Hiking matters #741: Mt. Sobo (祖母山), forested mountain in Kyushu

Continued from Hiking matters #740: From Mt. Aso, we headed to a very nice guesthouse called LAMP at the foot of Mt. Sobo, ready to climb the formidable mountain. The travel was formidable in itself and we had to swallow the bitter pill of taking a taxi from Ogata Station (緒方駅) to LAMP, costing over 10,000 JPY. The guesthouse stay, thankfully, was quite rewarding; the dinner was quite hearty and there were craft beers too!

The next day, we started the hike at 0626H. In contrast to volcanic Mt. Aso, Mt. Sobo was a forested mountain, and the late spring greenery was a refreshing sight. From the tsuga (Japanese Hemlock) in the old growth forest,  we entered sections of lovely Japanese beech (Fagus crenata). By 0920H, we could glimpse at the verdant peak, and by 1007H we were at the summit, 1756 MASL.

By 1311, we were done with the hike and fortunately the guesthouse staff gave us a ride back to Ogata Station, since there was no bus and we couldn’t get a taxi either. Overall, a really great experience to restart my Hyakumeizan quest!