Last day of hiking

This is it. The last day of hiking and I'm sore and stiff despite the long soak in the onsen and a half hour in the massage chair.  There's hope though because it's been poring since midnight...maybe we can cab it to the next destination.  Woke up at 4:30 to the sound of torrential rain but by 5:30 my hopes were slowly slipping away.  By 6:00 the sun was out...better go soak in the onsen some more.

Are you sure you're not too sore...you're welcome to stay another night.

Wish I could but gotta go

Map of Kiso Valley

We started from the bottom to about the middle then veered off the Nakasendo trail to go to Kaida Kogen and Mt Ontake. Now we're heading back to the trail to go over the highest pass, Torii Toge, on the Nakasendo

One of the few Shinto shrine left with the original design before Buddhism and the Chinese influence came in.  Trust me it's there behind the trees. 

From here Ben tells us there's a steep climb to get to the trail head.  We start walking through the residential section of Yabuhara and there it is...THE HILL.  We started climbing and I was huffing and I was puffing but made it up the 75 yard hill.  I see the group going around the bend so I picked up my pace and there it was...the rest of the hill.  I was on a false summit...fooled again.

Water break at a spring water station.

For Jean

Trail head sign for Nakasendo