Hiking Mt Kurokami....

Hmmm... what to do on a super hot July Day in Japan??? Escape to the woods....

Andrew and I have a list of mountains we want to hike here on Kyushu... But many of them are a bit of a dive.. Mount Kurokiami however is only 30 minutes from our house, and one of the many mountains we saw on our last trip to Arita!

The morning of our hike we got a bit of a late start, so we knew this one close to home would be a good idea... Doing anything in the peak heat is just not working for us! I had read on other blogs that even though this hike isn't very long, its not very child/dog friendly... I didn't understand why until we were half way up the mountain tho! The kids were pretty pooped still from the week we had, and well poor Harvey can barely make it around the block in this 90+ degree weather anyway... So it was just us and the bebe for this one!

The drive up the the mountain is again, just beautiful... Almost anywhere you drive here is! The parking area past the dam is entrance to many different routes up the mountain... At the base there are natural springs where families had come for the day to cool off, catch fish, and let their children play in the water.. The first half mile or so also feels very spiritual.. Small shrines and statues greet you along the trail, and we passed many Japanese meditating or sitting in peaceful silence, just taking in the sounds of cicadas, birds, the water and trees... 

Once we got to really hiking, Story made her way into her snuggy where she quickly fell asleep... She usually does on our hikes! I will say tho, this was a bit more challenging for me! She is close to 30lbs, and it was a good 2 hour hike up for us! (we took our time...) She is 2 now, its finally time I start getting back into shape!!

This is really where we understood that this hike is not small child/dog friendly however! haha... Hand over foot, chains and ropes to help you up certain areas, and even metal steps and ladders! It was a bit tricky in spots, but we made sure we were comfortable with Story and didn't push doing anything we felt was to dangerous with her... There was an older girl, maybe 12, hiking with her mom, so I think our older two would have enjoyed this one!

The summit here is awesome... The hike was awesome... The fellow hikers were AWESOME!!!! Stay tuned to see what mountain we conquer next! Till then, xoxo...