13/100 🏔 日本百名山 🇯🇵 Nihon Hyaku-meizan

This hike was planned better than yesterday's. We got on the first gondola at 8:20am and took this to Tengendai Kogen. We then took 3 more lift rides until we reached the standard hiker's trailhead, taking us 40 minutes to reach from the car. With most of the elevation gain behind us, we enjoyed a nice stroll through forest and tundra. While yesterday's hike reminded me of El Salvador (hot volcanic jungle), today's hike reminded me of Montana. The smells of the PNW filled my sinuses throughout the day. We even found huckleberries alongside the trail which we ate. The false summit was nice with some big rocks, but the designated "summit" of Nishi Azuma Yama was completely forested and a short distance away from the true summit. From the sign, I bushwhacked straight into the thicket. After "swimming" for several minutes, I felt satisfied that I reached the high point, and returned back to the trail. I sure hope I didn't brush up against any urushiol. From there we looped down to a hut, had lunch, continued to Tengu Ima, a rocky viewpoint, then took a worthy detour to Ningyo Ishi (Doll Rock), which had a fun class 3 summit block. It was spicy enough where I didn't want pregnant Asaka or baby Leif to join me. From there we looped back down to the lift and had soft creams at the gondola. It was a really nice day.