{"id":2008,"date":"2012-06-02T23:21:22","date_gmt":"2012-06-02T14:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2012-06-02\/2008"},"modified":"2012-06-02T23:21:22","modified_gmt":"2012-06-02T14:21:22","slug":"yesterdays-hike-the-agony-where-bravado-yields-in-spectacular-fashion-to-painful-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2012-06-02\/2008","title":{"rendered":"Yesterday’s Hike: The Agony Where Bravado Yields, In Spectacular Fashion, To Painful Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nI'm Heading Where<\/i>?<\/span>\nOn the way, by foot, to the top of that mountain\n<\/div>\n\n

I took an impromptu hike to the top of Kyoto's Mt. Hiei (\u6bd4\u53e1\u5c71)<\/span> yesterday,\nabout exhausting myself to death in the process. I'm much less<\/span> in shape\nthan I thought.<\/span> I tagged<\/span> along with St\u00e9phane Barbery, who has done it\nseveral times of late.<\/p>\n\n

I made the half-hour walk from my place to his, then we walked for\nanother half hour or so to get to the trailhead next to the Baptist\nHospital in eastern Kyoto....<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nInitial Instructions<\/span>\nSt\u00e9phane pauses to tell about the upcoming path\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 60mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 360 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nThis, I Can Handle<\/span><\/span>\ntall trees, slightly sloping path\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 31mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSteep Slope<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

The kind of Kyoto hikes I've done before have all had steep slopes, such\nas Daimonji<\/a>, the local Higashiyama trails<\/a>\nor other short hikes<\/a>,\nbut this Mt. Hiei hike was set apart by the mostly unrelenting slope.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 31mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 1100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSteeper Slope<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nThis is Getting Ridiculous<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

St\u00e9phane was clearly in better shape than I, as I was<\/span> quickly huffing\nand puffing. And to make<\/span> it worse, every time I paused<\/span> for a few<\/span> seconds to\ntake a photo,<\/span> I was that<\/span> much further lagging behind, distance my ego required that I at<\/span> least try to make up.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 450 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSlightly Precarious<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 640 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nRidgeline Trail<\/span>\nFalls steeply immediately on both sides of the path\n<\/div>\n\n

I actually recognized this ridgeline trail, having been on it once for a\nbit<\/span> when popping up from the lower, simpler trail mentioned here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 250 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nUp and Down<\/span>\noverall, mostly up\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 450 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nFlat Run<\/span>\nHeaven-sent respite from the incessant climbing\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>400 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPause<\/span>\nat a tricky turn in the path\n<\/div>\n\n

I was pretty beat by this point, to put it mildly, and I was<\/span> regretting\nthat I had<\/span> opted for some hiking boots that I'd not really used much. I had a<\/span> few Band-Aids, but thankfully St\u00e9phane had a few<\/span> special blister\nBand-Aids that he let me have, and for a while<\/span> my feet felt much\nbetter.<\/p>\n\n

To this point the path had been decidedly up, but from here it dove\nsteeply down...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 1800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nHeading Down To Go Up<\/span>\nthe next half hour was steep ups and downs\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 2200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nHe's Down There Somewhere<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

As beat as I was, I would<\/span> have preferred going up, because going down is\nextremely painful on my knees. Even when I visit<\/span> a mountainside<\/span> shrine like\nthe Fushimi Inari\nShrine<\/a> I dread<\/span> the downhill return trip because my knees soon start to\nhurt, on the outside edge just under the kneecap. Oddly, it hurts when I\nbend<\/span> the knee while lifting the foot for the next step, and doesn't hurt at\nall when I then<\/span> put my weight onto it. In the end<\/span>, it often gets so bad\nthat I actually<\/span> turn around and go down backwards, which feels as odd as I\nsuppose<\/span> it looks, but it doesn't hurt that way.<\/p>\n\n

So, this downhill stretch was really bad, and I took<\/span> it slow. At the bottom<\/span> was a small<\/span> stream, then up again, then down again, and so on, for\ntwenty minutes of pain until I got<\/span> to about the halfway point of the whole\nclimb, where St\u00e9phane stops for a light<\/span> energy snack. We ate and<\/span> rested a\nbit,<\/span> next to this monument....<\/p>\n\n

\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 27mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nHalf Way<\/span>\nStone dates from 1920, about some event in 1336\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>3200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nReady To Head Off<\/span>\nafter our snack\n<\/div>\n\n

St\u00e9phane said that he makes a non-stop run to the top from this point,\nso explained where to find him if I couldn't<\/span> keep up. I had no<\/span> illusion\nthat I would<\/span> be able to keep up, so noted his instructions with care.<\/p>\n\n

Not long after starting again from our rest, I got my<\/span> first nice view of\nthe city, behind the foreground of a bunch<\/span> of power lines that someone so\nthoughtfully marred the view with.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 48mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/9, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nNorthern Kyoto<\/span>\nIwakura (\u5ca9\u5009) area\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nTrail-side Shrine To Fallen Hikers Who Bit Off More Than They Could Chew<\/span>\n(not really, but in my state, that's how I saw<\/span> it)\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 35mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 2000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSteep Run<\/span>\nthe last I saw of St\u00e9phane for a while<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I just couldn't keep up with him, and had to admit defeat (a defeat<\/span> my\nbody had been telling me about for some time). For the next<\/span> 20 minutes or\nso I made<\/span> slow, painful progress, sometimes pausing for 10 or 20 seconds\nto contemplate what I had<\/span> gotten myself in to.<\/p>\n\n

Despite his promise not to wait for me, he did wait at one fork in the path,\nand in something reminiscent of the “red pill \/ blue pill” scene in The\nMatrix<\/i>, pointed out that if I wanted<\/span> to return home quickly, I could<\/span> take one path, but if I wanted<\/span> to continue to the top with him, it was\nanother way. How long, at your pace?, I asked.<\/span> “10 minutes”. I was utterly<\/span>\nbeat, but I could<\/span> go for another 10 minutes, so went his direction.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 36mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 1400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nStairs<\/span>\ndon't make it easier\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 3200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nNeverending<\/span>\nunrelenting upslope\n<\/div>\n\n

At one point we came across an old man dutifully setting a footstone<\/span> into the path. I thanked<\/span> him for his efforts as I went<\/span> slowly by, then turned around to snap a shot.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPath Maintenance<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 1250 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWhen. Will. This. Ever. End?<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 60mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 2800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nNot Yet, Apparently<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 62mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 280 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLaughing With Me<\/span>\nexcept that I wasn't laughing... no energy left to do so\n<\/div>\n\n