It's gray and drizzly today, so I finally have time to sit down and post about last weekend's hike. Hooray!
Two weeks ago, Loren and I visited Furushi-dake, but noticed a trail leading to its sister mountain, Awa. This very helpful website said that the Awa-dake hike was about 5-6 hours, so we decided to check it out on a later endeavor.
The cherry blossoms (sakura) on the Motobu peninsula were in full bloom last weekend, so we decided that it would be prime time for a hike.
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| Okinawa's famous cherry blossoms, with Mt. Awa in the background |
We started at the same small community center (Katsuyama) where we parked for the Furushi-dake hike. We ambled past some farms and orange groves. However, at the point where the trail forks in three directions, we chose the one on the far left. (Note: you can also take the center trail, but it will lead you up Awa-dake from the back route. The trail on the far right will lead you to Furushi-dake)
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| Awa-dake (notice the two peaks) |
After about thirty minutes of hiking, we came across a small cave. According to the small sign near the cave, it was used by Japanese soldiers to hide during WWII. The cave has three levels and is pretty accessible. The rocks are crumbling a bit though, so be careful if you visit it.
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| Spelunking |
Supposedly there's another cave along the hike, but we missed it. After about twenty more minutes of hiking, you'll see two small signs with arrows. The one on the left leads to the second cave. The one on the right goes to the summit. (We accidentally took the one on the right ...) The trail starts to get a little dicey from here, so be sure to follow the little ribbons tied onto trees.
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| Apparently there's a trail in there ... |
Awa-dake has two separate summits. The first one is a bit more dramatic; you have to scramble over coral boulders to get to it. The view's pretty spectacular, though.
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| Nago in the background |
The hike to the next summit takes about an hour and is covered in some pretty frickin' thick jungle. These pretty little berries are all over the place on top of the mountain.
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| I'm betting these are incredibly deadly |
After about a mile of bushwhacking (and clomping around really loudly to try to scare away any habu snakes), we reached the second summit.
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| Mountain-top selfie! |
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| Loren's been on a panorama-spree lately with his iphone |
You can see all of the nearby mountains; Furushi, Katsuu and Yae. (Yae-dake has a road leading to the top that's lined with cherry trees. When the cherry blossoms are blooming, the road is PACKED with cars.)
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| Yae-dake is the mountain in the back with the large dome |
The rest of the hike is a bit more boulder-y, and you're covered by a heavy canopy of jungle. I imagine it gets pretty steamy in the summer, but it was pleasant last weekend.
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| There's a trail in there somewhere, I promise |
Overall, the hike only took about 3 hours. We didn't spend time exploring the second cave, though, and we weren't toting a small army of children up the mountain. Loren and I tend to hike relatively quickly; if you're traveling with kids, anticipate it taking about 4-5 hours.
Until next time, kampai!!
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| Shisa we found while driving back home from Awa-dake |
Did this hike last weekend (with a friend visiting from Tokyo who put 'hiking' on his list of things he wanted to do in Okinawa). Really enjoyed it, but it's definitely a serious piece of hiking. There were 3 or 4 occasions where we had to spend a bit of time working out where the trail went, searching for the coloured tape on the trees. Could quite easily have ended up lost in the jungle. But worth the effort. Great hike, but, as the article linked says, not to be taken lightly... I can't imagine doing it with kids....
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