| Summary | Trail running in the Tokyo area on Takao-san... and monkeys 08JUN2008; 8km |
| Owner | Kate D'Epagnier |
| Creation Date | 2008-06-08 10:01:17 UTC-0400 |
| Description | I had heard that Takao-san was a great peak for trail-running, with 8 different trails, a 599m peak, and only about 100 minutes away from my apartment. A little after 9am I got on the train and eventually took the Keio line from Takao to Takao-san-guchi, which is at the foot of the mountain. I arrived at about 11am, grabbed a free trail map from the train station and started running up the trail Inoriyama. It was packed clay, fairly steep, and with lots of tree roots everywhere. There were also helpful little informative warning signs posted throughout the trail.
I arrived at a scenic overlook and then took a cross-trail to continue up on 'trail 6.' From the foot of the mountain to the summit, it took me 42 minutes, half-running and hiking and stopping to take pictures (3.1km). I was warned that there was not much food to be found, but I found at least 10 drink machines on the mountain and three restaurants at the summit, not to mention the vendors scattered along a few of the trails. I had a great lunch of homemade soba, and then ran the 5th trail (0.9km). From the 5th trail, I took the 4th trail and went across a fun small bridge held up by cables (1.5km). I then continued on to trail 1 and reached a monkey park and a flower garden. Nearby was a cable car, which would take you down the mountain, or you could take a paved trail (actually a steep road). I continued along the trail and got to a scenic overlook of Tokyo. The last 1.3km down only took me 6 minutes--fun but I was trying not to punish my knees too much on the pavement. I saw a dozen trail runners, a boy scout troop, groups of elderly women and school groups. I'll probably go again, but next time earlier in the morning, so the trails will be less crowded. In addition to Mt. Takao, you can continue along the ridgelines on trails that 'take about 50 days to hike from start to finish;' maybe the Japanese version of the AT. I'll have to check it out this summer. ~kate |