4 x 4

Morning Run

Evening Run

200m x 7

My two year project finally came to a close. We did it!
Points of interest:
Hakone Yumoto Station - Myojingatake - Kintoki - Ashigara Pass - Yamakita Station - Hinokidake - Nabewari - Tounodake - Tanzawa - Hirugatake - Yakeyama - Fujino Station - Jinba - Ichimichi - Usugi - Otake - Mitake - Kori Station - Kawanori - Hinatazawa no Ura - Sobatsubu - Sengen Pass - Dainichi Kougen Campground - Urayama Dam - Chichibu Station - Maruyama – Hiwadayama

箱根湯本駅 〜 明神ヶ岳 〜 金時 〜 足柄峠 〜 山北駅 〜 檜岳 〜 鍋割 〜 塔ノ岳 〜 丹沢 〜 蛭ヶ岳 〜 焼山 〜 藤野駅 〜 陣馬 〜 市道 〜 臼杵 〜 大岳 〜 御岳 〜 古里駅 〜 川苔 〜 日向沢の峰 〜 蕎麦粒 〜 仙元峠 〜 大日高原キャンプ場 〜 裏山ダム 〜 西武秩父駅 〜 丸山 〜 日和田山

1. CP1 Yamakita (Hakone traverse, ~33km/2200d+) - 12pm and it’s go-time. We both agree it’s not hard to start a long effort amongst the beautiful and fast trails of Hakone, especially later in the day as it starts to cool down, the crowds lighten, and the usually exposed and hotter than hell final push up Kintoki is pleasant. We greet the venerable mountain hut obasan Hisae-san, are rewarded with snacks including a perfectly timed popsicle, and slam a Coke. She shows us the box of cookies that Wye-Khe Kwok brought on behalf of TTR a mere three hours before we arrived. The run down to Ashigara Pass and beyond to Yamakita Station through beautiful forest lifts our spirits even further. We are making great time.
2. CP2 Fujino (Tanzawa traverse, ~50km/4000d+) - The first night shift begins at 6:30pm and we are prepared for this 50km segment to be a long slog. We’re at least treated to spectacular nighttime views of the Shonan coast while we grind our way higher on leg crushing steepness to Nabewari. The air was so dry we quickly realized we didn’t bring enough fluids, Brian with 1.5L and me with 2L, so we took an unplanned 30 minute detour from Tounodake down the hill to refill at the closest natural water source. The journey to Tanzawa and Hirugatake continued uneventfully except for a mysterious poop we’d occasionally spot but weren’t able to identify. Was it a dog? Was it a racoon? Was it a “hot drop” trail runner? Robert’s best guess based on our limited information was perhaps a fox. Sunrise spectacularly peeked out as we came upon Yakeyama. Big news: the Yakeyama trail has been renovated and is open again with new trail signs, ropes, and a detour around the prior typhoon damaged slip-and-slide descent. We come across the best 7-Eleven when we meet road at Aonohara, where the place was PACKED at 6am opening. From the best we could tell this unassuming convenience store was not only the best stocked of our journey, but the hottest meetup location for motorcycle gangs in Japan. The subsequent small mountain pass traverse and road to Fujino just kinda happens as there really isn’t much special going on there.
3. CP3 Kori (Okutama traverse, ~33km/2600d+) - We departed Fujino station around 9:45am, heading straight to Jinba. On the way we came across some incredibly refreshing water coming out of hoses (pipes? I don’t remember) and we dunk our heads and hats, only to realize about 50 meters later that we should have just gone all in. Alas, we are lazy and continue to Jinba, passing by the throngs of golden week holiday hikers. At the summit we took our sweet time snacking on Yuzu flavored cider and sherbet under a shaded tent along with apparently everyone else in Tokyo. The trail from Jinba to Ichimichi was rather pleasant until we encounter the string of soul-crushing, never-ending false summits to Usugi. We agreed this was our least favorite mountain of the course. It’s hard enough when fresh but just plain sucks when you’re tired. Time slowed to a damn crawl. As if the gods knew we weren’t enjoying that experience, our fortunes reversed in a rather odd way. We took the wrong trailhead up to Otake but figured we’d already went too far to turn back and made a gamble. That climb was crazy hard, but it was a straightforward route that bought us back a lot of time. The Otake summit, well over halfway into the course and most of the hardest climbs, is where we truly started to believe we could finish. From there the run down to Mitake was more play than effort and we cruised into Kori.
4. CP4 Chichibu (Chichibu traverse, ~30km/1600d+) - Grateful to ascend Kawanori on a reasonably sloped and well-constructed trail rather than the garbage we originally planned from Okutama Station, we began the second night shift at 9pm feeling good. We even find more good luck once we reach the summit as it’s warm and there isn’t any wind to speak of. While the trail between there and Sengen Pass isn’t the greatest, we already knew the suck potential and made the push in good time, despite the wind picking up to around 13 m/s near Sobatsubu. From Sengen Pass to Dainichi Kougen campground we’re both hallucinating something awful; I’m seeing living, breathing people in countless natural objects, and the leaves are all in the shape of teddy bears. We joked this trail was made by a volunteer summer high school intern who aborted construction midway through when their studies resumed. Imagine a thinly visible pile of slippery leaves on a dangerously steep slope with little room for error, with a fun mix of dilapidated stairs thrown in at the end near the road. From there we again cruise at relatively high speed on paved road to civilization at Chichibu Station. Along the way, however, my body decides to start shutting down due to sleep deprivation around the 41 hour mark, so we pull over to squeeze in a nap. After fifteen minutes my body naturally snaps awake in a refreshed state and we begin to run anew; meanwhile during this time Brian is just hanging out admiring the dam. How the hell he stays awake and functional enough to help me is a mystery I haven’t solved yet.
5. CP5 Hiwadayama (Hanno Okumusashi traverse, ~38km/1600d+) - this is it, we thought, let’s finish! I think we headed out around 7:30am. I almost immediately got us lost for about 20 minutes at Ashigakubo Kaju Park since I hadn’t been there in about a year, searching for a mystery trail that was ultimately right in front of our faces. While I’m wildcatting up the side of a mountain, Brian patiently asks “are you sure it isn’t this obvious trail right there?” Dumb dumb me. Got some smooth ascent and ate lunch at the Kaburi Pass (hello there, salty fried mochi). Not long after resuming, my body started shutting down again. I had to take another 15 minute power nap on the side of the road while Brian stretched and gave crazy-eyes to the occasional car passing by. It must have looked like the scene of a homicide with the awful stench to match. Robert then met us between Monomi and Hiwadayama to our great relief because he’s just a fun guy to end a run like this with. Ultimately, we cut the original end at Metsa Village in favor of ending a few kilometers earlier at Hiwadayama as we felt the Torii gate there was a more fitting salute. If you’ve been on a TTR run in Hanno you’ve almost certainly passed through there.

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