This weekend we hiked the highest peak in the Rokko mountain range near Kobe! We started at trainstation Ashiyagawa and climbed all the way up to the peak at 931 m, then descended back on the other side of the mountain to Arima hot springs.

The trail starts at a very nice teahouse near a waterfall and then quickly gets steeper and steeper.

Then you reach the famous “Rock Garden” (or Rooku gaaden as the Japanese say :p). We hiked here a year ago! The area is famous for its rocky outcrops and popular with rock climbers. It is a very cool trail with amazing views over all of Osaka. We could see as far as Kansai Airport since it was a very clear day! 

Yeah mountain climbing! :p

There is a peak halfway, and last time we hiked here we headed back down after this spot.
You notice that warning sign in the right corner…? That wasn’t there last year…So yeah I was extra vigilant for any murdurous boars around ;-P And whaddayaknow… we walked along a path and suddenly a boar with huge tusks AND its baby came around the corner straight at us. AAA! I turned around and ran away, passing a Japanese hiker and yelling ” inoshishi! inoshishi! (boar! boar!)”. But, the Japanese man just laughed and walked up to the boar, guiding it into woods, no problem. So why all these scary signs?! (you can see them on the right!):Anyway, so we continued our trail up and up and up and at some point passed a very cool and mysterious dam.

Because it is the rainy season (though no rain that day!), everything was so green and lush, very beautiful!

What’s great about this trail is the views… At the top you could see all of Osaka (my god that city is big!!) and because it was such a clear day, we could see right across the water to Kansai Airport.

We could even see our house! (there in the middle between all the skyscrapers ;-))The ascent took us about 4 hours, and the descent 1,5. Good exercise for Fuji!