It was supposed to be a shortcut because I could go around the peaks instead of over them. But I had not inspected this route on the map and I knew nothing of the details. Around 6 o’clock a man descending to the camp I had just left asked me where I was going and I told him. He said I had better give it up. What choice did I have? My tent and food were at the camp. Besides, I didn’t have enough money to stay at the last lodge. I said I had my light and I would be OK. On I pressed into the gathering night as clouds completely covered the darkening sky. No stars shone through. The path diverged and I took the unfamiliar route, which descended and descended. I switched on my light and tried to discern which trail of rocks was the path and which ones were just trails of rocks that came to a quick dead end. I was tired and getting hungry. I wasn’t cold because walking kept me warm. But when I stopped for a rest I quickly began to feel the chill of sweat-soaked clothes in cool night air, even through my thick jacket. Around me the mountains were looming shadows. My light revealed no details which meant the mountains were close enough to appear big but far enough that my light could not illuminate their sides. The path went down further, up a little, and down again. I knew that as long as I kept moving and time kept moving I would get back eventually. I just hoped there wasn't a fork in the path where I might not see the sign and take the wrong turn and end up descending to the valley far below.

On I pressed into the early night, thinking that if I were home with my wife and son, we would be eating a home-cooked meal and having a relaxing and cozy time together. At last the path began heading toward familiar territory and then finally I joined the path leading up and down Mt. Sugoroku. I could make out the light from the lodge below and began the final descent to camp. It was a slow crawl down the last switchbacks but finally I staggered into the lighted area around the lodge and trudged back to my tent. It was 8:20. Not to bad since my original plan had been to come back by 8:30.

I had considered sleeping in the next day but I knew if I did I would not get over to Mt. Kurobegoro. I decided to see how I felt in the early morning and I half thought that if the weather was poor I wouldn’t have to worry about going because the weather would decide for me. As it turned out, it began raining around 4:30 in the morning and slowly got worse. By 7 the rain was enough that I knew I was not going anywhere far. I took my time getting up and went to the lodge to sit in the TV room and look at photo books of this area of Japan and Japanese mountains. I found many photos of Mt. Kurobegoro, its cirque filled with huge boulders of granite surrounded by grasses and flowering plants. It was very beautiful and I knew it was a total shame that I could not be there shooting the turning of the autumn leaves with those granite blocks all around. I ordered curry rice and sat in the mess hall (as it wasn’t really nice enough to be called a dinning room) looking at more books. Three French-speakers and an Anglophone came in a sat down to relax, eat and chat. After they left two more French-speakers came in, as well as a woman who spoke English like a North American and a woman with an accent who later said to someone she spoke German at home. These were the first and only non-Japanese I saw during the four days.

By noon I had looked through almost two dozen photo books and I was ready to go out. The rain had stopped but the clouds were still hanging round. Visibility was about 20 metres most of the time. I wandered about near the camp site and photographed the autumn colours which were still just starting to turn around there. Then I slowly went up Mt. Sugoroku again, just in case the clouds parted at sunset as they have sometimes done when I am sitting inside a lodge and cannot be ready to capture the light on film in time. I went right up to the summit again but clouds continued blowing over the top into my face. Oh, well – at least I had tried. I returned to camp, which by now had only about 20 tents remaining as most people had gone down, and pondered what to do the last day. My plan was to leave camp early and go over to Mt. Kasa, drop my pack and take the last hour to the top with only the camera bag. A planet appeared over the place I knew Mt. Yari to be. Would the weather be alright for morning photography I wondered.

At 4 AM it began raining again. I got up at 6:30 and packed up slowly. By 8 I was ready to head down. I gave up the idea of climbing Kasa. Out of four mountains I had managed to climb only one. I was physically and mentally prepared to carry my heavy pack back down. I reached Kagami Daira after an hour and forty minutes. In the rain the autumn leaves were so delicate and their colours so vivid. I stopped for an hour to take out one camera and shoot some nature scenes. Then I had some snacks to eat and went out with the digital camera for a few shots too. From there it was still over four hours back to the parking lot but I took the time I needed, stopped when I needed to rest my shoulders, and moved along when I had the strength to cruise. I stopped at the first lodge at the bottom and chatted with a couple who were up for their wedding anniversary. They had gone beyond the area I had been and went to a hot spring in a river valley north of and below Mt. Suisho.

The rain had stopped for a while but started again as I made the last 50 minutes back to the trailhead. Here I passed a small hotel advertising 500 yen (about $5) for a hot spring bath. My car was a good 20 minutes walk away so I asked if I could leave my pack beside their front door. They said it was no problem and then the kind elderly man behind the counter said something to his wife and told me he would drive me to my car. The rain was getting worse so I really appreciated the offer.

After driving back to the hotel I enjoyed my shower and soak in the mineral-rich hot water. Only one other man was there and we chatted about the local mountains until he left ahead of me. Then I had the whole place to myself. How different from my trek last summer when I had washed and was ready to soak in the hot spring water and a baseball team of 10-year old boys all jumped in the water without washing first and began splashing and shouting, making me decide to give up my relaxing soak.

After the bath I began the long ride home again, stopping for refreshments, dinner and gas along the way to give myself breaks form sitting in the car so long. I made it home by 10:30. The next morning I was unpacking my things and I decided to take a shower. My wife was not home yet from her parents’ and I figured they were coming home later. I had stripped and was ready to go in the shower when I saw my wet camera bag hanging on the banister and thought I should take out my camera to air dry. I went upstairs with the camera and suddenly heard a car outside the house. It stopped and two women’s voices reached my ears. Was my wife home already with her mom and one of her sisters? I made a dash down the stairs for the bathroom and as I rushed into the shower I kicked my little toe into the leg of a step we have for reaching the higher cupboards. Leaping and hopping on one foot I stood in the shower in terrible pain. Later my foot swelled up, the toe was half purple and I was limping everywhere. As it turned out, it was not my wife and her mother. It must have been the neighbours. I had bashed my toe for nothing.

In summary, I was pleased with the trip mostly. Disappointing was the fact that I hadn’t reached Mt. Kurobegoro and that I had climbed only one of my four mountain goals. But the rainy weather could not have been helped. I only regret that I didn’t stop for a few film photos in the ravine of the headwaters of the Kurobe River. Otherwise it had been a pretty trek as they come and I did manage to take some autumn foliage photos. Plus, I got two more ideas to propose to magazines and I was introduced to some amazing Japanese wilderness I wasn’t fully aware of. I know now where I must go next year when I have a few days off.