Gidday I'm Willie. Resident of Japan. Hiker of its mountains. Walker of its trails. Sweater of its summer induced sweats. Sufferer of its frigid winters. Bagger of its most famous 100 peaks. 'Bagger' in the most positive sense possible, of course. And I'm going back for more... Here you'll find my stories. Thanks for stopping by. If you're into hiking, Japan, nature and the outdoors consider following along. I'm not planning on stopping until my knees blow out...and you'll see that here first too!
i watch this in september, but you still got me april tricked with those lions. (i was already about to write a comment, but then i was like..... oh... wait....)
Haha yeah. The trail in that section would be a neverending battle to repair. On the other hand signage leaves a lot to be desired but would be an easy fix if anybody could be bothered.
Hello, I also walked this slope in December 2016. I think it was the most difficult part of the Tokai Nature Trail. I'm glad you're safe. It's almost Takao. Keep fighting. It's April now, so maybe you've already reached the finish line?
Your videos are so good that we watch them even we can not see a thing! (....aaaand there is always time for onsen! that's for sure the reason for losing your power: cause you didnt make a break there! :-) )
Don't blame you; 30 plus clicks along a rindo would probably do me in too! BTW, where the heck do you stay? Based on that diminutive backpack, I take it not in campgrounds.
From Osaka to Gifu, most of the time I could just head home. Once that became a nuisance I'd mostly hunker down in a centrally located business hotel if there was nothing en route. I've camped once. Stayed in an emergency hut once. Done a campground bungalow once. Been put up by a fellow Aussie in Aichi for a few nights... Purists may scoff but if the trail isn't going to force me to camp I find it hard to motivate myself to do so. So much for that Hyakumeizan hardening up I went through...I've long since regressed.
I did this section the other way round (from Jokoji station) a few years ago but gave up at Iruka Pond (around 25km) because of skin rash around my ankles. Went up to the Meiji-Mura Museum and took a bus from there! Got lost a few times, as I didn't have GPS information, just relying on the signs is really difficult. Thanks for explaining about the green and white arrows, I'll keep that in mind on further walks! The section from Inuyama-Yuen to Zenjino is really nice when you don't have much time, I've walked it many times!
Hello Willie, awesome book! Not finished yet, but I made it to page 511 in less than a week! As I'm injured currently, I can't climb myself, so I enjoyed reading your encounters. I'm at 66/100. It was great to read about the mountains I haven't done yet, but also the ones I have done and remembering my own experiences. Ibuki was also my first Hyakumeizan! Asama-yama was my second mountain and as I went together with locals, I had no fears whatsoever! A bit naive, maybe! I was able to look into the crater. Yake-dake and Daisen I sticked to the areas you can "officially" climb. Kusatsu Shirane I stepped over the "tachiirikinshi" wearing my helmet but failed to find the summit marker in the end. Must have walked by it though... Some routes do indeed change due to landslides, typhoons etc. Amazing that you were able to navigate it all with huts and busses etc. so many years ago without GPS Maps! I realized you climbed nearly all the Northern Alps Mountains in October! That's too late I thought, but maybe I can push on this year, of course it depends on snow conditions... Shiroumadake I climbed in Golden Week with blue sky, so the tumbling rocks were easily seen. But to hike it in the fog is a death trap, I thought. You were very courageous! I appreciated reading about the times you couldn't hike for various reasons as I experienced the same. Aino-dake thunder and lightning sounded really scary! I could also relate very well to all those weird encounters that you get at stations, where strange people start speaking to you, fellowship at the mountain huts with people you don't know, making friends among the mountains etc. I know it is many years ago but CONGRATULATIONS on finishing the Hyakumeizan!
Thanks Judith. Glad you're enjoying the book. And good point! I didn't realise I'd only climbed in the Northern Alps in October! Probably you have until mid October to bag some more peaks there. Just check Yamap or Yamareco and see what other hikers are doing. And like I said in the book - go mid week if you can and you'll have the huts to yourself. Hope you heal up soon and can bag a few more peaks before winter!
@@williewalks In the Northern Alps I have only Tsurugi and Kashiyamari left. From June onwards whenever I had time off, it rained, so I didn't go. I was going to do half of the Southern Alps Traverse this summer but then, alas I got injured. Once healed I want to start slowly so maybe Bandai using the ropeway and Azuma... we'll see
I remember coming to that roped off section. Coming from Yoro, I had run out of water and didn't want to make it all the way back, so forward it was. I think I went down that dilapidated path to Mino-Tsuya station. It was quite steep and scary, but I made it. One day I want to hike all the way from Yoro to Tado.
@@williewalks Yes, it's about 30km. Apparently there is a race once a year starting at Tado-shrine, but I couldn't find it. Going from Yoro to Tado should be easier as Tado is only 400m high. I'm thinking about trail running it. Or take it easy and stay at that emergency hut half way... we'll see...
Thanks. I don't know how to stick a GPS track in the corner. I have downloaded a file from here: ranger-k.eco.coocan.jp/longtrail_webmap/tokai_trail/route/webmap.html and am using it in an app called Mapout. This file is about 95 percent accurate. It has only sent me off trail twice and both were nothing major.
A lot of people ask. Basically when you walk through towns and villages and farming areas you'll see people going about their daily business. Most of them are in cars. As for hikers, you'll see them at the popular spots like Minoh, Arashiyama, Sanage-yama, Horaiji-san. Mt. Takao in Tokyo is apparently a zoo. Most of the trail is empty. On trail, in the woods, away from the popular spots you might meet another hiker every couple of days. I've met one proper thru-hiker. And glimpsed another one vanishing into the woods ahead of me as I stopped for lunch.
Why would i rather do Tokai than Nakasendo in summer? This route has seemed like a true beauty so far. (Ep6) But there is no comparable series for Nakasendo.
Well, I wouldn't recommend doing this trail in the summer, though it is a beauty. If I do make it to Tokyo by summer I am flirtng with the idea of turning around and walking back to Kyoto on the Nakasendo (no promises mind you!). In summer I'd say the Nakasendo, though mostly hot roadwalking, is a doable proposition. It's shorter, has less elevation, contains more amenities to deal with the heat. In terms of beauty though, the Nakasendo can't compare.
@@williewalks sadly only possible in the summer, as i have teacher's leave then ;) really unsure what i should aim for. Betting both of them as deadly and i guess shikoku and kyushu are even hotter. Hokkaido is too rural barren and remote for my tastes. Got my native Norway for that. Then again, it sounds like you will be hiking in japan aswell, do i guess its doable :)
Shikoku and Kyushu will be hot for sure and are often extremely wet in summer. Maybe check out the Japan Long Trail Association for some inspiration: longtrail.jp/trail_e.html
Wow! Thanks for the videos. I stumbled into this trail on a trip to Osaka Minoh March this year. After the trip I did a lot of research on this trail, and came back in May, walked from Minoh waterfall to Ninchoji. There's not much English/Chinese information about this trail, I don't live in Japan so I know I cannot finish this one, but lovely to see your videos and good luck with the rest of your trip!
Glad to see you found these videos. The Osaka part is a nice introduction to the trail. Hope you get to come back and do some more sections in the future.
It would be interesting to see any changes if you walked the whole trail again, but if it was me I think I would just walk the sections I missed to feel I had completed it.
Hello Thank you for uploading great videos every time I also completed the Tokai Nature Trail From February 2016 to November 2022, it took 18 times, for a total of 46 days I'm 73 years old Good luck and aim for Mt. Takao in Tokyo😊😊😊
It's difficult for me to comprehend why your channel does not have at least 100k subscribers. Your videos are well done, and your journey is a delight to watch. Keep up the awesomeness!
Thank-you for the kind words. Only some 99650 subs to go! I get a kick out of making my videos. And if the people, like you, following along do too then that's the main thing. Everyone wants more subs and views, but I don't want to think I need to stress over these things. I've got a book coming out soon, I might do a bit more to push the numbers then to see what happens, but you know, we can't rush these things.
Nicely shot, Willie! Glad you had the option of sidestepping that tunnel. Reminds me of a hairy tunnel experience I had in Yamanashi. Caught in bad weather, I had to reroute the hike, which meant passing through a long, unlit, eerie tunnel. Since it curved around, the light at the other end only appeared about halfway through. I had no choice but to put on the headlamp and walk at a brisk pace.
“Murder hornets” 😂😂😂😂 only Americans call them that. In Thailand kids use meat as bait to track them back to their nest, then sell the nests as a delicacy in the markets. Murder hornets 😂😂😂😂😂
David you've missed nothing. UPDATE: as of February 9, 2024, most amazon housekeeping has been completed, cover has been designed and uploaded, all illustrations and maps have been completed, before I upload the manuscript I am picking over it one final time. I have 75 chapters to go over in the final nitpicking and have forgone the Shizen Hodo this glorious weekend to knuckle through most of those. It's a five hundred page monster. I've given release predictions in the past only to miss them dismally but do hold tight, and thanks for your patience! Every day a little more progress is made! Willie.
i rather watch you walking for hours than any netflix show! you really have an eye for the camera, in wide scope and small details. highly enjoyable! and we learned something from this episode as well this time: it is sometimes better to face a single lion than 10000 small blood sucking insects.
Never forget the legacy of the butt crack tick! By the way I found out you can buy permethrin as an agricultural chemical here, it’s the stuff you can easily buy in USA to spray clothes to kill ticks and it lasts a month or so… Very tempting to try
no "...makes my dreams come true"-song at the end....? this is first time ever in this series if i am not mistaken? looking forwards for the 30km video report
i must learn from you the skill of ignoring "closed path"-signs. (this sometimes stops me from reaching wild, hidden onsen). those signs (and the uncut path behind it) would have intimidated me. in any case, your videos are proof that the camera man never dies. (that is true even for spottet lions - good luck this time it was just a wooden one!)
The secret is not to ignore the sign but to just go for a look. Just to see what it's like. One must always be happy to turn around. Curiosity might kill the cat but as you say, not the cameraman!
Wow that’s a pretty wild trail? Rock climbing course? Can’t say I wasn’t caught out by you saying we wanted to see you balance on the guardrail… guilty as charged I wanted to see an attempt 😂
