This walk, having a cultured atmosphere, started with the literary discussion on the mailing list. It enriched twmc members with knowledge on Y. Kawabata and his novel, "The Izu Dancer" even before the trip. Let's see how the real trip was... here is the hike report by Archana.
Hi. Thanks Tadashi for this 'literary' hike. Thank you also for driving us around everywhere and others for their interesting chatter patter. Tadashi, please convey this to Connie specially :) :)
As usual I will not leave you just with a thank you note. You and others will have to read(till the end!) my comments on the hike.
By changing the 2-day program into one-day, Tadashi finally managed to fill up his van with all pretty female hikers. The day began on a sunny note much before we set out on foot. While driving through the Tomei highway we saw majestic views of Mount Fuji with its white cone shining in the glory of Sun and clear blue sky. We were lucky. Then in Izu, we saw many young beautiful kimono clad girls outside a hotel who had perhaps gathered coming of age ceremony- we were still driving but I managed to click my camera taking advantage of the red light. The tunnel and most part of the trail is still just as Hoshino San described in his mail. The trail in itself is an easy hike (not even a one star) but it is popular because of its link with kawabata`s novel I guess. Was it as popular before his nobel prize ? I wonder. There are many monuments on the way and beautiful waterfalls and wasabi plantations. We tasted wasabi leaves. Omiyage shops were selling Wasabi icecreams too. Wasabi tastes good with tempura but not as a cone full of icecream.
So here are the pictures...
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