The Precipice: Kumano Kodo Adventure

Day 4 - 4/29

Miserable. We woke up at 6am to the cold, hard, wet ground and to cold and soggy sleeping bags. The tents apparently offered incomplete protection from the mountain rainfall during the night. We woke up not wanting to get up, but also not wanting to stay in the damp sleeping bag. We ate a Clif bar breakfast and were packed up in an hour. The trail offered little comfort from the rain, but it made us very grateful for our ponchos. We hiked uphill for three hours and came across a small hut established for travelers of the Kumano Kodo near the summit. We decided to break for lunch and allow ourselves a few moments of rest from the harshening rain.
Another team of hikers who we met briefly the day prior, composed of three girls, caught up to us shortly before we found the hut. They decided to eat their bento while we cooked our spaghetti and spam. They seemed amused and impressed at our efforts as we cooked the spaghetti over the gas fire. We found out that our destination for the day matched theirs and that they were staying at a small hotel in the town of Miera Guchi. Since we were not feeling up to another night in our still-damp tents and sleeping bags, they said that we should stay at their hotel, too, since there probably weren't many other options in the small town.

Then they left without telling us how to find the hotel or even the name of it.

...Not too helpful.

We continued on our wet journey through the sideways rain. The leg after lunch was all downhill, covered in wet rocks, and snaked around mountainsides sometimes offering only a foot's width of a trail to keep from falling to our most probable deaths, or at least a serious injury. Needless to say, the hike today was not the joy-filled experience we were searching for. The rain certainly made our clothes heavier, our packs slip around on our backs (and that much more burdensome), and the overall mood bleak.

As we entered Miera Guchi around 3pm, we noticed a small piece of paper with handwriting in pencil describing directions to a hotel, and we knew immediately that our fellow travellers were thoughtful enough to guide us to the warm and dry sanctuary from the rain.

We spent the night in a bungalow for $100 and were able to hang up our wet clothes...which happened to be ALL of our clothes. The bungalow had a kitchen, enabling us to cook our own feast of rice, canned veggies, mashed potatoes, and corned beef hash. The warm showers also gave us much relief for our sore legs.

Overall, the 18km hike was difficult and treacherous, only compounded by the constant rain and often fierce wind in our faces, but the day ended well with dry shelter, a warm meal, and the remedy of a warm shower.