In my previous post, “SUPER FUN!! Cycling in Supertyphoon Jebi (2018 Typhoon #21)”, I wrote about cycling while the biggest typhoon in 25 years approached Kyoto. The next day, with fine summer weather, I set off with Joshua Levine and John Chen to see how some of the mountain roads had fared.

Our concern was well founded, as seen in the incredible devastation by a typhoon a year ago (“2017’s Typhoon #21, Lan, was Quite the Doozy”).

We headed out toward Kyomi Pass, on the same road that I'd been on the previous day as the typhoon approached....

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Scattered Debris
but not too bad

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/125 sec, f/5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Passable
thanks to someone who had already come by with a chainsaw

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bigger Damage
I'm glad I'd not stuck around longer than I did yesterday

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/125 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/125 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Concrete Telephone Pole Down

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/125 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Another Pole, More Trees

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/125 sec, f/1.7, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
More Cleared Trees
near the pass

This is near where I had turned around the previous day. The main storm came through perhaps an hour and a half later, I suppose.

Today, we continued on...

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/125 sec, f/3.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
“No Motor Vehicles”
unless you can lift them

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 28mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Split in Half
The trunks seen at the bottom and top of the frame were originally one and the same.
(What a violent moment it must have been to produce this.)

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Easy Walking
as the utility lines held the trunks above ground

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tree Trunk Exploded
the outer trunk was perfectly stripped from the inner,
leaving perfectly-smooth wood

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Slightly Harder to Pass

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/125 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
More Trees Down

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Finally Reaching The Spring

This spring, where we often stop to fill our water bottles, is not far below the pass. The “nearby photos” link below the photo brings up previous blog posts where this spring was featured.

After filling up, we continued on our way deeper into the mountains...

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/125 sec, f/4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Common Scene

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 35mm — ¹/125 sec, f/3.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Yet Again

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 35mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.3, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
And Again

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 35mm — ¹/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
And Still Again...

We took the turn toward Mochikoshi Pass. In essence, we had started a clockwise “Kyoto Heart Loop”, and were working on the western half.

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/125 sec, f/1.7, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
More of the Same

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 28mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.1, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 28mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.1, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
“Turn the Fuck Around and Get Out”
guy in red gloves in the center was egregiously rude

We finally came across a crew working to clear the road, and without prompting we were verbally attacked by one of the workers. His lashing out was entirely uncalled for; someone apparently higher up in the food chain of this group stepped in to allow us to pass.

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 28mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.1, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Quickly Passing

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 27mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos

As we moved away from the area, we passed all the parked cars of the workers, and as we continued toward Mochikoshi Pass, more cars came. This told us that the road ahead was open all the way to the city, as it was the only other way to reach this point. This was good news, and was opposite to what happened last year, as the destruction seen in the previously-mentioned post about last year's typhoon was all on that road that we were soon to return to the city on.

It hadn't been completely unscathed, as we came across one beefy tree that had been cleared:

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/125 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos

John had never been on this road, so I was pleased to tell him that it was all downhill from here... a lovely 10-minutes of coasting through pretty woods.....

But then we came to this:

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Totally Impassable To Cars

We were bewildered... where did all the cars we'd seen before come from? They could not possibly have passed here.

The farmer who lived here said that we shouldn't try to go forward, because it's totally impassable even on foot.

It slowly dawned on us that the workers had not come from the city, but from the sporadic houses and sparse villages between where we met the workers trying to clear the road, and here. They weren't the city crew dispatched to clear the road; they were residents trying to get out, trying to clear away for people and goods and medical service. Trying to reestablish a lifeline.

Now I could understand why the guy had snapped at us; I imagine it was an extremely stressful situation.

In any case, despite the farmer's warning, we went past the downed utility pole and headed toward town.

Nothing I'd seen today, or last year, or ever, prepared me for what we were to encounter.

Continued here...