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Another blocked road. The gate, bright red and reinforced with pointy black rebars, reminds me of an ancient fortified castle abandoned in the wilderness. Still out of breath from the climb, Silke and I look at each other and smile. Her cheeks are glowing from the effort, and her braid clings to a thin layer of sweat on her neck. As she wipes the sweat from her face, she chuckles, ‘Of course there had to be a gate right on top of the pass!’
We dismount our bicycles and reassess the route. It’s a mere 10km to where we link up to a major road, and all downhill. So we decide to take the gamble – this is not the first closed road we’ve dealt with on the trip. A lower section in the gate is clearly used for pedestrians, probably local workers or hunters. Silke swiftly climbs across, and I lift the bikes over the gate. Then we hop back on our bikes and start the descent.
At first the gravel feels smooth, and we make quick progress zigzagging down the mountainside through the dense forest. I stop a couple of times to take pictures of Silke speeding down the curved roads. These pauses are also opportunities to soak in the environment. Take away the grinding and crunching of our tyres and there’s utter silence. But after a while, I start noticing it’s not silent at all; birds are singing their songs, bugs and insects squirming their way through the fallen pine needles on the ground, treetops dancing on the rhythm of the whistling wind.
Japan always had an atypical allure for us. As outdoor enthusiasts, we will usually be biking remote landscapes, scaling glaciated peaks, seeking solitude altogether. But this is not something one expects to find in Japan, home to 126 million people and the most populous metropolitan area in the world.
Fresh off a long journey through the Andes, we were ready for a new adventure – one that posed the perfect fusion of exploring challenging trails and connecting with a new culture. The idea of exploring Japan’s lesser-known wild spaces intrigued us; how could such a densely populated country, known for its futuristic megacities and high-speed bullet trains, also boast unspoilt wild places? We envisioned a route connecting the modernity of bustling cities with a very different way of life in the countryside.
‘Climb Mt. Fuji, and you’ll speak of the height of mountains.Climb Daisetsuzan, and you’ll speak of the vastness of mountains.’—Keigetsu Omachi, 1921
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