We had a brief heavy rain this afternoon a couple of hours before sunset, and so with the clearing air I thought to make a visit to check out the views from the Shogunzuka Overlook, which I haven't been to in a while. (However, the "nearby photos" link under any photo brings you to the bazillion photos I've posted from up here over the years.)

今日の集中豪雨の後、将軍塚からの景色を見に行きました。

It reminded me of one of the first times I posted photos from up here seven years ago, also after a storm. Photos from that day also appeared on last year's "Views of Kyoto [...]

This is sort of a continuation of the previous post, "My Mt. Hiei Climb Challenge 2014, Part 2", that covered my 3rd annual hike up Kyoto's Mt. Hiei.

次の比叡山の年次山登りは５１週間早くしました。今回はカメラを持って行かなかった（アイホン以外）のでこの記事の写真はまずい。御免。

Previous attempts:

The first year's hike wrecked me so much that it shocked me into getting in shape.

The 2nd year (last year's) was better but still quite a challenge.

This year's hike, two weeks ago, was much better almost to the point of "easy", but giving the hike back down a try for the first time ended up killed my knees and ankles, leaving me in pain for a few [...]

This post picks up from "My Mt. Hiei Climb Challenge 2014, Part 1", where I'd ended with having completed the ascent in good time and good form.

It was still early (12:45ish), so I decided to check out some of the temples farther into the mountains.

Some of the paths in these mountains were laid out thousands of years ago. I'm sure these old guardrail posts aren't that old, but this next photo gives a hint to the age because the bigger post, which essentially looks brand new compared to the guardrail posts, is dated April 1936...

Dotted here and [...]

Having just posted about a tiny baby hike to the top of an anthill in Kyoto that I feel good about having been able to do, I'm put to shame by my next-older brother Mike, who moments ago finished the Comrades Ultra-Marathon in South Africa. A normal Marathon is 26.22 miles, but this one is 55.5 miles (89.28 km). He finished in 9h 37m 26s, the 3,198th finisher out of 18,000 runners.

That leaves a pace of 10m 24s per mile.... every mile... more than 55 times in a row. On a good day I might be able to do [...]
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As I mentioned the other day, I recently did my third-annual Mt. Hiei (比叡山) hike, the first two years ago having been what prompted me to get in shape. Comparing this hike to previous ones is a yardstick to measure how well I'm getting in shape.

I've documented the route well enough in previous years (two years ago   -   last year) so I didn't intend to do it again this year. I did bring along a smaller camera (a Nikon D700) and the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 lens that I bought accidentally to document my progress via timestamps on [...]