The Trip to Yakushima: Day 5

Ok, the 5th day was basically all about sitting in a car driving back to Oita. While waiting in the 37 km traffic-jam we had time to talk and draw conclusion of the trip. So, I might as well share those thoughts here.

Yakushima is great! But never ever go there during Golden Week. In fact, don't go anywhere in Golden Week. You'll only become additional car stuck in the traffic. But if you really have to go, take the train. It's least likely to suffer from congestion.

Golden Week + Yakushima = hordes of hikers! Ia it happens, we may have seen the entire spring and summer collection of MontBell, North Face, Mammoth and all the other outdoor-wear brands.

All three trails, Jomon-sugi, Mt. Mianoura, and Shiratani-unsuikyou, had a constant flow of people back and forth. It was challenging to enjoy the nature from all the "Konnichiwa" bombardment. Probably now all four of us can pronounce a perfect konnichiwa and all the sub-variations of it.

But still we enjoyed heaps! Go to Yakushima, you'll enjoy it too!

The Trip to Yakushima: Day 4

４日目の朝、３日間お世話になった屋久島ユースホステルをチェックアウトして、
白谷雲水峡へ向かいました☆

なぜか私、「楠川登山口」から白谷雲水峡へ行くのだと勘違いして、
登山口まで車を走らせてもらったのですが、とんでもないデコボコ道…！！
「こんなとこ、普通、車は絶対通らんだろう…」という感じの道で、でかい石がゴロゴロ落ちていました…。車が跳ねる、跳ねる！！
終点地で勘違いに気づき、引き返して、正しい白谷雲水峡入り口に行ってもらいました。
運転してくれたChieちゃん、本当にごめんなさい！！！！！！


さて、白谷雲水峡はもののけ姫の舞台になった場所！
本当にコケが素晴らしく、緑が美しかったです☆☆


縄文杉、宮之浦岳と歩いてきたので、ハイキングコースは楽に歩けました☆

くぐり杉


緑と美しい川のコントラストが素敵なところでした♪



お腹がすいた私達は、宮之浦に戻り、すぐにお昼ご飯を食べに行きました。
麺屋　琉誠さん↓

味玉炙りトロラーメン、お肉がトロトロで香ばしくてめちゃめちゃおいしかったです！！！！

そして、宮之浦ポートサイドユースホステルにチェックインしました。
このホステル、談話室がオーシャンビューで、建物も新しく、設備もキレイで、オーナーさんも親切だし、かなりおススメです☆☆
あと３泊ぐらい余分にしていきたい気分になってしまいました♪

チェックインが早かったので、まだ時間があり、オーナーさんに近くにどこかいい場所はないか尋ねると、屋久島総合自然公園の横にある川原で遊ぶことを提案してくれました☆

早速行ってみました☆


水が超キレイで、みんなで石投げをして遊びました♪


GW中だというのに、人も全然いなくて、のんびり過ごせてよかったあ☆☆

The Trip to Yakushima: Day 3

On the third day our single goal was to climb the highest peak of Kyushu, Mt. Miyanoura. As it takes roughly 10 hours to complete we aimed for an early start: alarm at 4:30 sharp; nearly 2 hour drive to the base and the hike at 6:50.

Just for the record, for the first three nights we stayed at Yakushima Youth Hostel. It's a little remote but the cozy atmosphere and open sky onsen nearby make it a fine, yet affordable hostel - recommended! Anyway, so in the forest we went...


The magnificent trees welcome every hiker in the beginning. It's much fun only to discover different forms and shapes that the trees and the nature has made. Sometimes we found familiar things from the scene.


Such as these branches, what do you think they resemble? Some four-legged animal with horns that is common in Nara-park? Yes, that's right a deer.


The scenery took a quick change as we reached the plains. It was unbelievably windy, which can't be seen from the photo but otherwise the weather was superb! Please, click the photo for a larger panorama view.


One the way up, we encountered a smaller mountain, 豆腐岩 (Touhuiwa). At the time we didn't know its name so we accordingly decided to call it Panya-san (パン屋山) because the peaking stone looks like a sliced loaf of bread, and because mountains' names often end in "-san".


The peak was only 20 minutes away from here.In this image, I wanted to capture the greenery that covered everything, and the roundish stones that have been slowly shaped by eroding winds, rain and snow.


The top was crowded as one could expect in the Golden Week. One of the hikers slurped probably 5 packs of noodles during our short stay there. It was funny (and noisy) enough to make me shoot a secret photo.


Another view from the Mt. Miyanoura. The Yakushima island is as round as mandarin and because Mt. Myanoura is right in the midst of it, one should see ocean in the horizon 360 degrees. We didn't see any, however.


From the main track on our way back we diverged to another way and took a look at one of the mountain rivers that run down from Mt. Miyanoura. It was a nice chance to try out HDR imaging and do rock-jumping.

At the end of the day I have to say we were exhausted and hungry!

The Trip to Yakushima: Day 2

縄文杉に会いに行くため、朝３時半起床！
縄文杉登山の主要ルートへの一般車両乗入れ規制の為、屋久杉自然館までしか車で行けません。4時半頃着くと、バス停にすでに人がいっぱい並んでいました！！
幸い、増便した始発のバス（4:40）に補助席で乗り込めてラッキー♪♪
５時半頃、登山開始！！！

トロッコ道を歩いて行くのですが、途中トンネルの中を通ったり、気分はインディジョーンズ！！




手すりのない橋も渡ったり、スリル満点です！！


こんな大きな杉の木があったり、興味津々！


ネットで、「Gwはすごく混雑するので、トイレも１時間待ちぐらいになる」というのを見ていたので、携帯用トイレ持参だったのですが、せいぜい１０分待ちぐらいでそこまでではなくてホッとしました。携帯用トイレを使用する人用のテント↓


途中には水飲み場もたくさんあって、水に困ることはなかったです。
道中にたくさん咲いていた、サクラツツジの花も目を楽しませてくれました☆☆


トロッコ道が終わると、登山道になります。でも道が整備されていたりしました。

全てこんな道というわけではないですけどね。


最初に出会う巨木「翁杉」。周りに生えているコケがいい感じです☆



ウィルソン博士が調査して、紹介したという「ウィルソン株」とにかくデカイ！！！


中に入ってみました。

端の方から上を見上げると、ハート型に見えました♪中には湧き水も出ています☆


更に先へ進むと、縄文杉が発見される前までは最大の屋久杉と言われていた「大王杉」が！ ロボットみたいで、迫力満点です！！



夫婦仲良く手をとりあっているように、結ばれている２本の屋久杉「夫婦杉」

どうやってくっついちゃったのか、本当に不思議です…


縄文杉までの道のりは長いけれど、途中に見所がたくさんあったので、全然辛くはなかったです。



そしてついに縄文杉にご対面！！

想像していたより、ずっと太くてずっしりとしていたのが印象的でした。
「威厳に満ちた森の主」という言葉がぴったりです！！


帰り道は、縄文杉に会いに行く人達がたくさんで、道を譲らないといけないのでなかなか前に進むことができませんでした。


ちょっと道をそれて、川の近くまで行ってみました☆
水が透き通っていて美しい！！


往復１０時間の道のりを歩ききったし、縄文杉に会えたし、かなり満足☆


その日の夜、宿の近くの海中温泉、湯泊温泉に行きました。
平内海中温泉に行きたかったけれど、干潮前後２時間ぐらいしか入れないようなので、時間が合わず、こちらにしました。
日も沈んだ頃に行き、岩陰で着替えをして、バスタオルを巻いて温泉に入りました。（女性のみタオル可）
この温泉、男女仕切られているのですが、もっと先の方へ歩いて行くと、海のすぐ側に岩風呂があって、こちらは男女混浴なのですが、かなりいい感じでおススメです！！
満天の星空の下、温泉に入ってすごく癒されました☆☆
岩風呂の横の方に穴が開いていて、そこから温かいお湯が出てきていて、とても気持ちよかったです☆☆

とっても充実した一日でした！！

The Trip to Yakushima: Day 1

It's Golden Week and Japanese are enjoying an extra long holiday. Although Golden Week is one of the worst times to travel (because roads are jammed with cars) we decided to go down south to Yakushima.

Yakushima is a relatively small island covering an area of 500 km² and inhabiting around 15 000 people. It is located 120 or so kilometers south of Kagoshima, the most southern prefecture in Kyushu. The island is listed as one of the UNESCO World Heritage locations because of its rich flora, ancient specimens and unique forests.

Some of the attractions in the island are: the huge Jomon Sugi (Japanese Cheddar tree), Mononoke Hime forest and Mt. Miyanoura. The island also a place of choice if you want to relax in the most beautiful beaches in Japan - and that is exactly what we did on our first day of the five day journey.

The first day in pictures:
After a 4.5 h drive from Oita, we reached Kagoshima-city, from where a ferry carried us to Yakushima in 2 hours. To our surprise, Mt. Sakurajima, a mountain right in front of Kagoshima port burst a "Welcome to Kagoshima" smoke cloud. Well, moreover it reminded of flight problems in Iceland and Europe.


Local bus circulates the Kagoshima island but in order to get to all the hikes we had planned to go it was necessary to rent a car. First notions of the island were, quiet, sunny, tropical, and so very beautiful!


The entrance to the most beautiful beach in Yakushima, the Nagata Inaka-hama beach. Turtles that come in July to spawn there make it a famous in one way.


The other side is that the waves are quite good so many surfers come to do their stuff there.


The sea water was much warmer than we thought. After sitting in the car and ferry for most of the day, it felt just awesome! We had so much fun running around and getting splashed over and over again by the waves! :P


Another sight, the bright white Yakushima Toudai (屋久島灯台) surrounded by sparkling blue sea and lush greenery.


The round-shaped island can be circulated in about 3 hours. This is a photo from the west-coast, which is famous for the scenic road. Where as the east-coast is well inhabited, the west-coast seems less touched.


Despite all warnings, when we saw this monkey mother and its baby, I had to go as close as possible and take a photo. They are known to steal cameras and even jump inside a car through an open window. Well, this time no such thing happened and I got a serene shot.


Before heading to our hostel in the southern part, we took a look at one of the top 100 waterfalls in Japan, the Oko-no-taki that swoosh rapidly from 88 meters.


More in the coming post by Yumiko...