Kamagadake Hike November 10th 2002 While most of you were sleeping early in the morning on Sunday, November 10th, five devoted club members met at the statue of Nana-chan at the Meitetsu bus station for a mountain climbing extravaganza. After deciding that no one else was willing to brave the cold, we left by bus to get to Yunoyama, where the Kamagadake trail begins. As our bus drove towards the Suzuka mountain range, we began to get a glimpse of the adventures that were in store for us that day. The area had been blanketed the previous night with a heavy snowfall, and we could see the mountaintops sprinkled with white as we approached. Nevertheless, the forecasts predicted sunny, blue skies, and we were in good spirits as we made our way to the trailhead. The beginning of the hike was gorgeous, with the first tinges of the fall colors appearing in the trees above our heads. The ground was wet and fresh smelling from the melting snow, and at our feet, red, gold, and orange leaves were scattered on the pure white snow. About 300 meters up, however, the snow began to accumulate on the trail, packed down into slippery ice by previous hikers, and those of us without good hiking boots had a difficult time keeping our footing. At first, we were literally rolling on the ground with laughter, throwing snowballs playfully at each other, watching Jennie and Tomomi (?) sliding down slippery slopes into brush and stream water, with Justin leaping daringly into the air, sacrificing life and limb to save them, and Taka catching it all on film. Every now and then clumps of snow would land on someone’s head as if the trees wanted to join in on our snowball fights, sending us all laughing and pointing our fingers at the unfortunate soul under that tree at the right moment. Thus, it was difficult to distinguish the amusement value of the cold and ice from the great hazard it posed as we climbed our way toward the top of Kamagadake. We had predicted that there would be a little snow on the trail that day, but as slips became more frequent and conditions more hazardous, we reluctantly decided that it was better to be safe than sorry. We turned around, and carefully made our way back down to Yunoyama, stopping at a lovely spot on the streambed amidst the fall colors to have lunch. Although we didn’t make it to the top, when we reached the bottom, we had two new resolutions: First, to get some of us to buy a good pair of hiking boots. And, second, to put off Kamagadake for a later date sometime in the spring; the day’s adventure had given us a taste of the natural playground and scenic beauty this mountain has to offer. Jennie December 2002