Okutama is located in the northwestern part of the Tokyo Metropolis and is a great place for enjoying the outdoors relatively close to the big city.
While there are a number of mountains in the Okutama region, Mt. Takanosu is known for having one of the steepest slopes among these mountains.
Because I am just a beginner mountain climber, I was full of uncertainty as to whether I could really climb the mountain.
After riding the first train in the morning and reaching Okutama Station, I and my friend went to Higashi Nippara by bus.
This is the entrance point for Mt. Takanosu.
After we took a restroom break and got our gear ready, it was time to start our climb!
We were suddenly faced with a steep uphill climb after we had walked for a while.
Although only about 30 minutes had passed, I soon found myself feeling short of breath.
I felt a bit discouraged when the experienced friend I was climbing with told me that the path would be steep like this for most of the way.
The path up to the summit was really hard.
Although there were several points at which I wanted to give up, there is nobody there to help you out if you decide to give up while climbing a mountain.
We devoted ourselves to reaching the top while taking several breaks along the way.
We were able to enjoy nature as we walked along, seeing several trees that had fallen over due to typhoons, as well as small flowers.
As someone that usually has a busy schedule from morning to night, it was very refreshing for me to use my body instead of my head for a change.
It was the first time in a very long time since I had visited somewhere without mobile phone reception.
It felt great to finally reach the top!
Three hours had passed since we had started climbing.
The weather was good and the view was great.
We could see Mt. Fuji in the distance.
The rice balls that we ate at the summit tasted excellent.
I am somewhat embarrassed to say that I suffered muscle pain the next day that was so bad that it was hard to walk.
Nonetheless, I really enjoyed mountain climbing for the first time in such a long while!
I would really like to build up my strength and try climbing various mountains!
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