Tsukuba san end-of-year hike on Sunday December 12th, 2021

We will climb the north side of the mountain, starting from Tsukushiko. Passing by the Yakuo-in temple, we will walk along quiet paths away from the crowds.
The walk is relatively easy, but more strenuous than the usual routes from the main shrine.
Walking time will be approximately 4 hours (not including breaks). We will probably be back in Tsuksuba around of before 16:00.

On the way down, there are quite a number of steps, so bring walking sticks if you don’t want to ruin your knees.

Meeting time: 8:30 a.m.
Meeting place: Car waiting area, Tsukuba bus terminal

*What to bring:

• Boots / good walking shoes
• Warm clothes, it can be chilly at the summit in December
• Rain gear
• Lunch and snacks to share (you can also buy lunch on the summit)
• Water

If you would like to join, please send the following information:

• Name and cellphone number
• Can you offer your car?

No club fee is being charged for this walk.
Please arrange with the drivers to cover the fee of gasoline etc.

Hope to see you on December 12th,

This hike was the first and only activity of TWMC in 2021. Since the corona pandemic started early 2020, all our activities were cancelled.

The weather was very pleasant, the sun was out, it was not windy and so it was not too cold, even on the peak.

14 people left Tsukuba station at around 8:40 and arrived at the Tsukushi-ko parking lot at 9:15, where we met Ginny and Tadashi.
It was a blessing that they were joining the hike, because the organiser, me, did not remember much about the trail.

We started hiking at 9:30, quickly visited Yakuo-in. When we got to the road, four people went straight up the stairs, the others took the ‘hidden’ trail which includes some bouldering at the back of the mountain.
We had only two little rests and arrived at the restaurant area a bit after 12:00 noon.
Most people went up to the Nyotai peak and had lunch when they came down.

At the saddle between the two peaks, we met Nishad, Geoff, Sayumi, Ovidiu, Yumi and their children. It was so nice to have a small reunion after more than a year of no TWMC activities.

At 12:31 quite a strong earthquake shook (magnitude 5, southern Ibaraki). It was a bit scary being on the second floor of the round restaurant which has windows on all sides.

We started walking down the steps (someone told me there are 700!) at 13:30 and arrived at the parking lot at 15:30.

We were back at Tsukuba station at 16:00.