Hiking "on" Mt. Aso

This past Friday I went hiking with the "ni-nensei" or "second graders." (They aren't really second graders as we know them, but rather the kids in the second grade of junior high school. Even in high school, you can be in the second grade! But more on that some other day.) That was the third trip I took with the "ni-nensei." (We also visited a folklore museum in Shiiba and shrines in Takachiho and Amanoiwato, but more on those trips another other day.) I was told we were going to climb Mt. Aso. We didn't actually climb Mt. Aso, however, since Aso is a volcano. As a matter of fact, Aso is supposedly the world's largest active volcano. I have no idea if that is true and, since this was the first time I'd ever seen a volcano up close, I can't exactly say it was a giant compared to others. But it was big.

In any case, we did climb a mountain and the peak we made it to the top of is called "Nakadake" (basically: "middle peak") and is 1506 meters high. There was another peak on the mountain that is called "Takadake" (basically: "high/top peak") and is 1592 meters high, but unfortunately, I only made it to about 1520 meters. You see, like I said, I wasn't alone on the hike, so I couldn't just go off on my own. I tried, but then I turned around.

I was part of a group of three that made it to Nakadake first, well ahead of the rest of the pack. I tried to convince the two kids I was with that we should go on to the next peak, since part of my climbing nature is to make it to the highest possible peak. At first they resisted, but then they came along. But after only about a minute, they hesitated again. I initially went on by myself, since I figured I would need about 25 minutes to get to the top of Takadake and back, but then decided the two kids had the better idea: We should wait for everyone else. So I reluctantly turned around.

Eventually, the whole group made it to Nakadake and we had lunch next to the peak. If you know Japan, you would correctly guess what lunch was: Yes, a bento box! Actually, we had two bento boxes: One with three triangular onigiri and the other with the "meal." I gave away my "sausage," more like a frankfurter, as well as the two little umeboshi (pickled plums) on top of two of the three onigiri, but ate the rest.

I expected to go down the same trail that we went up, which was not very steep and therefore relatively easy to climb, but our leader decided to take us around to the other side of the volcano. So we ended up hiking kind of in a big "U" around the volcano and our bus had to come around to the other parking lot to pick us up.

The closest we got to the volcano was on the way up. We were able to see part of the way down into the crater and we were also able to see smoke rising up from the crater. But without being foolhardy or paying for a helicopter ride, there was no way to get a great look inside the crater. (There appeared to be two craters, but I suppose they are considered to be one.)

The route down was a lot steeper than the route up and I was thankful then that we had hiked in the direction we had gone in because we wouldn't have had much fun climbing up that steep path. When we got to the bottom, we walked along what must have been ash or a mixture of ash and sand. I had the feeling we were walking along a desert, except that the sand was black. At one point, most of us started to cough slightly, since we could smell what I suppose was sulfur dioxide coming from the volcano, but no one got sick. We were far enough from the crater that the smell was not overwhelming.

Up until that point, we hadn't come across many people along the trail. But as soon as we made it to the parking lot, I realized how much of a tourist spot Mt. Aso really is. Every few minutes or so a tour bus pulled in to the parking lot and unloaded about 50 passengers. Most of the tourists apparently don't hike the trails. Instead, they ride the cable car up to the observation platform near the edge of the crater, eat at the restaurant, and shop in the souvenir stores. I almost wish we had gone back the way we went up so that I never would have seen the touristy part of Mt. Aso.