I’m about a week behind with my postings! Last week was a national holiday in Japan so I took advantage and made it a 4-day weekend. We decided to explore around Kyushu a little bit and started out in the onsen (public bath house/hot spring) town of Yufuin in Oita prefecture. I had read a little about 由布岳・Mount Yufu (or Yufudake) and wanted to give it a try in between near-constant snacking and relaxing in out in-room private onsen.
It was a beautiful sunny day, from the bottom. The top, not so much! But that was ok. It was a great up with beautiful views until I ran into the clouds.
It was very cloudy and windy but I ran into some nice people. When you go up Mount Yufu, there are 2 summits; east and west. I stuck to the east because the west is notoriously perilous and I was missing my hiking partner. But there’s always next time!
After the summit, I decided to take the road less travelled down. I ran into maybe 5 people and they all asked me why I hadn’t put on my crampons yet…. Well, I don’t own any, yet! It was quite snowy and they descent was full of chains and steep areas. Luckily I can now truthfully say I have gotten over my fear of ropes because I had so much opportunity to practice and get comfortable!
After the majority of the deep snow and ropes I sat down for a matcha set, though admittedly slightly different from usual. The scenery changed so much throughout the day; the mossy area was so sweet and calm.
The grasslands and rolling hills are incredible too, I can’t wait to see it in summertime. After the hike I was a little exhausted, it had been a bit more challenging than I thought for the descent so was very happy to get apple and cereal ice cream as a little treat nearby.
The next morning, after much relaxing in onsen, we went to Kinrin lake and then off to get more snacks. Yufuin was really cute, I’d love to go back sometime and explore around more. After this, we were southward bound!
Tea, Sweets and Trails 