Kai no kuni Long Trail PASaPASA HIRAGA JUN CUP 2022
Day 2, November 9th
At Camp Mitomi, several runners will be switching places.
Some will come to work at Extreme without going home, while others will work almost all night and join Extreme right away. They will participate according to their own schedule.
It’s 4am.
At the signal from the manager of the Anpan shop at Fullmarks Hakuba, we did some radio exercises.
It feels great. Let’s go! But wow. H.M., who came from Niigata, is missing his shoes. Everyone searches for them. Found. An apology press conference. Suddenly there’s a 20-minute delay.
Things like this happen when you’re with a group of people. Everyone kindly heckled each other as we set off for Yanagisawa Pass, a group of 13.
I walked along a less-trodden route through Gunichikai. There were a few ridges along the way that I could have easily taken the wrong path, but I had made a mistake during my reconnaissance so I walked carefully this time.
Just as I reached the Mikubo Plateau ridgeline, the sun was shining upon me.
It was a perfect situation. Mt. Fuji was also visible directly ahead.
It was a pleasant sunrise.
It is now daytime on the second day of the Kai no kuni Long Trail HIRAGA JUN CUP.
From this day onwards, a so-called “village mayor system” was born, where local athletes who live in the areas we would be passing through that day would mainly act as guides (lol).
Village Mayor Ogawa Sota taught us a lot.
It was a very educational and fulfilling trail run.
We headed south from Daibosatsurei, one of the 100 most famous mountains in Japan, along a pleasant route known as the Koshu Alps.
The moss-covered rocks in front of Daibosatsu and the bamboo grass field beyond are incredibly beautiful.
Ushiokugangaharazuriyama is the mountain with the longest name in Japan. Everyone was desperately trying to remember it, but it seemed difficult.
The runners haven’t stopped chattering since the morning.
Some of them are already starting to sound husky… And Mt. Fuji is gradually getting bigger.
You can get a sense of the distance you’ve traveled by the way Mt. Fuji looks.
At Yunosawa Pass, we were provided with aid by alumni of Nirasaki High School, and a supporter squad from Shizuoka also came to help.
After that, we descended to National Route 20 Koshu Kaido and headed towards the Misaka Mountains.
Finally, we were getting closer to Mt. Fuji!
Before we knew it, night had fallen.
Night has fallen on the second day of the Kai no kuni Long Trail HIRAGA JUN CUP.
It’s too early. We head towards Misakayamachi along the Koshu Kaido.
A long, steep asphalt road at the entrance to Seihachi Pass. A race(?) suddenly started among some of the runners. The champions were Ihara Tomo and Takahashi Amir. Ezorisu Mika also put up a good fight.
And so we finally set foot in the Misaka Mountains, the closest point to Mount Fuji, and arrived at the Kamiashigawa Lily of the Valley Colony Parking Lot just after 9pm.
At our campsite at an altitude of 1,400m, Fuefuki City arranged for a water truck to be provided, allowing us to spend the night comfortably.
And the best part of the night was the sauna! There was even a sauna master on hand.
“One, two, sauna!” We worked up a good sweat.
We then had some delicious rice cracker soup from Yes！Bagel and Yeti Gelato, and went to bed around 11pm.
Our local friends also came along, and everything was great. The tents were warm too.
Thank you very much.
photo by
📸@fujimakisho
📸@doryu_3754
