Hakusan

Our neighbourhood metro station is called Hakusan or 白山. As it turns out this also the name of one of Japan's Three Holy Mountains. So obviously, we had to make the trip over to Kanazawa to climb it.

If you're interested you might as well click this link because (spoilers) we ain't going to see any pictures of it in this post.

By the time we reached the trailhead, the weather was already looking more cloudy than when we set off.

As is common in Japanese hills, the route is a steep climb through a humid forest, with occasional glimpses out through the trees. However there was not much to see.

By my reckoning those clouds were at about 1600m. The summit is at 2700m. Pretty soon we would be in those clouds.

Two hours later we gained the plateau. It was wet and windy.

And pretty soon we (sort of) saw our lodgings for the night: the Muroda moutain hut complex. This is a pretty substantial operation, which can house and feed hundreds of people. Tonight however, they would not be close to capacity. It's about 100m below the summit.

The visibility did not improve over lunch. (This was not even the worst!)

Having eaten and ditched our bags, we struggled through the howling winds and rain to get to the top.

And so Hakusan joins the list of mountains we have cllimbed but not seen! (Everyone who hikes in Scotland has such a list.)

Then back down to the hut to wait for dinner and an early night.

The next morning the weather was worse. The heavens opened and we had the most torrential rain I can remember ever being in. The paths turned into rivers. Waterproof clothes gave up. Two days later my boots are still wet.

It was kind of funny.

We had a long wait for our bus, but fortunately there was an onsen at the trailhead and we could get cleaned up and change into our dry clothes.

And then we went back to Kanazawa, of which I will post some pictures another day.