The Nyonin-michi–literally, “women’s trail”–circumambulates the rim of Kōyasan’s mountaintop plateau. Before the Meiji Era, this was as close to the sacred holy sites as women were allowed to come.
Read moreCHAPTER 34: Return to Mount Kōya
1000 Summits Hikes
CHAPTER 33: I Love Rishiri
September 23-24, 2018 This photo supplement tracks the events in CLIMB: Leaving Safe and Finding Strength on 100 Summits in Japan. The captions offer “extra features” that didn’t make it into the book. On the morning of September 23, 2018, in the wake of a violent storm, I boarded a ferry from Wakkanai (Japan’s northernmost major port) to Rishiri Island, a three-hour trip that I hoped would end better for me than it had for the crew of Gilligan’s Island. The sun came up over the water as the ship steamed north; I watched the sunlight break through the lingering clouds and
Read moreCHAPTER 30: Water Over Rock
Sharidake (Mt. Shari) is a 1,547-meter stratovolcano in northeastern Hokkaido, near the Shiretoko Peninsula. Due to its remote location, my friend and guide Ido Gabay (of Hokkaido Nature Tours) arranged for us to spend the night before the hike in a lovely mountain hut near the trailhead, so we could get an early start…
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