Mt. Takao - 高尾山

Monday, I went on another mountain hike. This time it was to Mt. Takao, which is 599 meters tall, and to the west of Tokyo.

It started out as a very foggy day. Here is a picture from the train, leaving Karasuyama.






Most of the trains are JR (Japan Rail) trains. But the quickest and cheapest route from Shinjuku to Takaosanguchi, the nearest station to Mt. Takao, is run by Keio. Here, Hello Kitty is warning us to keep fingers away from the door on the train, as they can get caught.

I took a chair lift from the bottom of the moutain to 462 m, from 224m at the "base". It's quite steep.
Even part way up the mountain, the view is great.








I walked a short while on trail #1, to the monkey park.

Here is Dad's counterpart in Japan. I think he enjoys talking about the monkeys as much as Dad likes to talk about the birds and animals at the Desert Museum.

They have 7 babies this year.

I didn't see Dana or Connor, though.




The main trail is paved and fairly easy. I saw parents with baby strollers and people with small dogs.












I turned off trail #1 onto trail #4. This trail is unpaved and runs along a ridge. It has a suspension bridge, too.

I made it to the top. You can tell it's the top because of all the people and the shops. A beer was 670 yen at the top, which is why I didn't buy one. As I went down, the price of beer also went down.

I went down on trail #1.

Here is Yakuin temple, which is on Mt. Takao. It belongs to a sect of Shingon Buddhism. Shingon similar to Tibetan Buddhism, which is different from other sects of Japanese Buddhism such as Zen or Tendai.







A foggy day.