Mount Yamato Katsuragi

What?
Mount Yamato Katsuragi (大和葛城山) is a 959 meters high mountain in the Kansai area. It is most famous for its big patch of rhododendrons on the top which draws huge crowds in spring. In autumn, sweeping views of Japanese Pampass Grass dominate the scene. The mountain can be very easily accessed by cable car, but hiking is more fun, no?
Where?
Mount Yamato Katsuragi is located on the border of Osaka (大阪府) and Nara prefectures (奈良県). I took the Kintetsu Nagano line (近鉄長野線) from Osaka Abenobashi Station (大阪阿部野橋駅) and got off the train at Tondabayashi Station (富田林駅), from there a 30 minute bus ride took me the Katsuragisan Tozanguchi bus stop (葛城山登山口) which is located right next to the start of the trail through Tengu Valley (天狗谷). Going back I took the bus at the Katsuragi Cable Car Station to Gose Station (御所駅).
URL
Japan National Tourism Organization Zekkei Japan

It has been a while that I had climbed a mountain. I’ve had my fair share of walks and trekkings like in Hatonosu, but even my last real hike in April was on a mountain not even surpassing 600 meters (Mount Takatori). So I was a bit worried, also because I lost a lot of weight in the meantime, which means also loss of muscles. Strange enough, despite the lack of confidence in my own physical abilities, I thought the hike would be a walk in the park as the difficulty level is apparently not that high.

Comes the hike.

In the streetlife in Osaka, damages that occurred during the exceptional tough typhoon season are gradually disappearing. In Japan natural disasters are more or less thought of as normal and pretty soon everyone is going about their business as usual. The damage in the forests and on the mountains have no priority though, so everything stays the way the typhoon left it.
So immediately into the hike, the path became obstructed with fallen trees and at some points the path had just vanished completely. It made that the hike wasn’t a stroll in the park, but on the other hand the bouldering-like aspect made the ascent rather fun.

Earlier than expected I arrived at the summit, and was rather disappointed to see a bunch of ugly tea houses and barbecue spots. A few meters beyond though, the Japanese Pampas Grass made for a really nice view, but not before long swarms of noisy tourists arrived with the cable car and quite spoiled the experience.

The typhoons did a lot of damage.

The course resembled a bouldering track sometimes.

But also had flat parts like this.

Japanese pampass grass swaying in the wind.

I enjoyed the view for a while but headed back down soon. And here the damage of the typhoon came visible again. The original route that I wanted to take was inaccessible, so I needed to make a detour of about half an hour.
At first the descent was smooth and uneventful. At this pace, I thought, I’d be back down in no time and the whole round trip wouldn’t even have taken me 2 and a half hour. But suddenly all changed. The path became a real bouldering track, and people going in the opposite direction were visibly suffering. I myself began to grow blisters on my pinky toes trying to slow down my pace during the steep descent. That being said, I just loved this tougher experience and the rather disappointed feeling I had at the top disappeared quickly.

Eventually I finished the hike in 3 hours, and hour shorter than anticipated. I had fun, and maybe I will try the hike in the opposite direction which seemed to me a little bit tougher. However, the mediocrity of the summit will make sure this hike won’t figure in my favorites.