It was a beautiful sunny day, and we really wanted to explore the mountains around Osaka a bit more. So we went to hike around mount Rokko, near Kobe. The trail leading to the top is really cool because of the sandstone formations you have to climb!

After passing a lovely old teahouse and a waterfall, the trail really started with a looooong way of steps!

The insect season in Japan is starting (nooooooo), so there were caterpillars everywhere. Everywhere!!! You couldn’t touch anything or your hands would be covered in at least 8 different kinds of caterpillars (we counted). Crazy! Not only that, they were hanging from thin threads everywhere! Don’t walk there with your mouth open! They were pretty beautiful though.

 

And then we saw the biggest mukade (centipede) we’ve ever seen in Japan crawling on a branch, probably feasting on all the caterpillars. Nasty…

But there were sweeter animals as well, there were actually some cats roaming on the mountain :-)

 

So let the climbing begin!

Sometimes there were chains you could hold on to, but most parts it’s just climbing over rocks like these.

The view of Kobe and Osaka gets more and more spectacular along the way.

 

We were heading for that electrical tower you can see in the back!:

 

Really cool how yellow the sandstone rocks are.

From there the view was amazing! On a clear day you can see all of Osaka. the lines of the electric tower are a bit of a shame though…. :-0

 

447 meters!

The trail back down lead through a peaceful forest.

 

The trails ends at Hokura-jinja, a nice temple in the forest where wild Japanese boars are often spotted!