"Danger, danger!"

  Kagoshima, Japan
Friday, April 20, 2007

The train journey south to Kagoshima ended up taking about seven hours, but it flew by because I was in a good mood having seen all the volcanic scenery covered in snow, and also because I started reading a fairly well known book along the way...The Da Vinci Code. I`d previously avoided reading it whilst on my travels to avoid looking like a stereotypical backpacker, as about three quarters of people in New Zealand had a copy laying on their bunk bed. However, Andrea had forced it on me while I was in Kyoto, and I`m glad she did as unsurprisingly, it`s pretty good.

I didn`t arrive in Kagoshima until 8pm, and there was no rest for the wicked as I had a lot of planning to do. Again with one eye on the weather forecast, I`d decided on a day trip to Kirishima National Park on Friday to do a highly rated walk in amongst more volcanic scenery. The guy at the beautiful ryokan I was staying at helped a great deal, although my plans were complicated when I found out that there was no direct bus to Ebino-kogen (the starting point) anymore - not for the first time, the Lonely Planet`s information was out of date.

1. Starting out...

The next morning, I boarded a train to Kirishima-jingu, still unsure of how I was going to get to Ebino, but I was determined to go through with my plan because the weather was clear and the scenery was bound to be great. I was informed at the station that I could take a bus to halfway between Kirishima-jingu and Ebino, so that`s exactly what I did, although at this point I was starting to get a little frustrated at the length of time it was taking - I just wanted to get walking!

I was banking on there being a taxi to take me the rest of the way, but it being over 1000m above sea level at this point, and in a tiny village, I shouldn`t have been surprised when I discovered that there were none in the immediate viccinity. I was left with no choice but to hitch-hike, and I was confident of success as the Japanese are too polite to leave a poor backpacker stranded in the middle of nowhere, and sure enough the third car to emerge pulled over. As an extra bonus, the young Japanese guy could speak reasonable English, and took me direct tothe visitor centre in Ebino where I picked up a couple of maps...finally I was on my way!

3. Japan`s largest crater lake

The first hour of the walk involved a pretty steep climb up to Karakuni-dake at 1700m, and I`ve never experienced anything like it before in my entire life! Far from being a therapeutic experience in the tranquil Kyushu mountains, it was a noisy affair in which I passed at least five hundred schoolchildren...and seriously, that is a conservative estimate! Of course, not many foreigners get to these parts due to the lack of public transport, and as well as saying "konnichiwa" a few hundred times (no exaggeration), I had to deal with constant giggling, and even squeals of delight from some of the girls (but I`m kind of used to that, I suppose!). Honestly it was completely laughable as I tried to squeeze past everyone on the narrow pathway, with the snow making it even more dangerous, and the sheer cliff faces on either side also giving me slight cause for concern. Only in Japan!

Thankfully the view at the top didn`t disappoint, overlooking Onami-no-ike (Japan`s largest crater lake) and in the distance, the other volcanoes that I would be visiting in the proceeding few hours...or so I hoped! Certainly in the space of the next ninety minutes or so, as I moved away from the schoolchildren who were doing a much shorter hike, I genuinely feared for my life on more than one occasion, and maybe I was a bit irresponsible to continue with the conditions as they were, i.e. snow covered.

5. View towards Shinmoe-dake...

After skirting within a metre of Karakuni-dake`s crater edge, I started the treachorous descent that left me slipping and sliding all over the place! I was genuinely concerned but continued because a) there was no bad weather forecast, b) I wouldn`t be as high as 1700m again, and crucially c) I couldn`t face the schoolchildren again! Unfortunately I barely saw another soul for the rest of the walk, and at times I would have loved nothing more than to see a high school student to prove that it wasn`t just me who was crazy enough to tackle this track.

I managed to rip the zip off my coat on the way down, cover my jeans in mud, almost lose one of my trainers in a swamp-like puddle, and break my watch whilst desperately grabbing hold of a branch to keep myself upright! It is so comical looking back, but at the time it was horrendous as all I wanted was to find a path so that I didn`t have to trudge through the water anymore. I took comfort knowing that others had suffered a similar fate, as I found a men`s watch half buried in the mud...less than five minutes after I had broken my own! A very strange coincidence.

9. Muddied up

It was a real relief when I finally heard voices as I made my way up to Shishiko-dake at 1428m, and the old Japanese couple seemed to indicate that the path ahead was in a much better condition. They were doing the walk in the opposite direction to me, and I made sure that they saw the colour of my jeans so they`d know what to expect - I really didn`t envy them going up with the track in such poor condition, though at least they were properly attired for hiking (unlike me as usual!).

I began to relax after this meeting, and enjoyed the scenery a lot more as I didn`t have to concentrate on maintaining my balance anymore...the track was now much more well defined, and there was less snow as I was at a lower altitude. Even so, the wind was picking up enough to cause some concern, and the clouds were gathering - not what I needed as I walked towards the giant crater of the still-active Shinmoe-dake...

z14. Turquoise crater lake

On the ascent, I passed another Japanese couple who let me know in no uncertain terms that I should navigate around the left-hand side of the crater rim - the right-hand side was apparently "danger, danger!" Taking their advice on board, I did just that, although I took my time because it was great to see the striking turquoise crater lake down below. It was obviously still active because of the steam being emitted from the ground, making it ever-so-slightly difficult to breathe when the wind blew it towards me, but nothing major really.

The final volcano of the day was Naka-dake (1345m) which was easily ascended, and I felt great at this point as it was all downhill from here. There was the option of a sidetrip to the imposing Takachiho-no-mine but that was a daunting task, completely out of the question on this occasion due to the snow/wind/height/clouds/my aching legs...you get the picture!

z16. Takachiho-no-mine.

I did finally stop and eat my packed lunch directly in front of the 1574m high spectacle though, and had a sudden feeling of contentment wash over me as I thought about the people who fail to understand why I haven`t `settled down` yet - being surrounded by such amazing scenery, I knew whose position I`d rather be in.

An hour or so later, I felt triumphant as I spotted a road through the trees, meaning that I`d finished the walked and as an added bonus, I`d lived to tell the tale. I still had another 13km to go though until I reached the train station, a distance that I could have covered in a lot less time had I done a bit more hitch-hiking, but the sun was shining again and it was very peaceful, so I just decided to continue walking and walking, and finished things off with a sprint to get the 7.14pm train back to Kagoshima.

What a day!