred peaks of Japan, I made a scouting trip to number two on my list yesterday, Hakusan. I hiked Tateyama with Adam and Katya last year on a spectacular day and hope to duplicate that experience with Hakusan.

I drove out by myself to the furthest point possible, 市ノ瀬 Ichinose parking lot. I had to hike up the road to the 別当出合 Bettoudeai trailhead which took me about 75 minutes, maybe three miles. Along the way I spotted folks coming down from the mountain. Some were day hiking like myself, others were camping and some had passed me on mountain bikes with skiing gear on their backs!

The trail was pretty steep, but could be hiked with my old day-hiking shoes. I'm not so confident about a full push for the summit, but I'll make do with taping my ankles and using a hiking staff. I have a feeling that I'll also need to support my knees as well. I made it up to the 中飯場 Nakahanba waypoint about 4.5km from the summit before the snow was too thick to hike on with my gear. I hit my return-time anyhow so I headed back down, but not before the enjoying the scenery. It was fantastic and I was even blessed with a wonderful view of two amazing waterfalls not far from one of the ridges. I can't wait to return!

The Dark Side of Toyama

Pictures from our last stop before Kanazawa: Kurobe.

Headed to Hakusan?

Hakusan National Park (area 183sq.mi/ 473sq.km) is home to Mount Hakusan (8,865ft/ 2,702m) is one of Japan's three sacred mountains. Of the five approach routes (Iwama, Chugu, Itoshiro, Hirase and Ichinose) the most popular, for climbers coming from Kanazawa, is the Ichinose route. Near here is the Murodo Hut, which is open during the summer. The route to the five peaks of Mount Hakusan (views of the Tatayama Range to the southeast and Mount Norikura) runs up through dense forests and rich Alpine vegetation. The highest of the five peaks is Gozenmine (8,865ft/ 2,702m), followed by Tsurugigamine (8,714ft/ 2,656m) and Onanji (8,682ft/ 2,646m); to the south are Bessan and Sannomine. On Gozenmine is the Inner Shrine (Okunoin) of the Shirayamahime Shrine (Kaga-Ichinomiya) at the foot of Mount Hakusan.
- planetware.com

I've hiked one of the three sacred peaks and I'd like to do the other two before I leave Japan this summer. So, the next on the list might very well be Hakusan!

Hikin' Mt. Hunger

Even though my stay in Vermont was so short, I was able to meet up with Adam and Katya to hike Hunger. It was a great day and we made it up in no time thanks to Katya in the lead. I really have missed the mountains of the NE.

Chase and Cole Hikin'

The latest pix from Carter. I'm envious!

Snowshoeing

I took off to the mountains today. Got cabin fever big time. So, I went up to the bamboo forest - about a 20 minute walk from my apartment.