A punishing hike…
Last weekend, I had the chance to go on another hike! This time, it was on a trail called “The Spout Path”, and it was the longest one in the local series!
It’s a 22 kilometer hike. The plan was to hike 11 km on the first day, camp overnight, and then hike the next 11 km on the second day. I’d leave on the same rocky road that I left during my last hike (so now I’ve seen that rocky road 3 times… I’m a little sick of it! Haha…)
However, there were a few points that made me a little worried;
My left foot had been sore for about 2 months. The doctor said I had Achilles’ tendonitis, and I should take it easy for a few weeks/months.
My area was under a heat warning. The past week, it had been around 30 degrees Celsius, which is very hot for my area.
There have been many forest fires in my province in the past few weeks. There were none in my area at the start of my hike, so I wasn’t too worried about that, but there was a chance of some smoke.
But I didn’t let that stop me! So I packed my things and started bright and early at 8 am!
The hike started off pretty normally. It was a little warm, but the sea breeze felt fantastic, and very refreshing!
Along the path, on the first and second day, there were so many blueberries! If I wanted to, I could reach down and pick a bunch and just munch on them all day! Unfortunately, I don’t like blueberries so much…
After a few hours, I saw one of the main sights of this trail - an old lighthouse!
It’s still active, but there were several holes in the glass around the light. In North America, a lot of people like to throw rocks at windows of old, abandoned buildings. It’s kind of a sad past time of young, immature people.
At the base of the lighthouse were the ruins of the lighthouse keeper’s house! Only the foundations were visible, but it was interesting to think about the history of the place!
The lighthouse was the perfect place to stop and have a snack. It offered shade against the hot sun, and the concrete base was a comfortable place to sit.
I packed cheese, beef jerky, and a sub sandwich! I also brough homemade hard tack, a type of super, super hard bread that was traditionally made for long sea voyages! It wasn’t super tasty, but I always try to bring traditional adventuring food (except for the sub, haha!)
The lighthouse was about 30% of the way to my camp, but I was going pretty slowly, so I had to pick up the pace.
I didn’t take so many pictures after the lighthouse, because that’s when I started to get very tired. I was also drinking a lot of water because of the heat. I realized I made a big mistake; I brought 2 liters of water, instead of 3. I usually bring 3, but I bought the wrong-sized bottles this time, so I started to run low. Fortunately, I found a stream at around noon, so I sat down and took some time to filter some more water.
After some more hiking, I finally reached the campsite, at about 5:30 pm! That’s almost 10 hours of hiking for 11 km…
As I was hiking, I felt that my poles were not so steady against rocks, and I soon found out why…
It’s understandable… These poles have been through a lot with me! I climbed Mt. Fuji with them, climbed Mt. Kongo 3 times, climbed Mt. Hiei, and many other hikes! Luckily, I always bring my spares!
Haha, look how dirty my legs are…
About 600 meters away from the campsite is the path’s main attraction, “The Spout”. It’s a geyser in the cliff above the ocean, so that whenever the waves come in during high tide, the pressure shoots wind and water waaaay up the hole! Check out the video!
Nearby, there was also some fresh water coming onto the cliff from the forest, so it was a great time to wash my very dirty legs!
It was very, very nice after a long day of hiking. It was cool and peaceful, but by now it was 7:30 pm, so I had to hurry back to camp.
I made it back with no problems, but when I got to my platform, my tent had fallen over. After my last hike, one of the holes for my tent poles got damaged. I thought I’d repaired it, but it turns out it didn’t work so well. So I had to hurry in the almost-dark to use rocks to set things up. Luckily, it worked okay, and I didn’t have any other issues. (Sorry for no pictures… I was so tired!)
The campsite itself was fantastic! There are many platforms, a fresh water stream nearby, and even outdoor toilets!
It’s not exactly super luxury, but it’s better than nothing! A nice view of the ocean too (but it was dark)
The next day, I woke up at 4:30 am to get an early start. I slept pretty comfortably, and I wasn’t sore, but I wanted to make sure I got to the end of the rocky road in time to meet my husband. I got packed up and left at 5:30 am.
The second day, I was VERY slow. It was much hotter and the breeze wasn’t really coming from a direction that benefitted me. So I walked for 10 minutes, sat down for 10 minutes. Walked for 10 minutes, sat down for 10 minutes. Over and over. It was very slow progress, and my head was pounding because of the heat. I was very careful, so I never felt sick, but I know if I pushed myself harder, I would have put myself in danger. I’m just glad I had my electric fan with me!
I drank a LOT of water, and always kept an eye out for fresh water. I had to refill at some… pretty dirty pools sometimes, but I was confident in my water filter, so I never ran out.
At some points of the path, the bushes were covering the path. It was impossible to see the trail sometimes, so I had to push through some pretty thick bushes. It scraped up my shins a little, so I used some footwrap tape on my legs to protect them. It worked really well!
After about 6 hours, I made it to the beginning of the rocky road. I was so tired, that I had to just keep pushing on. I started to set a timer on my phone so that I was always taking a break for less time than I was hiking.
I crossed a small river that I knew was coming, so I got ready to filter more water. Unfortunately, a rock I stepped on collapsed, and my leg scraped very badly against a wooden log. It could have been much worse (I was worried I’d break it!), but it was still painful and bleeding. I washed it off, and used the last of my footwrap tape to cover up the wound.
I managed to make it back, even earlier than I planned! But it was still very slow, hot, and painful. My feet ended up with pretty bad blisters (I didn’t feel the pain until I stopped and took my boots off), and my shin is still painful even a week later! And to make matters worse, on the rocky road out, my phone made several loud alarms because of a new fire that started in the area. It wasn’t near me, but it still added to my panic!
I learned a few lessons from this trip;
No more hiking during a heat warning! My time hiking in Japan was very, very hot, but the trails there were much more gentle. Here, the paths are very rugged, rocky, and a little dangerous, so combined with the heat means that I need to avoid high temperatures.
3 liters!! Never 2 liters ever again!
I need to tape up my feet BEFORE I start walking, every time! During the hiking, my feet felt mostly fine, but as soon as I stopped, that’s when the pain started!
It was very difficult, but I feel accomplished, because it’s the most difficult hike in the area. I plan to do this path once again, but this time with cooler temperatures and more water!
