傾山 - Mt. Katamuki

Weekend + fine weather = mountain, no exceptions! This time the destination was 傾山 (かたむきやま), which, after 11 hours of hiking, we concluded as "Tougher than we thought".


Mt. Katamuki, "the bending mountain", was so far the second most challenging mountain in Kyushu (number one being Mt. Okue). The prefectural border of Miyazaki and Oita runs right over the range, and in fact, hiking up the trail means that your left leg tramps the soil of Miyazaki and right the soil of Oita.

At the base we met a fellow climber from Nagasaki who had the day before climbed to Mt. Sobo. He suggested to hike together and soon the three of us headed up. It was a good decision not only because of his merry spirit but because, to our luck, he carried a detailed hiking map of the area.

Depending on the course, the trails of Mt. Katamuki can be quite a jumble. There is a network of red-taped paths joining and departing from the course and leading to the surrounding mountains.  If you didn't pack a rabbit's foot and a four-leaf clover, a map is a necessity to figure out those trails.

We took off from 九折登山口（つづらおりとざんぐち）and made a loop via the east-ward path, 三ツ尾（みつお）. Here's the exact course: http://timber-line.net/map/.

In addition to a fat green snake full of venom and a dead crab, we encountered the most amazing thing: a mountain guide dog! At least my mind was totally blown of this furry creature. So what did it do?

We met this miracle dog, I'll just call it "Vincent", at the altitude of 1.602.2 meters - the very top of Mt. Katamuki. And as we made our way down Vincent walked in front of us all the time following precisely the designed trail.

He's four legs were much faster than our two and so he reached the next opening well before us. At the opening, Vincent waited patiently and when we arrived he took off again to lead the way.

If we stopped to consult the map of to drink water, Vincent ran the trail backwards until to where we were. I couldn't but feel that he was checking whether we were lost.

Not a bit earlier than at the parking area, to where we arrived at around 18:15, Vincent started to ask for a reward, that being food. We gladly shared some.

This dog, Vincent, had truly figured his own way to make a living. I don't see how a dog could be trained to live like that. Little sadly, as we left the parking area Vincent was the only one remaining.