Osaka Getaway: Kisen Alps Part 2 – Iimoriyama and Mount Gakumonji

What?
The Kisen Alps (紀泉アルプス) is a range of low altitude mountains separating Osaka and Wakayama Prefectures. There is a plethora of hiking trails that give you the chance to tackle this area multiple times without doubling back on your tracks. Iimoriyama (飯盛山), or Mount Iimori, is a 384 m peak and the highest point on the hike from Misaki-Koen Station (みさき公園) to Kyoshi Station (孝子). The path takes you through unspoiled forest, with the occasional view over Osaka Bay. From Kyoshi Station, it is possible to extend the hike over Mount Gakumonji (学文字山・216 m) to Fukecho Station (深日町).
Where?
While the Kisen Alps are located on the prefectural border between Osaka and Wakayama, today’s hike lay completely within Osaka territory. Misaki-Koen Station on the Nankai Main Line (南海本線) can be accessed in less than an hour, without transfer, from either Nankai’s Nanba (なんば) or Shin-Imamiya (新今宮) Stations. Both Kyoshi Station and Fukecho Station are neighboring stations to Misaki-Koen Station, but as the latter lies on a different train line, you need to transfer at Misaki-Koen. All very easy, very accessible.
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Despite being an early riser — especially when I want to go hiking — I am also a very grumpy person in the mornings. And today, for reasons unknown, I was even grumpier than usual. So it didn’t help when I got off the train and realized that, against all weather reports… it was raining! True, it was only a drizzle, but it was not the welcome I had expected the Kisen Alps to grant me.
I decided to prepare slowly under the roof of the station: let’s see now… grab an onigiri, take my camera, affix the rain cover to my backpack, open my glasses case… only to discover they weren’t in there. I was getting grumpier by the second.
I really was tempted to just jump on the next train back. On the other hand, with weather like this, why would I need glasses anyway? To see the grey drab spreading out before me?

Just like the drizzle, all that grumpiness disappeared very quickly. After a short approach, the trailhead — surprisingly — started before the highway. And even more surprisingly, despite the noise from the highway and nearby Kansai Airport, I was impressed by how suddenly I found myself in pristine nature.
Should I have been impressed? Maybe not really, as these were exactly the same impressions I had last year while climbing Unzanpo.

Today’s trail didn’t overlap with last year’s at all, but the good things about it are exactly the same. Here and there, there is a moderately interesting view over Osaka Bay, but it’s the virgin forests that are an absolute delight.
I did have the impression that the going was slightly tougher, as some of the inclines felt like hitting walls — albeit not very high ones.
This forest bathing had completely chased away my bad morning mood, and in a similar way the weather had completely cleared up. Once at the top of Iimoriyama, the remainder of the hike was a fairly easy slope to walk, occasionally going up and down. During the descent, Kosen-ji Temple is a nice change of pace.

You can see how close the highway is.

Color in winter is always beautiful.

Gorgeous forest trail.

My onigiri spot at the top of Iimoriyama.

I initially planned to head back from Kyoshi Station near Kosen-ji Temple, but with the weather completely cleared up and quite a lot of energy left, I decided to go the extra mile by climbing Mount Gakumonji and then descending towards Fukecho Station.
From Kyoshi Station, the trailhead was a drab 20-minute walk along a national road. There is really nothing interesting along this road, until I noticed — in the middle of nowhere — a 24-hour DVD rental shop ruin. I found its location intriguing, but if you hit this landmark, it means you’ve gone too far. The trailhead starts a mere 10 meters before this shack.

The trailhead is very easy to miss because, despite the season, it is quite overgrown. And it’s easy to see why: even though the mountain is not that high, the ascent is simply brutal. Not only is the climb nearly vertical, it is littered with dry leaves that make it a very slippery slope. I was puffing and wheezing when the toughest part was behind me, happy there was no one around to see me on this “outskirt” of the Kisen Alps.
The hiking here was the same as on Unzanpo or Iimoriyama: beautiful nature with the occasional view.

Afterthought: In recent years, the government has been using this general area for the installation of huge fields of solar panels, which scared me the first time I saw them from a distance. It’s not that bothersome, though.