@wittyzell has been rambling about this gorge for quite some time now. she mentioned it early november during our very first hiking trip for this season. and since i happened to be free this weekend, i finally said yes. i shared it to our group chat as a "leisure" walk, housemate js took the bait. so here we are now at the mitake gorge.
starting point
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via the jr ome line, we got off at ikusabata station (軍畑駅), our starting point. it was quite a long train train, we have been travelling for around 30 minutes to shinjuku, hopped on the holiday rapid okutama and met with @wittyzell along the way for a travel of around an hour. finally, we transferred at ome for another 20 minute train ride.
this was definitely the countryside. but no countryside is not reachable by japan's biggest pride, the vending machines. of course i am joking.
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downhill from the station, we reached a grand bridge crossing the tama river below. we will be walking along this river. the gorge trail is still a few more meters to the right of this bridge which you are not supposed to cross.
as remote as this place looks like, this is still part of tokyo. the eastern part of tokyo is the ever bright and loud city, and here at the western part are the mountains and the beautiful gorges and valleys that formed in between. east for the city, west for nature!
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here we have reached the starting point of the walking "leisure" trail. a little more meters down this path is the river. these waters were the clearest from afar.
housemate js immediately regretted wearing the squeaky white sneakers, these path had mud.
the waters
we got off the main path to a fork toward the waters. we saw people on kayaks. we waved and greeted them, they waved back. that was so sweet of them.
these waters were indeed very clear! just look at this scene, it felt so good to be alive to witness this. very fresh and very refreshing!
how red can it get? honestly, this is the most vibrant red i have seen this autumn season. even this colorblind eyes of mine could see how red it was. i normally don't get to appreciate autumns, but with this many autumn colors, i guess i couldn't help but appreciate this season more.
we got back on the main path to continue the trail. there was this small shrine on top of a rock beside the path at some point. i got up but immediately got back down when they mentioned that there were spider webs.
we again got close to the waters and this time the waters were now a bit raging. there were also more rocks this time. but the scene was just great!
it was around 11:30 this time so we opted to have our lunch in this area. there were a bunch of large rocks which served as seats and we were by the shade, perfect. i had an onigiri rice ball.
here was a photographer who also found this scene scenic. we were there literally a meter beside him, me just eating my onigiri. he was not shy, we scooted just so he can pass. i don't mind, i don't own the river nor the rock where we were seated at.
after finishing up, we got up and headed to the bridge at the distance.
midway sawanoi garden
and here we are at the bridge! very pretty! there was a sort of garden with food and tables at the foot of this bridge.
we were very surprised to see flocks of people enjoying food in this garden. they certainly did not use the walking trail we were on. apparently, this place was near sawai station (沢井駅) so it was accessible. and there was a sake tasting facility as there was a brewery nearby. people found the perfect excuse to enjoy sake while basking in refreshing autumn colors.
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two cute things i found as we were having a 2nd serving of food and drinks.
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after the amazake drink, we crossed the bridge and passed by the kanzanji shrine (寒山寺). we are ready to continue the "leisure" walk.
the promenade
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it was quite a downhill from the shrine and housemate js was again having a hard time from the non-hiking shoes worn.
here we were at the promenade!
it was indeed a great spot to witness the beautiful autumn colors right in front of you from across the river. it was very breathtaking! and this family would probably agree with my statement.
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we crossed the river again through this narrow footbridge not after having a photoshoot on it. the view on top was also very beautiful.
welcome to the rocks
how lush were these trees? i could not help but admire them.
as we were walking, we occasionally see people with rectangular foam pads on there backs walking past us. i jokingly called them dominoes because they really looked like walking dominoes.
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here was the "domino" playground. those foam pads were used by rock climbers and there was a congregation of them climbing barehand on these huge boulder faces. they were even multiracial, bouldering must be really a big thing here in mitake.
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paddle boarding was also quite popular as the river rapids were quite strong around this area now.
at least they don't seem to disturb wildlife that much.
we passed by this magnificent ginkgo. it was so yellow that it even got reflected on the waters. we were on the other side of the river though. we swore to cross the river just to see this tree up close.
i am submitting this photo above as an entry for #aroundtheworld challenge by @bucipuci. it perfectly showed what mitake gorge is known for: the rocks, the rapids, the autumn colors, and the mountains.
mitake bridge and the ginkgo tree
here is the poster child of the whole mitake area, this arched bridge! at least you have seen it as the cover photo of this blog entry, but i am not joking when i said that this is the poster child. it is really a very prominent feature.
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we continued walking on this side of the river at least until we reached this part where water sport enthusiasts were practicing in riding the rapids. just trying to keep afloat seemed to be a herculean task already. it seemed to be a training waters ground for kayakers (is that even the correct term?) and paddle boarders.
we went back up to ground level, crossed the mitake bridge, and got back down at the other side. remembered the ginkgo tree earlier? we were going there. but we first have to conquer this downward steps. we were very tempted to stop the journey with just the thought that we will be going back up on these stairs later.
here is @wittyzell enjoying the scenery. it was nothing but lovely. we again took lots of photos with the yellow leaves. it was our time to get goofy. it was a "leisure" walk after all, we had all the time in the world.
climbing back up with the last view of the gorge, i realized that i have been here before. i have been here at least near the mitake station (御嶽駅). the last time, me and my hiking buddies got off at this station and hopped on a bus toward the ropeway where we began our ascent to mount odake (大岳山). that was exactly 2 years and 4 days ago when we were so new to hiking and we immediately faced a trail with chains for hand support.
this was a spectacular "leisure" walk and i am so glad to have enjoyed more autumn through this walk.
bonus
we got the station stamp for ome station on this trip. another one added to the collection of stations from far off places.
as always, AMPING KANUNAY!
take care!
all content is by yours truly unless otherwise specified
all photos are taken with a galaxy s23 ultra
This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io
Height168.0 cm |  | Weight71.7 kg |  | Body Fat% |  |
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