Rock Climbing in Kobe

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!

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

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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.

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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…

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

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So let the climbing begin!

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

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

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

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Really cool how yellow the sandstone rocks are.

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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

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447 meters!

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The trail back down lead through a peaceful forest.

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

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