Okukuji Nantai

First announcement for Mt. Okakuji Nantai hiking om Nov.16 (Sat) 2024. This mountain, about 650 m high, is in Daigo town, in the North of Ibaraki. It is well known for Fukuroda waterfalls. Daigo town is well known for its fall colors. We expect to experience some of it, at least.

Plan: We will set out at 6:30 AM from the usual Tsukuba Center parking and arrive at parking (elevation about 250 m) of the hiking by 8:30 AM. It will take about 2 hours of walking to the peak. We will have lunch at the peak, taking in the panoramic scenary of the hills below. We will then move on to Chofuku temple with a beautiful garden (~1:15 h). After spending some time there we will walk down to our parking (~1:30 min.) along the panorama route road (~1:00 h).

After getting into our cars again, we will visit the Fukuroda waterfalls, and back.

What to wear: good hiking boots and wintery clothes are recommended.

What to bring: lunch box and drinks. Onsen kit in case we decide to go to one on the way back.

Transportation: this is a car based hike. One way distance is about 100 km. We will use Joban expressway for the first 60 km, until Naka IC.

Please let me know if you would like to join, if you have a car and how many passengers can it carry. Include your mobile number as well.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Dear everyone,

I am happy to report that we had a wonderful day hiking on Mt. Okukuji-Nantai-san in Daigo town on Nov 16, 2024.

This was an autumn hike but the weather outlook was gloomy - cloudy. Until just a day before the hike, when it brightened up with a full sun!

We were 8 participants in all (including a child), so we could all fit into Noboru's van. This proved lucky because of severe parking shortage at the beginning of the hiking trail. We started from Tsukuba center parking at 6:30 and headed north on the Joban expressway. We exited the expressway at Naka IC and headed north on route 118, going along JR rail line and Kuji river.

Near Saigane station, where there is a sign pointing towards Mt. Okukuji-Nantai-san, we turned right to go up the mountain slope, towards a hiking car parking (as shown by Google map). We were aiming for 古分屋敷駐車場 parking. However, at a fork in the road soon, the road became too narrow to fit even one car. So we took to the right, route 322, which veered away from our goal. It joined the Panorama line road through which we reached our goal by a long drive. This drive was slow because the daylight had not reached this valley, it was misty, and when sun rays appeared, they were directly into our eyes. We stopped on the way to take pictures of the mountain range on one side.

Finally, we reached the Oenchi Parking Lot 大円地駐車場, which is the most popular among the hikers, with a toilets, but confirming our fears, every nook and corner (besides the designated parking) was taken. Some of us got off the van to scout for any nook where our van could fit without blocking the road, but it was futile. Just then a young man got off his small car parked in a designated space and offered this space. We cheered up, thanking him profusely ("just a matter of good timing," he said. It turned out to be a delivery van, and he stood after pulling out for some considerable time to finish his business).

It was 9:00 AM by the time we started walking (some 30 min later than the initially estimated starting time). We followed the sign to the trailhead. From this side, the mountain juts out like a cliff. The trail soon bifurcated into two: general course (一般) and experienced climbers course (going straight up). The experienced course has elements of rock climbing at higher altitudes, featuring chains. Most participants opted for the experienced hikers course. We, the other three, decided to take the general course. It went up through the roots of very tall trees. It was generally in the shadow, and wet, until we started reaching the ridge. There were beautiful boulders covered with moss, and trees. At about 10:15 we came to a junction, where we had a rest on wooden benches, then turned left to climb on to the ridge. In this sunny area we passed through trees with beautiful autumn colors. The winding ridge trail led to the peak of Mt. Nantai still at a higher altitude. It was beautiful all the way, and soon we could look down on the rolling hills. The other group had arrived at the peak by 10:30. We made it slowly pace by 11:30.

We took a rest, took in the beautiful scenery, took pictures, and headed back - all of us took the general train, enjoying the beautiful autumn all the way. We all arrived at the parking lot by 13:40. The sunlight was fading on this side of the mountain now. Now we had to head to Yamagatajuku station (back towards Naka), where we had to have lunch at a traditional annual Imoni party (as originally planned, on the wonderful suggestion of Noboru). We were lucky that this event fell on this day! We had to hurry to it. Starting from the parking, we went a little bit further on the Panorama line, turned a sharp left at the next junction and were out on to the route 118 in just about 10 minutes, at Takigura Entrance (滝倉入口) (it is suggested to take this route to the hiking trail/parking next time). We joined the Imoni party by 14:15.

At the party site we bought tickets for 500 yen each and were served with a bowl of broth/soup containing root vegetables, fish, etc. - very healthy, delicious and satisfying! The soup is made in a cooking pan of dia 3.5 m, depth 1.1 m, weighing 1.8 ton and volume 6,000 lt. Its operation is handled by a big crane.

We still had unfinished business. How could we go back without Daigo apples and apple pie? So we turned to drive towards Daigo again. Fortunately, we didn't have to go all the way. We found an apple garden in Okukuji area, and satisfied ourselves with delicious apples, their juice, and bought apple pies.

We still had one more visit to make, on suggestions of Tatsuya-san. It was near Funyu station, next to Yamagatajuku. It turned out to be an unimagined cultural visit! His friend, a retired school teacher, has opened a book, record and CDs library in an abandoned school building. It has an amazing collection of all these. Especially jazz and classical records, played on a big modern audio system, with amazing sound (which only records can sound)! In the middle of the quiet greenery of the old school grounds. We all relaxed in this atmosphere for quite some time. Articles of this sound system have been featured in many specialized magazines, such as Stereo Generation.

We left from here at about 16:30, when it was getting dark. We experienced traffic jams on the way, passing through Hitachinomiya city and nearby towns. Once on the expressway, we stopped by at the Tomobe service area to spend some more time together, before heading back to Tsukuba.

I thank Noboru for driving and everyone for joining to make it great fun!

You can see pictures of this trip, contributed by all the participants, at
https://photos.app.goo.gl/sVppcb8avGS3DLdE6

see you again,

Alok