Japan
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March, 3 rd 2019
Hiking at Takarazuka. This time I changed today’s trail last minute. Ume (plum) is 
already blooming and my friend Mat strongly recommended to change the starting point. Unfortunately the warm weather didn’t last for a long time in Osaka, so I
started into a greyish and cloudy day. I wondered that many people joined today’s hike and like always almost everyone was local. This time time there were only two 
new faces. We started hiking at Nakayama-konnen station and visited a very nice temple. There we could see the first Ume trees blooming. It was very nice and I’m very excited about upcoming Sakura season. It was a little bit chaotic to held the group together within all the visitors, but Mat managed it very well. We started hiking and climbed Mt. Naka. The clouds were heavy and it looked like it could start raining any time. Almost before summit we made a break at another temple. Unlike last week we couldn’t enjoy properly, because it was going to be cold 
very fast. We continued and climbed up to Nakayama summit where we had a nice view of Takarazuka. There is another hiking group in Kobe. My friend Tomal joined the hikes several time told me about it and the organiser. If I had found this group earlier I might have joined there and never started organising hike myself. I was always interested in meeting the guy, while Tomal told me a lot about him. Coincidentally this group was hiking the same trail today while starting vice verso. Surprisingly we met the other group at 
summit. We took our group picture and continued hiking. We could enjoy some more amazing views of Takarazuka and as almost always I could see Abeno Harukas, Japan’s tallest building, the place where I live. My heart still jumps a little bit when I observe it far away. The trail became much nicer and I really enjoyed it. It began slightly to rain. We entered a so called rock garden, a blank steep slope where we had to climb down. Due to the rain drops the rocks were wet and super slippery. We struggled a lot. I was thinking about the 
direction of today’s hike for a very long time and decided to follow the recommendation of Mat’s hiking book. Yet, I wouldn’t do it
again and hike the trail starting from Yamamoto station. Climbing up this steep rocks would be much safer and much more fun as well. Then it happened: I almost fell and my water bottle slipped out of my backpack’s side pocket and rolled down the 
mountain. It got faster and faster and crashed upon a rock. Tomal could reach it and the crash had blown out the bottom. This was the end of my loyal and beloved Nalgene bottle. Luckily the bottle was the only victim and everybody got down safely. We walked to Yamamoto station. This trail was with 10 km very short, and even though it was early for dinner we decided to go to Umeda to Ramen at my favourite Ramen shop – tankaippin. I was crying for dessert so we went to Pablos, where they sell the best little cheesecakes in the world, afterwards. What a delicious ending.
Tales of trails 