羊蹄やった！

My legs are so sore; even going downstairs to get a cup of coffee is an ordeal. The reason? Yesterday I went up and down Youteizan (aka: Ezo Fuji; Mount Yotei) in eight hours.

I left Australia House at about 8 45, hopped on my bike, and headed toward the mountain. I planned my route in advance, so I knew it shouldn't take more than an hour to get there by bicycle--down the street, hang a left on 631, a left on to 5, and a nearly immediate right and you're there. Except 631 is not labelled. I rode past it. For about two kilometers.

Two kilometers later, I figured this just wasn't going right and headed back to a turn that I'd suspected might be 631. To make sure, though, I wanted to ask someone, so I stopped at ビークル ("Be Cool", if I've correctly interpreted their desired name), a small ice cream shop. A kind couple in their forties or fifties (if memory serves me well) pulled out a map and sketched the route for me, verifying my initial thoughts.

Going down hills is fun, so the next portion of the trip was rather nice: the roads are relatively steep as you descend toward the river, so it's quite easy to go as fast as the cars on the same road. The downside of heading down to the river, though, is that, if you're crossing, you then have to go up the other side. Needless to say, I walked for a bit.

Once at the top of the worst of it, finding my way to route 5 and Hangetsuko (the Half-Moon Lake) were no problem. Once there I went to check out the lake before carrying on up the mountain. As you've probably surmised, the lake is semicircular in shape, filling half of what was once a volcanic crater, a caldera. The views are pleasant, but I was somewhat disappointed that there's no clear vantage point from the rim of the crater from which one can take in the whole lake. (At least, I didn't see any such look-out.)

I snacked on some of the nuts I'd brought with me and said konnichiwa (こんにちは) to a tour group as they passed by. From the top of the short walk down to the lake I cycled up to the parking lot at the start of the route. Stashing the bike in some bushes and snapping some shots of the route maps and entrance, I set off past the returning tour groups to climb the mountain.