Soon after I finished my work on Saturday, I rushed to Akizuki via Nishitetsu and Amagi railway. After I arrived at Amagi Station, transferred to the bus heading to Akizuki. I should pay 390 yen for the fare. but I had only 180 yen of small changes, so I tried to exchange 1000 yen bill for small changes by equipped exchange machine, but it did not work. I could only pay 180 yen for that time. I felt sorry for Amagi sightseeing bus company that operated this bus for only two passengers. I am going to pay the fare for the next visit.
Here was Akizuki again from last week. It was a small town, and it had many places to see.
The Kyushu Nature Trail from Akizuki was paved. However, there was almost no traffic and I could walk comfortably. At 4 km point, there was an unmanned water fountain for 200 liters for 200 yen. I was interested in the natural delicious water, but I stopped tasting. After about 300m further, I found a tofu shop called Azemichi on the left. This shop was making tofu made with delicious water pumped up here.
I bought a kumidashi tofu (380 yen), and borrowed a spoon and soy sauce and had this tofu. This tofu had very thick soybean taste. However, this tofu with a 18 cm in diameter was too big to eat by myself.
Proceed further, crossing the Shirasaka Pass and arrivingat the Yasu Kogen Memorial Forest in 6 km point at 11:00.
Although here was a well-maintained park, they only had vending machines. You have to pay attention that the trail course from here. I walked following the signs of Kyushu Nature Trail, from the Yasu Kogen Memorial Forest, toward southwest through Sankayama and Gotama Shrine, passing south of the National Youth Nature House, went north to the Yasu Kogen Country Club. But the map delivered by the Kyushu Nature Trail Portal Site operated by the Environment Agency indicated the courses farther north. It was unclear which is correct, the sign board on the trail or the map, but it was uncomfortable to walk off the map, anyway.
Walked comfortably on the paved road with little traffic and arrived in 12:30 at the Yasu Kogen Country Club of 12 km point. I asked the concierges if I could eat lunch in this restaurant, and the answer was OK. In a restaurant full of golfers, I got omurice of torotoro egg. This restaurant was designated only for golfers, and it tasted quite good.
After lunch and charging battery of mobile phone, I started to walk again at 13:20. I arrived at the Hiyamizu Pass in a while. At the Hiyamizu Pass, I could not find the entrance sign of Kyushu Natural Trail easily. I should walk along with the heavy trafficked Root 200 National Road some while. On the map, there should be a trailhead 50 meters east, but it was not. Went about 100m to the west, I could see a large sign at Oneji Shrine, that should be a trailhead. This point of the map was also suspicious. I did not want to wander around here, because of the heavy traffic on this Route 200 was too dangerous.
The trail headed to Mt. Onejiyama was comfortable mountain path with temporary paving. This trail might be used for the maintenance vehicles for the shrine at the top of mountain, but I did not see any traffic. I enjoyed walking comfortably on the mountain trail beneath the cedar trees. At 14:55, I arrived at Mt. Onejiyama summit of an altitude of 651m at 16 km point. There was a shrine on the summit, and the priest did not seem to be stationed, but it was well-cleaned and managed regularly. There were red torii gates in the precincts, and the names of the ladies and gentlemen all over Japan were recorded on toriis. It looked like a well-known ancient temple.
From here, I walked on a downhill trail to the northern Kozono village. This was an unpaved mountain path. There was a waterfall along the way, probably used for retreatment for monks. After about 2 km of walk, the Oneji Trail ended, and it became a paved forest service road, again.
After relaxing walk, I arrived at the Tatsuiwa Natural House Campsite in Chikushino City at 16:00. Many people were already setting up tents and preparing for BBQs. I made a call to the administration office to ask to set up a tent in the campsite, but it was not allowed to set up a tent privately. I was told that it is necessary to apply for the camping site at least a week in advance. So, I gave up and headed to Yusuhara, the next town. It seemed that there were vending machines at the campsite. I asked with locals, but there was no store around here, and there was no store or cafeteria in Yusuhara, too.
Then, went up north on Prefectural Highway 65, where traffic was heavy, and entered the village of Yusuhara. The only cafeteria restaurant, Shand Fleur, was found in this area that could be confirmed the presence on the Google map, but it seemed that the lights were not on and not in business. There was no vending machine in the village of Yusuhara. So, I went up to the Fukuoka Prefectural General Shooting Range with the last hope to have water, but it closed at 17:00.
I gave up to get the drinking water and started to climb up the mountain trail to Mt. Sangunsan. This paved trail was a service road for supply to the radar site at the top of Mt. Sangunsan. This road was beautifully paved, but has no traffic at all. Both views and road conditions were good. However, since there was almost no space to set up a tent along with the road. At 17:43, I finally found a flat place at the junction of Shiraito Falls, which climbed about 2 km on the mountain trail, and decided to camp here.
Since there were no vending machines or shops after the Yasu Kogen, the dinner was only small amount of drinking water and emergency food. Emergency food was estimated to be 1600kcal, so I could survive for a while.
I set up a tent and wore thermal underwear for the protection against cold night. Now the temperature was about 15 ℃. It was likely to be below 10 ℃ in the night. The voltage of both the smartphone and the PC dropped due to the cold temperature, although both had about 80% of the remaining power before noon. It's bad if the smartphone was turned off, so I'll go to bed early today while charging the smartphone from my PC. Outside of the tent, I could hear the sounds of animals that coming through the bush, that might be wild boars.
October 26th, 2019, Cloudy to sunny, 21/11 Celsius, From Akizuki, Asakura city, to Yuzuhara Shiraitono-waterfall junction, Asakura city, Distance 25.88 km, Time for walk 6:56, Average speed 3.73 km/h
